Cowley College growing

  Recent Enrollment figures released by the Kansas Board of Regents show Cowley College to be the fastest growing college in the state of Kansas.

Cowley’s enrollment increased a whopping 21.2 percent from the fall 2009 semester to the fall 2010 semester. Cowley had an increase of 847 students to bring its total to 4,850 students that are taking classes at either the school’s main campus in Arkansas City, its Allied Health Center in Winfield, its Mulvane Campus, or online.

“After what happened to us a couple of years ago with the loss of our Southside Education Center in Wichita, this increase in enrollment was a real blessing and a credit to all of our employees,” Cowley president Dr. Patrick J. McAtee said. “When you have success like this it is the result of hard work done by a lot of people.”

Cowley’s growth was not the norm as eight of the 19 Kansas community colleges saw a decrease in enrollment and only one school (Barton County) besides Cowley saw an increase in enrollment of more than 6 percent.

Overall, there was an increase of 3,237 students at the state’s 32 public universities, community colleges, and technical colleges.  This represents a 1.8% systemwide increase for the 2010 fall academic semester over the 2009 fall academic semester.  The systemwide enrollment of 187,398 is reported as of the 20^th day of classes.

At the seven public universities, enrollment was up by 364 students, or 0.4%.  At the 19 community colleges, enrollment was up by 2,609 students, or 3.3%.  At the six technical colleges, enrollment was up by 264 students, or 5.7%.

Cowley volleyball rolls on

Roslandy Acosta slams home a kill Monday night

Getting big games from sophomores Sarah Skinner and Meghan Cahill, the No. 1-ranked Cowley College volleyball team picked up its 20th straight victory with a 25-16, 25-19, 25-11 win over Independence Monday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.
The victory improved the Lady Tigers’ record to 20-2 overall and kept Cowley a half game in front of Johnson County for first place in the conference and region. Cowley is currently 6-0 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division and 7-0 in Region VI play.
“We had people step up in areas we had been struggling and our offense did well,”
Cowley head coach Jenifer Bahner said. “But, we need to improve on our errors. We gave Independence a lot of points and we have got to make teams earn their points.”
Skinner and Cahill each finished with nine kills in the win.
“Sarah did really well in the middle for us, and Meghan has been working really hard and is a good leader for our team,” Bahner said. “We need her (Meghan) to lead and contribute on the court as well, so it was good to see her do both tonight.”
The Lady Pirates, who dropped to 2-12 overall and 1-5 in the Jayhawk East, battled hard the first two games but could never get over the hump. In game three, Cowley raced out to an 11-2 lead before Independence pulled within 14-8. Cowley would finish the match by scoring 11 of the final 14 points, and got a huge spike from sophomore Roslandy Acosta to cap the team’s 21st straight win at home.
Acosta finished the match with 11 kills and 18 assists, while freshman setter Molley Scanlon added 18 assists and nine digs. Also contributing to the win were Elena Berroteran (10 digs) and Kaitlin Stearns (three aces).
Cowley will put its winning streak on the line when they take part in the Central Nebraska Tournament Friday and Saturday in Platte, NE. On Friday, the Lady Tigers will square off against No. 10-ranked North Platte Community College (16-7) at 3 p.m., before facing second-ranked Iowa Lakes Community College (19-4) at 7 p.m.
Cowley will wrap up play in the tournament on Saturday by taking on Central Nebraska at 10:30 a.m. and Neosho County (5-18) at 12:30 p.m.
Bahner is looking forward to having her team take on a pair of schools ranked in the top-10 on Friday.
“This weekend will present a good test for us,” Bahner said. “It will be good to be challenged a bit. If we keep working hard our offense will flow from there.”

Cowley volleyball home opener tonight

The Cowley College volleyball team rolled to an easy win Wednesday, and will have its first home game of the season today at 6:30 p.m. 
Below is the story, and below that look for Cowley soccer updates

   Top-ranked Lady Tigers open region play with win over Hesston
By RAMA PEROO
Benefitting from taking part in the challenging Johnson County Tournament last weekend, the No. 1-ranked Cowley College volleyball team made easy work of its first true road contest as they won at Hesston College Wednesday, 25-13, 25-11, 25-10.

Cowley begins fall sports season

 Cowley College kicked off its fall sports season over the weekend. The Volleyball team went 2-2 at a tournament involving nationally ranked teams at Johnson County. Cowley is ranked No. 1 nationally.
Cross country and soccer teams also rolled to wins.
See the jump for all the stories