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





    Volleyball bounces back to split season-opening matches

Playing four ranked opponents at the season-opening Johnson County Tournament, the No. 1-ranked Cowley College volleyball team got off to a rough start on Friday before finishing strong on Saturday.
The Lady Tigers opened with a 18-25, 23-25, 25-16, 26-28 loss to No. 12 Kishwaukee (IL) Community College, before losing to No. 3-ranked Parkland (IL) Community College in five sets (23-25, 25-18, 25-20, 23-25, 8-15).
“That first day was tough, the nerves and anxiousness showed,” Cowley head coach Jenifer Bahner said. “We were timid on the court and were not sure of ourselves. When you play good competition the opponent will take advantage of that.”
Cowley came back on Saturday and looked more like the team that was picked No. 1 in the NJCAA Division II pre-season poll as the Lady Tigers dismantled No. 5-ranked Des Moines Area Community College 25-15, 25-15, 25-21, before defeating No. 18 East Central (MO) Community College 26-28, 25-22, 25-21, 25-10.
“I was proud of the way the team fought back and worked to get better on Saturday,” Bahner said. “That was really the standard of how Cowley volleyball should be played.”
Sophomore rightside hitter Roslandy Acosta led Cowley with 48 kills and a .440 hitting percentage. Fellow sophomore, Lindsey Chandler, also stepped up her play as she finished with 40 kills and a .360 hitting percentage as the team’s middle hitter.
“Lindsey had a phenomenal weekend and is vastly improved from last year,” Bahner said. “It will benefit us by having a strong presence in the middle.”
Cowley, which is now 2-2 on the season, will play a region match at Hesston Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
“I hope we go into the match with a standard set at where we want to be playing at,” Bahner said. “We also need to get some of our sophomores to step into leadership roles.”
Following the match on Wednesday, Cowley will host Northern Oklahoma College-Enid Thursday at 6:30 p.m.


        Tamiosso scores four goals in Lady Tigers’ 8-0 win

Opening the season at home on Saturday, the Cowley College women’s soccer team got four goals from freshman Aline Tamiosso in a 8-0 win over Ranger (TX) College.
Cowley dominated all phases of the game as they out-shot Ranger 24-3. Freshman Bailey Martinson got the scoring started less than six minutes into the game. The Lady Tigers then scored three goals in a span of two and a half minutes to open a 4-0 lead midway through the first half.
With the comfortable lead, Cowley head coach Dane Straight was able to play everyone on his roster. Each Lady Tiger athlete saw at least 43 minutes of playing time.
“I was very pleased with how we performed,” Straight said. “It’s always nice to get that first win out of the way. Everyone passed, moved, and defended well. But, the biggest thing for me was how well we communicated.”
Tamiosso’s two first half goals came within 58 seconds of each other, while Martinson netted her second goal of the game 56 seconds into the second half, putting Cowley on top 5-0.
Tamiosso would score the next two goals before sophomore Carol Rodrigues put the finishing touches on the win with her first goal of the season. Rodrigues, who suffered a season ending injury in the third game of last season, finished with a goal and an assist.
“It was so nice to have her leadership back on the field,” Straight said. “She really caused them problems with her foot skills.”
Tamiosso, who came to Cowley from Campinas, Brazil, looks as if she may be a tough person for opposing teams to stop as she added an assist to go along with her four goals.
“She has definitely got the potential to carry the load of our scoring,” Straight said. “She not only can score, she is able to get everyone involved around her.”
After a solid freshman season, Sadie Hull returned to the team by adding a goal and an assist. While, freshman Abby Herrera chipped in with two assists.
A pair of freshman goalkeepers, in Emily Tanner and Erika Carpenter, teamed up to record the shutout. Both goalies also saw playing time as forwards during the course of the game.
Cowley will now prepare to take on MCC-Blue River Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Kansas City, MO. The Lady Tigers defeated MCC-Blue River 3-0 in last year’s meeting between the two teams.
“It should be a little bigger challenge for us than the opener,” Straight said.


