Lady Tigers drop first set of the season, bounce back to win at Allen

Winners of 25 straight sets to open the season, the No. 2-ranked Cowley College volleyball team suffered its first loss of a set in its match at Allen Community College Wednesday in Iola. However, the Lady Tigers responded with a vengeance in winning the match by a score of 25-17, 19-25, 25-9, 25-11.

The victory improves Cowley's record to 9-0 overall and 2-0 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division. Allen falls to 6-5 overall and 2-1 in conference play.

After winning the first set 25-17, Cowley fell behind early in set two and could not recover in the 25-19 defeat.

"Allen picked up their game in the second set and we kind of relaxed a bit," Cowley head coach Steven Gream said.

The loss seemed to wake the Lady Tigers as they scored the first six points of set three and cruised to the 25-9 win.

"We kicked it up a notch and executed our game plan in that third set," Gream said.

Set four was much of the same for Cowley as they raced out to a 9-3 lead and were never challenged in the 25-11 victory.

"Allen is a tough place to play and this was their first home match of the season," Gream said. "I told the ladies that we have got to be us and if we do that good things will happen."

Cowley sophomore Laci Beougher finished with a match-high 14 kills.

"Laci had a double block on her all night and still managed to do what she needed to in order to help us win," Gream said.

Anna Kiss added 10 kills, while sophomore Gyongyver Araczki chipped in with eight kills and a .538 hitting percentage. Sydney Unruh led Cowley with 15 digs, and Rachele Tessari had five of the Lady Tigers' 14 service aces.

"Our serving helped turn the tide of the match," Gream said.

Cowley will remain on the road to play a pair of matches at the John Brown University Tri-Match in Siloam Springs, AR, on Friday. The Lady Tigers will face the John Brown University JV at 4 p.m. before taking on district foe Northeastern Oklahoma A&M at 6 p.m.

"We want to get at least one percent better each day, and these matches will help get us ready for an important conference match against Kansas City next week," Gream said.