From RAMA PEROO/Cowley College
Hosting the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional Championship Friday through Sunday in Arkansas City, the Cowley College men’s and women’s tennis teams dominated the competition and qualified four athletes for the ITA Cup in Rome, GA.
Competing against athletes from Iowa Central, Seward, and Pratt, the Tiger tennis teams advanced their athletes to the finals in each single and doubles match.
On the men’s side, the doubles champion was the team of Bruno Nhavene and Reiya Komagata as they defeated Alejandro Gonzalez and Omar Suarez 7-6, 7-5 in the finals.
Komagata then defeated Alejandro Gonzalez in the singles final by a 6-3, 6-2 score.
On the women’s side, freshman Yerkezhan Arystanbekova defeated Arina Babenko 6-1, 6-1 in the singles final, securing herself a spot at the ITA national championship. Babenko and Arystanbekova would go on to win the doubles draw by defeating Mariana Jimenez and Akari Tomoyose in the final.
“We had a very successful weekend,” Cowley head coach Arianna Raga said. “I am very happy with the team; they all played extremely hard and gave it their all. I am really looking forward to seeing the winners perform at the ITA CUP on October 12.”
A meeting will be held Thursday to see if one of Cowley’s other finalists in singles and doubles gets a wildcard invitation to compete at the ITA Cup.
Tigers improve to 10-1 with a 4-0 win at Garden City
Coming off a huge road win at No. 6-ranked Iowa Western on Wednesday, the No. 5-ranked Cowley College men’s soccer team showed no signs of a letdown in a 4-0 win at Garden City on Saturday.
The victory, Cowley’s third in a row, improves the Tigers’ record to 10-1 overall and 6-1 in the Jayhawk Conference. Cowley remains second in the conference, just behind Barton Community College (6-0-1).
On Saturday, Cowley got a first-half goal from Sora Funakoshi to take a 1-0 halftime lead. The goal by Funakoshi was his team-leading seventh of the season.
The Tigers would add to their lead less than three minutes into the second half when Yuto Toyoizumi scored off an assist from Thiago Apolinario. It was then Apolinario’s turn to get in on the fun as he scored with 18 minutes left to put Cowley in front 3-0. The goal was the sixth of the season for Apolinario.
Shogo Haraikawa would score his fifth goal off an assist from Bruno Fornes, capping the scoring as Cowley recorded its seventh shutout of the season.
“It was a solid performance; the boys seem to be understanding what we want from them more,” Cowley head coach Ruy Vaz said. “We had to overcome bad wind and a long drive.”
Garden City falls to 6-4-4 overall and 0-4-3 in the conference.
The Tigers will return home to face Seward County Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The Saints (5-5-2) are just 1-5-1 in the conference.
“Seward is a very energetic team with many feisty players,” Vaz said. “The key to do well in this game is to stay composed in all phases. We will keep working hard to put away the chances we get.”
No. 3 VB 4-0 at home tournament
Stepping up its level of competition, the No. 3-ranked Cowley College volleyball team showed no signs of slowing down as they went 4-0 at its home invitational played Friday and Saturday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.
Cowley opened play on Friday by defeating No. 12-ranked Central Nebraska 25-7, 25-18, 25-17. The Lady Tigers then defeated Metropolitan Community College 25-5, 25-17, 25-18.
Anna Kiss led Cowley in kills in both matches with 14 and 20, while Laura Bonomi had double-doubles in each match.
Cowley returned to the court on Saturday and defeated NJCAA Division I Missouri State University-West Plains 25-15, 25-18, 25-17. The Lady Tigers featured a balanced attack as Valerie Luna, Sara Puskus, and Anna Kiss had 10 kills apiece. Bonomi was just behind with nine kills.
Cowley would wrap up play at its home tourney by dominating Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College 25-7, 25-7, 25-6. Kiss again led a balanced attack with eight kills, while five Lady Tigers had at least five kills in the victory.
“We wanted a tournament to challenge us and help us to work on things to prepare for the end run of conference play,” Cowley head coach Steven Gream said.
Sophomore setter Rossana Papa, who had a double-double in the win over Metropolitan, finished with 153 assists on the weekend. Fellow sophomore libero Sadie Kabisch also played well and led the team with 65 digs in the four matches.
“All of our players had a good tournament with our defense putting pressure on each opponent and our offense and serve keeping teams on their heels,” Gream said. “I could not be more proud of how our defense stepped up not only in this tournament but for the season. Strong defense combined with our offense allows for more swings that lead to kills.”
Kiss, Papa, Bonomi, and Kabisch were named to the All-Tournament team.
Cowley (22-0) will attempt to make it 23 straight wins to open the season when they play at Labette Community College on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in Parsons, KS. The Cardinals have struggled to a record of 4-12 overall and 1-4 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.
