Volleyball does not drop a set while going 4-0 at home invitational
The NJCAA Division II No. 1-ranked Cowley College volleyball team improved its record to 17-0 on the season and has won 58 consecutive matches dating back to the 2022 season after going 4-0 at the Cowley Invitational Tournament played Friday and Saturday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.
On Friday, Cowley defeated Central Nebraska 25-9, 25-15, 25-13 before knocking off 18th-ranked Northeastern Oklahoma College 25-19, 25-17, 25-13. Then, on Saturday, the Lady Tigers faced a Dallas College-Eastfield squad that was also unbeaten entering the match and the defending NJCAA Division III national champion. Cowley defeated Dallas College Eastfield 25-21, 25-20, 25-18 to end a 55-match-win streak for the Harvester Bees.
The premier match of the weekend was the match between unbeaten Cowley and unbeaten Dallas College Eastfield. In the match vs. Dallas-Eastfield (20-1), Cowley trailed 9-8 early in the opening set before scoring five straight points to lead 13-9 and never trailed again in a 25-21 win of set one.
Set two was again close, with Cowley trailing 10-9 before holding onto a slim 16-15 advantage. The Lady Tigers opened their lead to 20-16 following a service ace by sophomore Kailea Trinque. However, the Harvester Bees fought back to within 22-20 before Cowley scored the final three points to win 25-20.
The third set was much of the same, with Cowley clinging to an 11-10 lead before scoring four straight points to grab control en route to the 25-18 victory.
The Lady Tigers would hit .252 in the match while holding Dallas College – Eastfield to just a .083 hitting percentage.
"This match was a match we had looked forward to since we scheduled it back in December," Cowley head coach Steven Gream said. "It is not every day that you get two undefeated defending national champions playing each other. We followed the game plan perfectly by putting pressure on them with our serve and defense and then let our high-powered and speedy offense do their job. Hanna (Darvas) did such a great job running the offense and letting our hitters get great swings, and Jessi (Ritchhart) anchored our back row defense along with Kailea (Trinque), Laura (Bonomi), and Adalee (Rosario). It really was a total team effort and a perfect precursor to the championship-level matches coming up in our season."
Cowley wrapped up play at its home invitational by taking down Metropolitan Community College 25-12, 25-17, 25-18.
"We wanted a tournament to challenge us and help us to work on things to prepare for the end run of conference play," Gream said.
Sophomore Laura Bonomi had three double-doubles on the weekend and finished with 59 kills and 46 digs. Freshman setter Hanna Darvas finished with 161 assists in the four matches as she and Bonomi were joined on the All-Tournament Team by sophomore Sara Puskus (37 kills, 18 digs) and freshman Jessi Ritchhart (78 digs).
"All of our players had a good tournament with our defense putting pressure on each opponent and our offense and serve keeping teams on their heels," Gream said. "I could not be more proud of how our defense stepped up not only in this tournament but for the season. Strong defense combined with our offense allows for more swings that lead to kills."
The Lady Tigers will return to conference play on Wednesday when they play at Neosho County at 6:30 p.m. The Lady Panthers are 4-12 overall and 2-3 in the Jayhawk Conference.
"Neosho has been struggling record-wise, but I think they are getting better each day. We never want to overlook any opponent, especially a conference opponent," Gream said. "Neosho will bring their 'A game' for a match against us, especially on their home court. We need to be prepared for them to come to battle."