Tiger Volleyball Moves on to Region Championship

Hoping to make a return trip to the national tournament, the No. 1-ranked Cowley College volleyball team made it one step closer with a 25-8, 25-11, 25-4 victory over Fort Scott Wednesday in the Plains A District Tournament played inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.

The Lady Tigers advance to face Allen County. The teams will square off Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at Friends University in Wichita, KS, with a national tournament berth on the line.

Leading Wednesday's opening set by a score of 8-4, Cowley would use an 11-1 run to pull away from the Greyhounds for the eventual 25-8 score.

In set two, Cowley and Fort Scott were tied at 4-4 before Cowley, once again, pulled away with an 8-0 run. Cowley never looked back as they finished the set with the 25-11 score.

"We made a great run to get out to a big lead but missed some serves that allowed them to make two mini runs. We managed to clean it up and that allowed us to finish the set well," Gream said.

Cowley would then race out to a 8-4 lead in the third and final set. Laura Bonomi then went back to the service line and would go on to serve 17 serves in a row for the 25-4 win to advance to Wichita. The victory, Cowley's 36^th in a row, improves the Lady Tigers' record to 36-0 on the season.

"Laura's 17 serve performance, in the third set, was amazing to see. You don't see many serving runs like that in any match, let alone the playoffs," Gream said. "Her serve put pressure on Fort Scott to not only get aces but to allow our defense and offense to operate smoothly to go on the 17-0 run to finish the match."

Fort Scott finishes the season with a record of 13-16.

Sophomores Anna Kiss (20 kills while hitting .513), Rossana Papa (40 assists and 10 digs), and Sadie Kabisch (16 digs) were key to Wednesday's win. Papa's 40 assists and 10 digs gave her the thirteenth double-double on the season.

"I couldn't be prouder of this sophomore group. They have been good leaders and have done what we have asked of them on and off the court," Gream said.

Also in the match, Laura Bonomi hit a team high .600 with 9 kills, 7 aces, and 15 digs. Lu Ceroni followed with 8 kills while hitting .471. Sara Puskas had 6 kills while hitting .333 with 1 ace. Valarie Luna recorded 5 kills on 9 swings and also added 4 blocks.

Cowley will now turn its attention to Saturday's match against Allen County (20-9). The Red Devils enter Saturday's match as winners of six matches in a row.

"We have not seen Allen County since early September. They have played good ball in the final month of the season and we look for them to put up a fight against us," Gream said. "We have to make sure we are prepared and execute our game plan while doing what we do. We are asking all of our Cowley community to come up and cheer us on at the match. The energy we have had the last two years at Friends University was amazing for our players."