Lady Tiger volleyball team goes 4-0 at home invite

Getting contributions from up and down its lineup, the No. 1-ranked Cowley College volleyball team went 4-0 at its home invitational played Friday and Saturday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.

On Friday, Cowley opened with a 25-5, 25-14, 25-19 win over Northeast Community College before taking down NJCAA Division 1 opponent Ranger College 25-20, 25-16, 25-10.

The Lady Tigers faced two more opponents on Saturday with similar results. Cowley throttled the Southwestern College JV 25-7, 25-3, 25-7 before wrapping up the weekend with a 25-6, 25-16, 25-16 win over North Platte Community College.

Cowley head coach Steven Gream was pleased with his team's play as Cowley improved its record to 9-0.

"I thought we did a good job of keeping pressure on the teams and making runs with our serve," Gream said. "We are playing really well, but want to keep getting better every day."

Freshman Josci Buckley led Cowley with 16 kills in the opening win over Northeast CC.

Laura Bonomi had a double-double in the win over Ranger, finishing with 15 kills and 12 digs, while Sara Puskus added 12 kills and a .500 hitting percentage.

Cowley had eight players record an ace in the win over the Southwestern JV and was led by freshman Ashlynn Jaccard's four aces. The Lady Tigers finished with a season-high 18 aces against Southwestern.

Bonomi added another double-double (13 kills, 13 digs) in the victory over North Platte, while Kailea Trinque had five of Cowley's 10 aces in the win.

"Kailea served amazing on the weekend, and her defense really picked up," Gream said. "I thought we really minimized our unforced errors, balanced our attack, and our offense really flowed."

Freshman setter Hanna Darvas finished with 123 assists in the four matches, and Jessi Ritchhart added 55 digs over the weekend.

Cowley will remain home to face Highland Community College on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. The Lady Scotties (11-5) are tied with Cowley and Johnson County for first place in the conference with a record of 3-0.

"Highland is much improved," Gream said. "They will be prepared. We have just got to be us, cut down on our unforced errors, balance the attack, and serve aggressively."