“Labette is a conference team, and we never want to overlook any opponent, especially a conference team,” Gream said. “Labette will bring their A game for a match against us, especially on their home court. We need to be prepared for them to come to battle.”
Women’s soccer battles to a scoreless tie at Garden City
Out-shooting host Garden City 16-6, the No. 12-ranked Cowley College women’s soccer team was in control of Saturday’s road game but could not find the back of the net in a 0-0 tie.
Garden City goalkeeper Karime Silva stopped all 13 shots on goal, while Lady Tiger goalkeeper Kanon Dehama saved the four opportunities the Broncbusters had to score.
“A tie was better than losing, especially with it being playing in windy road conditions,” dos Santos said. “We controlled the game but had some opportunities we did not finish.”
Cowley falls to fourth place in the Jayhawk Conference with a record of 5-1-3. Garden City is now 5-6-3 overall and 1-6-3 in the conference.
The Lady Tigers will host last-place Seward County on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. The Lady Saints are 1-8-1 in the conference and lost to Cowley 2-0 on August 30 in Liberal, KS.
“We are glad to be playing at home. We need to regroup and be ready to play because we know Seward will be trying to pull an upset,” dos Santos said.
Women’s XC place second, men eighth at the Chile Pepper Festival
The Cowley College men’s and women’s cross country team’s third test of the season was the Chile Pepper Festival held Friday and Saturday at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
This was the first time the Tiger cross-country teams had traveled to the course hosted at Agri Park. The meet was massive, with close to 300 individuals in the men’s race and 179 in the women’s race.
Weather conditions were unfavorable as temperatures were around 93 degrees with high humidity. Still, the Lady Tigers finished second to only Minot State out of 23 teams at the meet.
“Race day conditions and the race times were not in our favor to run personal bests,” Cowley head coach Cameron Rieth said. “However, we cannot just fester on that. We still need to show up and compete regardless of the conditions. Having the ability to adjust race tactics and efforts based on what the weather is doing and how the competition is handling it is vital to being a championship runner. We need to be able to handle whatever the day gives us once the most important meets come around.”
On the women’s side, this was the squad’s first meet, where the girls were towards the front for most of the race. Seeing how they competed and ran down people later in the race, how well they fought was more important than just times. Obviously, running fast is fun, but on a tough day like this, we have to adjust expectations and goals. I think we did a fantastic job of this, and on a good day, they are going to be ready to roll.”
Despite the heat, Dhenifer Vaz (19:05.3) still had a 20-second personal best and placed sixth. Both Dhenifer and Leticia Belo (19:05.3), who placed seventh, etched their names into the program’s top-30 list.
“I don’t doubt that they will continue to scale that list by the end of the year,” Rieth said. “I would like to have a couple more girls get on it by the end of the year as well. We still are in the hunt for a solid finish from all five scoring girls, but I think we have some things brewing. Finishing second as a team was solid. I hope we keep up the momentum and continue to keep improving.”
Butler Community College’s Khloi Bird won the women’s 5K race with a time of 18:43.5. Other Cowley women’s runners were Kayli Myers (19:54.3), Lakota Schultz (21:14.9), Britt Hunter (21:52.3), Lili Rose-Brehert (22:04.1), and Savannah Fischer (22:31.3).
It was a little bit of a different story on the men’s side. The Tigers had a tough situation, being in the hottest part of the day and having to race a longer distance than the women.
“No team ran fast in our race, which can be a little demoralizing because we came down here to run fast,” Rieth said.
Many athletes in the race had to drop out or receive medical attention following the race due to the extreme heat.
“You have to take what the day gives you and make the best of it,” Rieth said. “I believe it is vital to learn how to adjust race tactics and efforts to get the best out of yourself for the team on that day. How you hydrate, how to warm up, and how to get mentally prepared prior to the race are just as important as the race itself.”
Cowley’s men’s team placed eighth out of 31 teams, while UT-Dallas placed first.
Despite the challenges, Austin Schaeffer (17:23.6) crushed it and competed really well, placing 21st. Mason Blochowiak was Cowley’s next-highest finisher, placing 36th with a time of 27:48 in the 8k race.
Mason Bickle (28:03.5), Deshawn Douglas (28:48), Randy Rojas-Mendez (30:00.6), Manuel Leos (30:43.2), and Kevin Rivas-Guillen (31:56.3) rounded out the Tiger runners at the meet.
Butler Community College freshman Adem Bouldjad won the race with a time of 24:16.2
Cowley will have some time off before competing at the Region VI Preview held Friday, October 14, at 10 a.m. in Iola, KS.
“We are very excited to see the regional course and then make preparations for that,” Rieth said.
