Cowley volleyball goes 3-1 at DMACC Tournament

Playing at the Des Moines Area Community College Tournament on Friday and Saturday, the No. 2-ranked Cowley College volleyball team went 3-1 against some stiff competition.

The Lady Tigers opened with a 30-22, 30-17, 30-20 win over Ridgewater Community College, which is the top-ranked team in the NJCAA Division III poll. Lilian Rezende led Cowley with 16 kills and 14 digs in the win.

Cowley then faced NJCAA Division II defending national champion Kishwaukee, which is currently ranked No. 1. The Lady Tigers fell in three games, 20-30, 22-30, 21-30.

“We struggled passing the ball against them,” Cowley head coach Joanna Pryor said. “They serve really tough and did good against us.”

The Lady Tigers came back on Saturday to face No. 16-ranked Marshalltown Community College. After a 27-30 loss of game one, Cowley rallied to win the next three games by scores of 30-25, 30-24, 30-21.

“After the first game I wondered if the loss to Kishwaukee the night before was affecting us that much,” Pryor said. “At the end of the first game I told the team that Marshalltown is ranked so you might want to start playing now. We started to pass better after that, but you shouldn’t have to pump yourself up to play teams.”

Victoria Green and Lucia Cizmarova each finished with 13 kills in the win, while Crystal Garman and Rezende added 12 kills apiece. Freshman libero Jacey Sechrest also played well and finished with a team-high 18 digs.

Cowley wrapped up play in the tournament by defeating Independence for the second time in 10 days as they won by a score of 30-16, 30-19, 30-21. Rezende finished with 13 kills and 17 digs, while Garman added 12 kills and 10 digs.

The Lady Tigers, which are now 22-4 on the season, will prepare to play an important district match at Neosho County Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Neosho is currently 4-0 in District M, while Cowley is 3-0 in district play.

“We will be working on passing a lot,” Pryor said. “We have also got to serve/receive better.”