Johnson County finishes the season with a record of 30-7 and, along with Cowley, showed the strength of the conference.

"I could not be more proud of this team," said Cowley head coach Steven Gream, who was named the Coach of the Tournament. "We had nine returning sophomores from the 2023 championship season and added a key sophomore and seven freshmen who bought into our system, grew throughout the season, and mixed well with our returners to form a great team. This team has great chemistry and just loves each other and playing for each other. They truly were 'With Each Other, For Each Other'. That was the secret to our success and the leadership of our sophomores."

Tournament Most Valuable Player Laura Bonomi led the way with 21 kills and 15 digs.

"Words cannot express how proud I am of her," Gream said. "Laura learned a lot from Rossana Papa, Sadie Kabisch, and Anna Kiss last year when they served as our sophomore leaders. She took what she learned and was a great leader and mentor to our new players, especially Josci Buckley, who was one of our main outside hitters. Laura also put the team on her back in the national tournament and led us to the championship, which is why she was named MVP. But not only did she lead in the national tournament, on the court, but she also led during the season in having such an amazing season."

Sara Puskus and Josci Buckley added 13 and 10 kills, respectively.

"Sara, like Laura, was a huge part of our championship run last year and was primed to have another great season. She helped us balance the court on offense with her strong attack but also added a strong serve and block to help our program be what it was on both sides of the ball. Teams have to worry so much about our outside hitters that Sara was there to make them pay when they overplayed our outsides and left her wide open. She had a great national tournament and had a great Cowley career, ending top 10 in Cowley history in kills in a career."

Freshman setter Hanna Darvas joined Bonomi with a double-double, finishing with 54 assists and 10 digs. Darvas and Puskus were named to the All-Tournament Team.

"Hanna had some huge shoes to fill in following Rossana Papa, who was one of the most, if not the most, decorated players in Cowley Volleyball history," Gream said. "When we recruited Hanna, we knew she had the skills set to fit our style of play and the huge volleyball IQ to go with it. That is exactly what we needed, and she trained and excelled for us this year. Her ability to set accurately in system and out of system with tempo is very difficult to do, for any player, let alone a freshman. She led our high-powered offense to be, once again, the top offense in the nation, and she is a big part of our championship run."

Lu Ceroni (nine kills) and Jessi Ritchhart (16 digs) also came up big in the win.

"We recruited Jessi out of high school because she was such a great player that we felt would fit with our style of defense. She was already part of the Cowley family, with her sister playing for us in 2016 and 2017. However, she chose to go to another school for her freshman season, only to decide to transfer to us last spring. She put in the work, earned the libero position, and was a huge part of our strong defensive success this season. The plays she made on the court, the energy she brought, and the leadership on and off the court were huge for our program and the success of our season."

The sophomores on the team finish their two years at Cowley with a record of 81-0 and two national championships.

"Winning a national championship is very hard, but winning back-to-back national championships is super hard with everyone putting a bullseye on you to bring the best match of their season," Gream said. "Then add winning back-to-back undefeated national championships is almost unreal or a dream. No other team in the NJCAA has done that. There are only three undefeated national championships in the history of the NJCAA, and we have two of them. That just shows how talented our sophomore class was to mix with the sophomores from last year and the freshmen from this year by never losing a match and only losing 10 sets in their career."

Gream and the players want to thank the Tiger fans for their support through another national title run.

"The Cowley community was our seventh man on the court with their love, support, and energy," Gream said. "We were at the tournament and saw a sea of orange in the stands, and our fans were pouring energy out on us."