Attempting to dig itself out of an early season hole, the Cowley College volleyball team evened its record at 5-5 after a pair of home wins on Thursday. The Lady Tigers defeated Labette Community College 25-21, 25-19, 25-18 before knocking off the Southwestern College JV 25-20, 25-15, 25-12.

Cowley improves its record to 3-5 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division, while Labette falls to 1-6.

Trailing 13-4 in the opening set against Labette, Cowley rallied for the 25-21 win.

“We dug ourselves a hole early on, but played much cleaner after that first set,” Cowley head coach Steven Gream said. “It was good to see we are learning how to bounce back and go one play at a time and not worry about the scoreboard.”

Sophomore Iva Halacheva led Cowley with 14 kills in the win over Labette, while freshman Macy Shreffler added 12 kills with zero hitting errors.

After another slow start against the Southwestern JV, the Lady Tigers picked up their play and cruised to the straight set win.

“We spread the ball around more and had the balanced attack we are looking to have,” Gream said.

Halacheva again led Cowley with 11 kills and freshman Maddy Pitts added five kills.

The Lady Tigers will look to climb above .500 when they play at No. 7-ranked Johnson County Tuesday at 6 p.m. The Lady Cavaliers are 5-1 overall and 4-1 in the Jayhawk East.

“Johnson County is well coached and will present a good challenge,” Gream said. “We feel we can play with them and have a chance to win if we limit our unforced errors and play the way we are capable of.”