by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
A narrow loss to No. 19 ranked Iowa Central was the only blemish on Kansas City Kansas Community College’s record in the annual Blue Devil Volleyball Invitational Friday and Saturday.
Winning three of four matches, the Blue Devils are right back home Wednesday against Jayhawk Conference rival Independence at 6:30 p.m. before beginning a month-long road trip that will include two tournaments and five matches, four against Jayhawk rivals. KCKCC will not return home until Oct. 30 when the Blue Devils close out regular season play against No. 14 ranked Fort Scott.
The Lady Blue Devils opened tournament play with a 25-19, 25-11, 25-18 win over Southwestern Iowa on Friday before losing a pair of down to the wire 2-point thrillers to Iowa Central, falling 25-23, 25-19, 25-23.
The Blue Devils then swept Saturday’s two matches, defeating Southeast Nebraska 25-17, 25-21, 18-25, 25-21 and Labette 25-17, 25-14, 25-22.
“We played well,” KCKCC coach Mary Bruno said. “Iowa Central is a very good team and we played them to two 2-point sets. This was a very competitive tournament with three ranked teams and a Longview team that is rated very highly.”
Two Jayhawk Conference powers, No. 5 Coffeyville and No. 11 Cowley, each finished 4-0 in the eight-team tournament while Iowa Central’s only losses were to Coffeyville and Cowley.