No. 1 ranked Cowley County ended Kansas City Kansas Community College’s volleyball season Saturday but the unbeaten Tigers had to overcome early Blue Devil leads in each of three sets in a 3-0 sweep.
The Blue Devils led 14-13 in the first set and after Cowley had gone ahead 20-16, KCKCC closed to 22-20 before dropping a 25-22 decision.
KCKCC led the second set 7-5 and after falling behind 15-9, rallied to 23-20 before the Tigers prevailed 25-20. The Blue Devils also led the third set 13-12 only to have Cowley score nine of the next 10 points in a 25-19 win.
“We fought very hard in the championship match, played well and had opportunities to put ourselves in a successful position but could not capitalize at the end,” KCKCC coach Mary Bruno-Ballou said. “It was an excellent year and I’m very proud of this team. As a group, we worked for a common goal and made it to the championship game.”
The loss in the NJCAA Plains championship game closed out a 22-11 season for KCKCC while Cowley improved to 38-0 in earning a berth in the NJCAA Division II national tournament in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Nov. 18-20. The title game was played at Friends University in Wichita.
“I thought we battled very well against a very tough KCKC team,” Cowley coach Steven Gream said. “We overcame some mistakes and continued to play for each other.” Gream credited a large vocal following with helping with the Tigers’ comebacks.
“I couldn’t even talk to the players because of how loud the crowd was,” he said. “I thought they really put a lot of pressure on KCK.”