Cowley volleyball team's incredible 104-match win streak comes to an end

"Winning is hard," Cowley head coach Steven Gream said. "The streak speaks to the character of our players, but all good things come to an end. We went to this tournament to get pushed and to see some of the teams we will face at the national tournament."

Cowley (24-2) opened the tournament by facing No. 6-ranked Parkland College (35-5 ). With the first set tied 10-10, Cowley scored the next six straight points and never trailed again in the 25-18 win.

Set two was tight initially, with Cowley clinging to a 10-9 lead before taking control in a 25-16 victory.

Leading 13-6 in set three, the Lady Tigers had their lead cut to 13-11 after five straight points by the Cobras. Parkland would tie the game at 18-18, 19-19, and 20-20, before going in front 21-20. The Cobras would score the final eight points of set three to win 25-20.

Parkland kept the momentum on its side, leading set four by a score of 11-5. The Cobras' lead would grow to 17-8, and Parkland would take Cowley to a fifth set for the first time this season with a 25-17 win in set four.

With the match on the line, Parkland scored three of the first four points of set five and led 6-3 before Cowley rallied to take a 7-6 advantage. The Lady Tigers' lead would grow to 13-8, but the Cobras scored the next three straight points to force Cowley head coach Steven Gream to call a timeout with the Tigers' leading 13-11.

The timeout worked as Cowley got a side-out and then scored the winning point to win the fifth set 15-11.

Sophomores Ashlynn Jaccard and Josci Buckley led Cowley with 12 kills apiece.

Less than two hours later, the Lady Tigers put their win streak on the line against third-ranked Heartland Community College (26-2). The Hawks outlasted Cowley 34-32 in a back-and-forth opening set.

The Lady Tigers were unable to bounce back from the loss of the first set, as they went on to drop the next two sets by scores of 25-20 and 25-15.

The loss was the first for Cowley since a defeat in the fifth-place game of the 2022 national tournament.

"That first set took a little wind out of our sails," Gream said.

Jaccard again led the Lady Tigers in kills with 11.

The Lady Tigers returned to the court on Saturday and easily defeated Hawkeye College (10-16) 25-13, 25-14, 25-14.

Buckley led Cowley with 11 kills, while Lana Gomilanovic added 10.

Cowley then wrapped up play in the invite by taking on fourth-ranked Kirkwood Community College (22-1). The Lady Tigers were not close in 25-10 and 25-15 losses in the first two sets, but battled hard in a 26-24 loss in the third set.

Gomilanovic led Cowley with eight kills, but the Lady Tigers hit only .101 as a team.

"Kirkwood came to play," Gream said. "We were coming off the disappointment of the night before and were fatigued from a long week. But, at the end of the day, they played well and we did not play as well as we could."

Sophomore setter Hanna Darvas finished with 109 assists in the four matches.

Cowley will look to begin a new win streak when they face Labette on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in Parsons, KS. The Cardinals are 19-14 overall and 2-4 in the conference.

"Labette is much improved from years past," Gream said. "We need to focus on Labette and not look ahead."