Volleyball races past Coffeyville in conference opener

The top-ranked Cowley College volleyball team looked in mid-season form as they opened conference play with a 25-9, 25-9, 25-10 win at Coffeyville on Wednesday.

Cowley improves its record to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the Jayhawk Conference, while Coffeyville falls to 0-2 overall and 0-1 in conference play.

On Wednesday, Cowley opened the match with a service ace from freshman setter Hanna Darvas and never looked back. Leading 11-7 in set one, the Lady Tigers would score 10 straight points en route to the 25-9 win.

Set two was much of the same as Cowley used another 10-0 run to turn a 6-5 lead into a 16-5 advantage.

After winning set two with an identical 25-9 score, the Lady Tigers won set three 25-10 and never trailed in the match.

"We started the match with the ace from Hanna and kept the pressure on them the entire match with our serve," Cowley head coach Steven Gream said.

Cowley had 14 service aces in the match and was led by sophomore Laura Bonomi's seven aces. Bonomi also added six kills and 10 digs.

"Laura is picking up right where she left off her freshman year," Gream said. "She has been putting everyone on her shoulders and showing how things are done here at Cowley."

Sophomore Sara Puskas led Cowley with 10 kills as the team finished with a .351 hitting percentage.

"I thought Sara did what we need her to do, which is balance the floor and create pressure on them," Gream said.

Darvas led Cowley with 23 assists in the three-game sweep.

"Hanna is still getting used to the way we do things here, but I see improvement every day," Gream said. "She is buying into our way of running our offense and once those connections get even more crisp I think we will really take off."

Cowley will have some time off before hosting conference-foe Independence at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 4. The Lady Pirates are 1-3 on the season, with its victory coming against NJCAA Division 1 opponent Cloud County.

"We have some things we want to clean up and tweak prior to the match with Independence," Gream said. "Independence will not be a pushover, but we are excited to play them in front of our home crowd."