Lady Tiger volleyball inches closer to conference title with home win over Kansas City

Continuing its dominance at W.S. Scott Auditorium, the No. 2-ranked Cowley College volleyball team has still not dropped a set on its home court following a 25-14, 25-21, 25-13  victory over Kansas City Kansas Community College on Wednesday.

The Lady Tigers improved to 12-0 at home and have won all 36 sets played on its home floor.

Cowley is now 29-0 overall and 8-0 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division. The Lady Tigers need to win one of its final two conference matches in order to clinch the conference title and a top seed for the district tournament.

Cowley never trailed in Wednesday's opening set, leading by as many as 14 points (24-10) in the win.

With set two tied at 7-7, Cowley would score the next five points to open a 12-7 advantage. However, Kansas City kept fighting and pulled within 20-19 before the Tigers were able to pull away for the 25-21 win.

"We kind of relaxed a bit in that second set, and we can't do that against a conference opponent," Cowley head coach Steven Gream said.

Leading 6-5 in set three, Cowley would score 10 of the next 11 points en route to the 25-13 victory.

"We kicked it back into gear in the third set and kept the pressure on them," Gream said.

Sophomore Anna Kiss was one of three Lady Tigers in double figures in kills, finishing with a team-high 15 kills.

"Anna set the tone early, she and Laura (Bonomi) did a good job on the outside," Gream said.

Bonomi added her team-leading 15^th double-double, finishing with 10 kills and 11 digs and Sara Puskas chipped in with 11 kills.

Sophomore setter Rossana Papa recorded her ninth double-double of the season, finishing with 41 assists and 12 digs. She also had four of Cowley's six service aces.

"I thought we did what we wanted to do," Gream said. "Our pressure really caused them a lot of difficulty, and our defense keeps doing things that are allowing us to get easy plays."

Sophomore libero Sadie Kabisch also played well as she finished with 20 digs and three assists.

Kansas City (19-10) remains in fourth place in the conference with a record of 6-3.

Cowley will now turn its attention to the Triton Invitational Tournament on Friday and Saturday in Fort Dodge, IA. The Lady Tigers will open against No. 5-ranked Kirkwood Community College at 2:45 p.m. Friday before facing third-ranked Iowa Central on its home court at 6:15 p.m.

Cowley will wrap up play in the tournament by taking on North Iowa Area Community College Saturday at 9:30 a.m. and 12^th-ranked Des Moines Area Community College at 11:15 a.m.

"These matches will help get us ready for the playoffs," Gream said. "They will push us and give us everything they got."

Photo Credit: Aigiza Nasyrova