Lady Tigers show why they are No. 1 in region title win

The top-ranked Cowley College volleyball team is on its way to the national tournament for the first time since 2017 following a straight sets' win over Kansas City Kansas Community College Saturday afternoon at Friends university in Wichita, KS. The Lady Tigers knocked off the Blue Devils 25-22, 25-20, 25-19 to advance to play at the NJCAA Division II National Tournament November 18-20 in Cedar Rapids, IA.

Cowley remains unbeaten at 38-0, while Kansas City finishes the season with a record of 22-11.

"I thought we battled very well against a very tough KCK team," Cowley head coach Steven Gream said. "We overcame some mistakes and continued to play for each other."

Cowley trailed set one 14-13 before scoring seven of the next nine points to lead 20-16. Kansas City would rally to pull within 22-20 before Cowley held on to win 25-22.

Set two would again be back and forth with the Blue Devils holding a 7-5 lead before freshman Rachele Tessari used a strong serve to rattle off six straight points. An ace by Gyongyver Araczki would help Cowley's lead grow to 15-9. Kansas City would get within 23-20 before kills from Iva Halacheva and Tessari finished off the 25-20 win.

Aroczki would register back-to-back kills followed by an ace by Tessari to give the Lady Tigers an early 6-3 lead in set three. However, Kansas City would score the next five points to retake the lead. The Lady Blue Devils would continue to lead up until 13-12 before Cowley took over by scoring nine of the next 10 points to take control en route to the 25-19 win.

The players rushed the court after the final point and the celebration began with the large contingency of Tiger fans in attendance.

"I couldn't even talk to the players because of how loud are crowd was," Gream said. "I thought they really put a lot of pressure on KCK."

Sophomore Iva Halacheva, won led Cowley with 15 kills and two aces, is looking forward to her first national tournament appearance.

"We have great chemistry and work together well on the court," Halacheva said. "We don't like to lose and knew early on in the season that we had something special. We just need to keep doing what we have been doing all year and we will be fine."

Tessari added nine kills, 15 digs and three aces, while freshman Laci Beougher and Araczki added 12 kills apiece.

The Lady Tigers will now await word on who they will open play against at the NJCAA Division II National Tournament.

"We are happy to represent Cowley and the Jayhawk Conference at the national tournament," Gream said. "It's nice to see the hard work the kids have put in pay off. We will let the chips fall where they may once we get to the national tournament."