Volleyball team headed to nationals

Volleyball headed back to national tournament

Capping a second straight undefeated season at home, the No. 1-ranked Cowley College volleyball team qualified to compete at the national tournament for a sixth straight season as they won the District N Tournament played Saturday at W.S. Scott Auditorium.
In the first match of the day, Cowley defeated Allen County 26-24, 25-14, 25-19 to advance to the championship match versus Coffeyville, who defeated Butler 25-19, 22-25, 25-22, 25-19 in the day’s second match.




Cowley started slow in the first game and committed some costly errors in a 21-25 loss of game one. However, they quickly regained its focus and crushed Coffeyville 25-9 in game two.
“We came out more aggressive in the second game and served much better,” Cowley head coach Jenifer Bahner said.
Leading only 11-9 midway through game three, the Lady Tigers busted the game open with six straight points en route to a 25-13 win. Game four went nearly the same as Coffeyville trailed only 11-8 before Cowley used a 10-3 run to pull away for the win.
Cowley is now 31-3 on the season. Coffeyville finishes the year with a record of 24-19.
Sophomore Roslandy Acosta, the Jayhawk East Most Valuable Player for the second straight year, finished the two matches with 32 kills and 37 assists. While, freshmen Danika Maggard and Emily Barto added 22 kills and 14 kills, respectively.
“It’s great to see our two freshmen outside hitters in Danika and Emily step up and do great things, while also pushing the older kids,” Bahner said.
Sophomore Kelsy Patterson, who has been limited all season due to a knee injury, came off the bench to finish with 12 kills in the two matches.
“Kelsy really rose to the occasion,” Bahner said. “She has shown what playing with energy and a positive attitude can do for a player.”
Freshman setter Molley Scanlon also played well and finished with 49 assists and four aces, while sophomore libero Elena Berroteran finished with a team-high 35 digs.
Cowley has already played several of the top teams that will be at the national tournament and will prepare to make another run at a national title after placing second a year ago. The NJCAA Division II National Tournament will be held Nov. 18-20 in Wisconsin Dells, WI.
“Our first goal was to get to the national tournament, but now we want to do better than last year,” Bahner said. “A huge part of our success will be minimizing our errors and not beating ourselves.”