Lady Tiger volleyball team remains unbeaten with a semifinal win over Coffeyville

Hosting Coffeyville in the Plains A Volleyball semifinal on Wednesday in Arkansas City, the No. 1-ranked Cowley College volleyball team remained unbeaten with a 25-14, 25-9, 25-9 victory over the Red Ravens.

Cowley (35-0), winners of 76 matches in a row, advances to face Allen Community College (26-8) in the district title match on Saturday at 2:30 pm. at Friends University in Wichita, KS. The winner of the match will advance to the NJCAA Division II National Tournament.

On Wednesday, Cowley led the first set by a score of 11-9 before beginning to pull away for the 25-14 victory. Leading the second set 8-6, Cowley would score 17 of the next 20 points to win 25-9.

Cowley would continue to pour it on as they scored 15 of the first 18 points of set three en route to the 25-9 win.

Cowley had five players register at least five kills and was led by sophomore Laura Bonomi's 12 kills.

"We started slow, but toward the end of the first set, we started serving more aggressively and quit letting them get cheap kills," Cowley head coach Steven Gream said. "We carried that into the second and third sets and did a good job of balancing our attack."

Coffeyville finishes the season with a record of 9-25.

Freshman setter Hanna Darvas, who recently passed the 1,000 assist mark on the season, led Cowley with 35 assists, and Jessi Ritchhart added 12 digs.

Cowley will now turn its attention to facing Allen on Saturday. The Lady Red Devils were the only team in the conference to win a set against Cowley before losing three sets to one.

"We played Allen in last year's finals as well, and they are a quality team," Gream said. "Allen has been playing well lately, so we will need to be prepared to rise to the challenge."