                        Gracia leads Tigers in season opening meet

Returning sophomore Josh Gracia trained so hard this summer he needed just one shoe to out-run the competition at the season-opening Cowley College Duals held Friday at Camp Quaker Haven in Arkansas City.
Gracia lost one of his shoes 500 meters into the 3-mile race. However, he ran undeterred, and finished 12 seconds (15:38.86) ahead of runner-up Viktors Slesarenoks of Cloud County.
“Coach asked me if I wanted to kick off my other shoe or put my shoe back on, but I knew they weren’t far behind so I decided to run with one shoe,” Gracia said.
Freshmen Brock Hime (15:57.41) and Brock Nooney also ran well (16:20.31) and placed fourth and sixth, respectively. While, fellow freshmen Shaun Koehn (16:33.01) and Victor Others (16:39.47) also placed in the top-10.
“I am not surprised by our performance because the team has trained really hard to do what we did today,” Gracia said.
With only four sophomores on the roster, Cowley College head coach Vince DeGrado was pleased with the team’s performance.
“For us to run like this on our home course and not be satisfied is a good sign,” DeGrado said. “Our freshmen stepped up big time.”
After Cloud County’s Hilary Sowrey’s 11th place finish, the next three runners to cross the finish line were from Cowley. Sophomore Colin Jokisch (16:43.69) placed 12th, while freshmen Isaac Wilson (16:46.50) and Cameron Balser (16:51.02) finished 13th and 14th, respectively.
Tiger runners Dustin Sandoval (16:56.95), Enrique Benitez (17:06.26), and Tyson Christensen (117:16.61) each placed in the top-25. Alstin Benton (17:25.12) finished 28th, while Logan Ruhde (19:12.52) placed 54th.
Schools at the Duals were, Allen County Community College, Butler Community College, Cloud County Community College, Coffeyville Community College, Neosho County Community College, Northwestern Oklahoma State University, and Pratt Community College.
Cowley will next compete at 9 a.m. Saturday when they take part in the Wichita State Classic held in Augusta.
Although he was pleased with the team’s performance, DeGrado hopes to see continued improvement each week leading up to the conference and region meet on Nov. 1.
“We have got a long way to go to be where we want to be at on Nov. 1,” DeGrado said.

           Lady Tigers’ run away from the competition in first Cross Country meet

Demonstrating the depth of this season’s Cowley College women’s cross country team, the squad had 11 of the top-14 finishers at the Cowley Duals held Friday at Camp Quaker Haven in Arkansas City.
In what was a dominating, season-opening performance, the Lady Tigers were led by sophomore Purity Cheruiyot’s winning time of 11:52.58 in the two-mile run. Freshman Kaitlyn Belisle was not far behind as she placed second with a time of 11:56.17.
“Purity battled an injury last year, but now you can see the Purity we recruited,” Cowley head coach Vince DeGrado said. “Kaitlyn has come out of her shell since she has been here. She has worked diligently and it shows.”
Following Butler Community College’s Elida Burciaga’s third place finish (11:59.48), Cowley had the next seven runners cross the finish line.
“We have depth and that’s scary,” DeGrado said.
All 13 of Cowley’s runners competed at the Duals and finished among the top-27 runners. Other schools represented at the Duals were, Allen County Community College, Butler Community College, Cloud County Community College, Coffeyville Community College, Neosho County Community College, Northwestern Oklahoma State University, and Pratt Community College.
“Last year we were kind of an unknown, but this year we are no longer a surprise,” DeGrado said. “The girls have a bit of a chip on their shoulder and they showed that by the was they raced.”
Returning sophomores Val Bland (12:28.26), Leigh Ann Omarkhail (12:41.62), Elly Adamson (12:49.12), Cassy Kendrick (12:51.02), and Bailey Hawkins (12:52.67) placed fourth through eighth, respectively. While, freshmen Jessalyn Lanoy (12:58.61) and Erika LaCroix (13:01.17) rounded out Cowley runners in the top-10.
Fellow freshmen, Katie Krepel (13:18.17) and Kadie Peoples (13:29.14) also ran well in finishing 13th and 14th, respectively. Trenda McClaughry (13:56.69) and Maria Schmidt (14:30.54) placed 21st and 27th in their first collegiate races.
Cowley will return to action at 9 a.m. Saturday when they take part in the Wichita State Classic held in Augusta.


             Men’s soccer opens season with 2-1 win
Getting goals from freshman Saxx Adams and sophomore Lucas Coelho, the Cowley College men’s soccer team made sure they did not have to wait long to earn its first win of the season as they pulled off a 2-1 victory over Ranger (TX) College Saturday in Arkansas City.
Last season, Cowley had to wait until game seven to record its first win. With the early season struggles of last year behind the team, the Tigers were happy to start off on the right foot.
“It was a very important win for us and should give us a huge boost,” Cowley head coach Roberto Dos Santos said.
Cowley got the scoring started a little over 14 minutes into the game as Lucas Coelho rocketed a shot from 30 yards out that hit off the cross bar and ricocheted to Saxx Adams, who was there to put the rebound shot past Ranger goalkeeper Artur Gorecki.
“Saxx did a good job of positioning himself to be at the right spot at the right time,” Dos Santos said.
The score would remain 1-0 until the 12:52 mark of the second half when Coelho’s shot from 20 yards out went between Gorecki’s legs for the Tigers’ second goal of the game.
Ranger got the goal back when Edgard Rodriguez slipped a shot past Cowley goalkeeper Jason Dewey with 16:58 remaining.
Cowley would hold on to the 2-1 lead as they improved to 1-0 on the season. Although happy to earn the win, Dos Santos sees room for improvement.
“We need to improve on controlling the pace of the game and being able to capitalize more on the openings we get,” Dos Santos said.
The Tigers will play their first road contest on Tuesday when they play at MCC-Blue River at 4 p.m. Cowley lost to MCC-Blue River by a score of 3-1 in the teams’ only meeting a year ago.
“They have a good team,” Dos Santos said. “It will be a big challenge for us to play them on the road.”