Lady Tiger volleyball team places fourth at national tournament
After back-to-back national championships, the No. 6-seed Cowley College volleyball team had its string of titles come to an end with a fourth-place finish at the NJCAA Division II National Championships in Cedar Rapids, IA.
The Lady Tigers opened defense of their national titles with a pair of wins on Wednesday and Thursday. However, Cowley ran into a talented second-seed Heartland College squad on Friday, which snapped the Tigers' record 104-match winning streak earlier in the season.
The Hawks (40-4) won Friday's semifinal match over Cowley by a score of 25-13, 25-22, 25-15 and went on to win the national championship with a 25-22, 25-20, 25-23 win over Kansas City, Kansas.
"This was probably the toughest national tournament in the six years we have been there," Cowley head coach Steven Gream said. "Heartland was getting the hustle play kills and digs that national champions get. They served aggressively and did not allow us to get our offense rolling."
Freshman Teo Cekan led Cowley with seven kills in the loss.
Turning around to play in the third-place match less than 24 hours later, Cowley dropped the first two sets against No. 8-seed Gulf Coast State College by scores of 2519, 25-17, before rallying to force a fifth and final set with wins of 25-23 and 25-20 in sets three and four.
The Tigers led set five by scores of 9-3 and 10-5 before the Lady Commodores rallied to win 17-15 and take home the program's first-ever third-place trophy.
"We dug deep to force a fifth set, but we just could not stop their Number 1 (Danna Auilera), who finished with 27 kills," Gream said. "It was disappointing not to win that match, but I thought we played with no regrets."
Freshman Lana Gomilanovic led Cowley with 20 kills, while sophomores Josci Buckley (15 kills) and Ashlynn Jaccard (11 kills, .611 hitting percentage) also played well.
"Josci (720 career kills) always stepped up in big games, and Ashlynn hit .512 in her career at Cowley," Gream said. "Those two were both really solid for us."
Sophomore Hanna Darvas finished with 51 assists in the match against Gulf Coast and surpassed 2,700 career assists.
"Hanna is one of the best setters I have ever coached, and we would not have made it as far as we did without her," Gream said.
Other sophomores on the roster were Laura Santangeletta and Callie Parker.
Gomilanovic (428 kills), Cekan (338 kills), and Cassie Ellegood (211 kills) highlight a strong freshman group that gained valuable experience throughout the 2025 season.
"The freshmen came in and really helped contribute to the program," Gream said. "We need to get our hitting percentages up and improve our serve-receive and back-row defense."
Cowley finishes another strong season with a record of 32-7.