Lady Tigers open conference play with a straight-set win over Coffeyville

There is no place like home. The No. 5-ranked Cowley College volleyball team remained unbeaten at 3-0 on the season as they won its third straight home game in a six-day span by taking down Coffeyville Community College 25-22, 25-8, 25-19 Wednesday night inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.

Cowley trailed by scores of 11-8 and 17-15 in the opening set before rallying for the 25-22 win.

Set two was then all Tigers as they raced out to a 12-4 lead and never looked back in the 25-8 win.

"We just took off with our serve and kept a lot of pressure on them," Cowley head coach Steven Gream said.

However, Coffeyville regrouped in set three and led 13-12 midway through the set. Trailing by one, Cowley sophomore Anna Kiss used her potent serve to help score seven straight points for the Lady Tigers as they pulled away for the 25-19 victory.

Freshman Laura Bonomi continued the strong start to her Lady Tiger career by finishing with her second double-double (15 kills, 10 digs). Kiss added eight kills, while freshmen Sara Puskas and Valarie Luna added six and five kills, respectively.

"We are starting to balance the attack more, get our middles involved more, but we have got to clean up some things," Gream said.

Coffeyville is now 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

Cowley will now prepare for its first road contest of the season when they play at Independence Community College on Wednesday, August 30, at 6:30 p.m. The Lady Pirates are 0-5 on the season but are coming off a tough, five-set defeat against Fort Scott on Wednesday.

"We will never overlook conference opponents," Gream said. "We look for them to put some pressure on us, especially playing at their place. We need to take care of our conference games."