Lady Tigers clinch No. 1-seed in District Tournament

Needing to defeat Hesston College Tuesday night to earn the No. 1-seed in the District M Tournament, the No. 4-ranked Cowley College volleyball team did just that as they pulled out a hard fought 30-22, 29-31, 30-11, 30-28 win over the Lady Threshers.

Cowley head coach Joanna Pryor let her team know after the loss of game two that she was not pleased with the way they were playing.

“They have to realize these teams can sneak up on you and they need to be prepared to play all the time,” Pryor said.

The victory helped the Lady Tigers wrap up play in District M with a record of 6-0, while the loss dropped Hesston to the third seed with a record of 4-2 in the District. Neosho County (5-1) earned the second seed in the playoffs.

Cowley will receive a bye in the first-round of the District Tournament, which will be played at Neosho County on Nov. 3. The Lady Tigers’ first match of the tournament will take place at 1 p.m. Nov. 3. If they win that match they will play in the championship at 5 p.m.

Sophomore outside hitter Lilian Rezende led Cowley with 14 kills and 15 digs in the win over Hesston. Victoria Green added 10 kills and five blocks, while Courtney Shanklin chipped in with seven kills and three blocks.

Cowley is now 25-4 overall. The Lady Tigers have one more regular season match to play prior to the District Tournament as they will host Fort Scott (3-27) tonight at 6:30 p.m.

A win by the Lady Tigers would force Johnson County to defeat Kansas City tonight or else the Lady Cavaliers would have to share the conference title with Cowley.
“I just want to see us play clean and not make a lot of mistakes,” Pryor said.