Tigers Roundup: No. 1 VB blasts Fort Scott, No. 10/17 soccer teams ready for district tournaments

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From RAMA PEROO/Cowley College

Capping an undefeated season at home, the No. 1-ranked Cowley College volleyball team blasted Fort Scott 25-4, 25-8, 25-18 Wednesday night inside W.S. Scott Auditorium. Cowley (34-0) finishes 13-0 at home and clinched at least a share of the conference title with the victory.

Prior to Wednesday’s match Cowley honored its three sophomores that have won over 95 percent of their matches during their time at Cowley. The sophomores are setter Rossana Papa, outside hitter Anna Kiss, and libero Sadie Kabisch.

“Our sophomores have done a really good job for us,” Cowley head coach Steven Gream said. “They all put in the work and were great leaders for our freshmen this year.”

Cowley was dominant from the start on Wednesday, as they scored the first six points of set one and led by scores of 14-1, and 20-3 before winning 25-4.

Set two was much of the same with Cowley racing out to a 10-1 advantage. Again, the Lady Tigers led 20-3 before winning 25-8.

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“Our system is to play very aggressive and have die hard defense, when you put the two together you are going to see runs like you did tonight,” Gream said.

Trailing 4-3 in set three, Cowley would score the next eight points and did not look back in the 25-18 win.

Papa recorded her 12th double-double of the season, finishing with 26 assists and 10 digs. Laura Bonomi led the team with 11 kills, while Valerie Luna and Sara Puskus added nine and eight kills, respectively.

With the District Tournament set to begin Wednesday, November 1, the Lady Tigers have a chance to clinch the conference title outright with a win at last place Hesston College (2-22) Saturday at 2 p.m.

“We just need to focus on the next game,” Gream said.

Rivas helps lift Lady Tigers to 4-2 win over 11th-ranked Hutchinson

Playing for a chance at third place in the Jayhawk Conference, the No. 17-ranked Cowley College women’s soccer team came out with a vengeance while playing against No. 11-ranked Hutchinson Community College Monday afternoon at a windy Mark A. Phillips Athletic Complex. The Lady Tigers got a pair of first half goals from sophomore Lucia Rivas and held on for a 4-2 win over the Blue Dragons.

Cowley finishes the regular season with a record of 9-3-4 in the Jayhawk Conference, one-point in front of Hutchinson (9-3-3) for third place and behind only conference champion Barton and runner-up Kansas City Kansas Community College.

Rivas scored the first of her two goals only 50 seconds into Monday’s contest.

“That is what we always dream about is scoring in the first minute of the game,” Cowley head coach Roberto dos Santos said.

After flirting with tying the game on a couple of opportunities, Hutchinson finally broke through when Kaitlyn Edwards scored to tie the game at 1-1 with 27:09 left in the opening half.

Marin Peoples made the start in goal for Cowley, but was replaced by Kanon Dehama following the goal by Edwards.

Cowley responded with Rivas scoring her second goal of the game just over four minutes later. Rivas now leads the Lady Tigers with seven goals scored on the season.

“Lucia is a battler. I am so happy for her to get the two goals,” dos Santos said.

Hina Susuki would tack on a third goal in the opening half for the Lady Tigers as she scored her fifth goal of the season with 13:40 remaining.

However, It took Hutchinson just 18 seconds into the second half to cut Cowley’s lead to 3-2 on a goal by Jayda Wyatt.

Clinging to the one-goal advantage, Sara Espinosa would help push Cowley’s lead back to two goals when she scored off a well-executed corner kick by Evelyn Borges with 38:05 left to play. The goal was also Espinosa’s fifth of the season.

Cowley swept the season series against Hutchinson and will now host the First Round of the Plains District Tournament this weekend in Arkansas City. The Lady Tigers will host Dodge City (4-8-5) Friday at 2 p.m.

“We are happy with the win and are glad to move up in the standings,” dos Santos said. “The key is for us to recover, be healthy and go into the playoffs with a desire to win.”

Seven players score in Tigers’ 7-0 road win at KCK

Letting out the frustration of an uncharacteristic three-game losing skid, the No. 10-ranked Cowley College men’s soccer team scored six second-half goals in a 7-0 win at Kansas City Kansas Community College in its final game of the regular season played Saturday in Kansas City, Kansas.

Cowley (12-4) finished second in the Jayhawk Conference behind sixth-ranked Barton County as the Tigers went 8-4 in conference play, and the Cougars are 8-1-2 heading into its regular season finale against Seward County.

“It was a relief to have a glimpse of what we could be,” Cowley head coach Ruy Vaz said. “Winning the conference was our first goal, so we still have a kind of sour taste in our mouth.”

On Saturday, sophomore Bruno Fornes scored his first goal of the season off an assist from Mate Kenyares to give the Tigers a 1-0 halftime lead.

The score would remain 1-0 until Sora Funakoshi scored off a penalty kick, increasing Cowley’s lead to 2-0 15 minutes into the second half. The goal by Funakoshi was his team-leading 11th of the season.

The Tigers would score five goals in the final 15 minutes of Saturday’s game. Kenyares and Shogo Haraikawa scored their sixth goals of the year, Carlos Noboa added his fifth goal of the season, Leo Jaukovic chipped in with his fourth goal, while Israel Anima scored his first collegiate goal.

After three straight one-goal defeats, the Tigers scored their most goals in a conference game this season.

“The guys were relieved,” Vaz said. “It was good to have a response like this and channel our energy in the right way before the playoffs. It was also good for Bruno and Israel to get that first goal out of the way. I am very happy for them.”

Cowley will be the second seed in the Region VI Playoffs and will host either Seward County (8-6-3) Friday at 4 p.m. The winner will face the champion of Region 16 in the semifinals.

“Scoring goals will be the key,” Vaz said. “It comes down to putting the ball in the back of the net.”

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