Lady Tiger volleyball demolishes Highland

Playing at Highland Community College on Wednesday, the No. 4-ranked Cowley College volleyball team imposed their will on the Lady Scotties from the opening serve as they remained unbeaten on the season with a 25-9, 25-4, 25-15 win.

Cowley is now 10-0 overall and remains tied with Johnson County for first place in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division with a record of 4-0. Highland, losers of four matches in a row, is now 4-7 overall and 2-2 in the conference.

The Lady Tigers scored nine of the first 10 points of Wednesday's opening set and cruised to a 25-9 win.

"We established our game plan early and never let Highland get into a rhythm," Cowley head coach Steven Gream said. "Our serve put a lot of pressure on them."

It was more of the same in set two as Cowley led 17-2 en route to the 25-4 boat racing of the Lady Scotties.

Highland woke up in set three and led 8-4 before Cowley rallied for its first lead at 10-9. Clinging to a 16-15 advantage, the Lady Tigers would score the final nine points of the match.

"Our defense did a good job of limiting any runs," Gream said.

Freshman outside hitter Laura Bonomi continued to be a double-double machine, finishing with 20 kills and 10 digs in the win.

"Laura is on a roll right now and is taking a lot of pressure off our other hitters," Gream said.

Fellow freshman Noemi Nyers was equally impressive, registering eight of Cowley's 14 service aces.

"It has been a long time since we have had someone with that many aces," Gream said.

The Lady Tigers will play a pair of matches on Saturday at the Ranger Tri-Match. Cowley will face Cisco College at 1 p.m. before taking on Ranger College at 3.

"These are two NJCAA Division 1 opponents that know us well," Gream said. "These matches will help prepare us for the tougher portion of our conference schedule that is still ahead of us."

 Photo provided by James Dill