andrea mitchell

A call late in the match that did not go their way supplied the extra spark the third-ranked Cowley College volleyball team needed Wednesday night to dispose of a scrappy Coffeyville team 30-16, 30-23, 28-30, 40-38 at W.S Scott Auditorium.

After going back and forth, Cowley was tied at 37 and was serving game point. A sharply hit ball went out of bounds.

The crowd and most of the Lady Tigers felt it had touched a Coffeyville player before going out of bounds, but the referee didn't see it that way.

Coffeyville, ranked 14th in the latest NJCAA Division II poll, then led 38-37. Cowley's defense then rose to the occasion and got a stop and regain control with the serve. Lillian Rezende responded with a sharp kill to put the Lady Tigers ahead 39-38. Moments later, she blocked a shot to give the match. "That call made us so mad," said sophomore Valerie Cox. "It did energize us."

Middle Hitter freshman Victoria Green said the call inspired the team enough to get the points it had to have to win the match.

Green finished with 12 kills and nine blocks. Sophomore Andrea Mitchell added 13 digs.

Mitchell didn't know if it was a bad call, but she credited it with getting the crowd fired up and helping the team get over the hump.

Early on, it looked like the unbeaten Lady Tigers would cruise to another easy win.

Three consecutive kills by Rezende broke a 12-12 tie and the Lady Tigers pulled away from there to take a 30-16 win in the first game.

Cowley started the second game at 0-4, but gradually pulled away for a 30-23 win.

Cowley got into a 8-2 hole early in the third game. The team managed to catch up at 23 and again at 28, but surrendered the last two points to lose 30-28.

The fourth game was a marathon. Cowley led by as many as six early, but Coffeyville scrapped and clawed its way into a tie game at 18.From there it was very close with neither team leading by more than three.

Cowley trailed 29-26 with Coffeyville serving game point, but the Lady Tigers managed to mount a defensive stand and tied the game at 29 on a tip by Rezende. From there it was very close with both teams having multiple opportunities to put the game away.

On the stretch, Green has some kills running a "slide play" where she circled around the setter to make a kill.

"We haven't run that play much, but they were expecting us to hit from the middle, so it worked out," she said.

She said the match was perhaps harder than expected, especially after winning the first two games rather handily. Several of the players said they were not communicating as well in the third game, which allowed Coffeyville a chance to get back into the game.

Once they were back in, Coffeyville gained confidence against the Lady Tigers.

"They got into our heads a little," Mitchell said. "We just made a lot of mistakes in that third game. A long game like the fourth one is frustrating, but we raised the intensity level."

Mitchell was a defensive stopper last year, and is a setter this year. She also had a few kills from the front row.

"That is a lot of fun. I love the intensity of being in the front row," she said.

Cowley improved to 8-0 on the season with the win.

Above: Cowley College freshman Victoria Green records a kill during the third-ranked Lady Tigers' 30-16, 30-23, 28-30, 40-38 win over 14th-ranked Coffeyville Wednesday evening at W.S. Scott Auditorium.

Love secrets of the Maestro -- revealed! Ever wonder how Alan Greenspan managed to land a much younger babe like Andrea Mitchell? Now revving up the promotional machine for his new book, the former Fed chairman and his now-wife divulge in a "60 Minutes" interview, to air Sunday on CBS, how he got her back to his apartment after that first dinner date in 1984.

According to Mitchell, he told her he wanted "to show me an essay he had written."

It was easy enough for GQ to name the "50 Most Powerful People in D.C.". . . but how many of them would attend the magazine's Monday night party in their honor? And who would be the highest-rated pooh-bah to cross the threshold at Cafe Milano (of course)?

"Leahy was here -- that gets us up to Number 18," said uberflack David Bass, eyeing the Vermont senator's placement on GQ's periodic table-style chart.

" Harry Reid is here!," said editor in chief/Greenbelt native Jim Nelson. "Or he's supposed to be here. So, Number 2."

Alas, only Reid's security guy showed -- and stood out front awkwardly for an hour until learning the RSVP'd Senate majority leader had had a change of plans. So the official Most Important People in the Room were tied-for-sixth super-lobbyists Bill Novelli and Billy Tauzin. In all, GQ snagged 20 of the 50, including Rahm Emanuel (No. 17), John Podesta (No. 22) and Dan Snyder (No. 31).

(Louis Vuitton)
Have you seen the oh-so-exclusive Louis Vuitton Tribute Patchwork, this year's ultimate status bag? A local woman -- identity undisclosed -- dropped $52,500 this summer for the special-order, oversize tote created from 14 other sliced-and-stitched Vuitton purses. It's one of only five sold in North America and worth a look at the real thing before the K Street vendors start selling $29.99 knock-offs. We've loitered in Saks and Neimans, scanned backs of chairs at the Four Seasons -- but haven't glimpsed the purse yet. Help us

Divorcing?: Televangelist Juanita Bynum and prominent D.C. minister Bishop Thomas Weeks III, according to court papers Bynum filed in Georgia Monday, though lawyers for Weeks said yesterday that he would contest the divorce. Weeks is facing charges that he beat and threatened to kill his wife outside an Atlanta hotel last month.

"Man, they were just trying to get ratings, and they knew she wasn't ready and they exploited her."

-- Kanye West, blaming MTV for Britney Spears's universally panned performance leading off Sunday's Video Music Awards. The 30-year-old rapper also griped to Sirius Satellite Radio yesterday that MTV should have picked him to open the show with his new single "Stronger."