Category: KCKCC

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Kansas City Kansas Community College peppered the Coffeyville goal with 17 shots Wednesday night in a 3-1 Jayhawk Conference win on the road.

The win kept the Blue Devils in the thick of the Jayhawk race.

Tied with Neosho County for third place at 3-2, they trail Johnson County (4-0-1) and Cowley College (3-1-1) heading into the second round of conference play.

Home Sunday against St. Louis Community College in a noon kickoff, the Blue Devils resume conference play next Wednesday against Cowley in a battle for third.

Sophomore Marcos Cabral gave KCKCC a 1-0 first half lead by converting a penalty kick with 37 minutes gone in the opening period.

Coffeyville got even with an unassisted goal five minutes into the second half before KCKCC won the sprint to the finish.

Freshman Lucas Santo took a pass from another frosh, Elijah Bathily, and outraced a defender for the go-ahead goal with 32 minutes left in the second half and freshman forward Samba Gnokane clinched the win with an unassisted goal at the 72-minute mark.

“Different players scored for us which is good,” KCKCC head coach Ruben Rodriguez said. “Our first two goals were scored by defenders. We played together and worked cohesively. We want to continue this good run but still have more work to do.”

Three of the Blue Devils final five conference games will be played at home. Coffeyville managed 10 shots against goalkeeper Bosco Pery, who had three saves on four shots on goal.

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Any volleyball win in the Jayhawk Conference is big; winning on the road is even bigger.

Kansas City Kansas Community College got one Wednesday, taking a 3-0 decision at Neosho County in Chanute.

“Our best all-around performance of the year and it came at a perfect time,” KCKCC coach Mary Bruno-Ballou said.

With four of their final five Jayhawk contests at home, the win put the Blue Devils in position to move up in the conference standings starting next Wednesday when they play host to Cowley College at 6:30 p.m.

Defending national champion and No. 2 ranked Coffeyville leads the league at 3-0 followed by Johnson County and Fort Scott, both 4-1; Cowley, 3-1; Highland, 3-2; Cloud County, 2-2; and KCKCC, 2-3.

The Blue Devils (11-7) stretched their winning streak to three in a row at Neosho, taking a see-saw 25-23 win in the opening set and then leading all the way in 25-15, 25-21 closing wins.

“A great conference win,” Bruno-Ballou said. “We played exceptionally well as a group; good consistent volleyball. And a fantastic and energetic bench made a world of difference.”

The Blue Devils got several outstanding performances.

“Our middle blockers were outstanding,” Bruno-Ballou said. “Malaysia StClair had nine kills and four blocks; Michelle Dvorak eight kills and two blocks. Tara Mattingly on the outside had 10 kills and two blocks and Allayah Stillwell five blocks from the right side. And our back row play was phenomenal. We ran a 5-1 offense and Gracie Golay had 35 assists.”

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

A big finish enabled Kansas City Kansas Community College to climb into sixth place in the annual Ottawa Fall Invitational golf tournament at Eagle Bend in Lawrence Tuesday.

Seventh at 333 after the opening round, the Blue Devils chipped 17 shots off the opening round for a 316 finish that the was the third lowest round on the final day.

The big finish enabled KCKCC (639) to vault past Tabor (659), which had led the Blue Devils by four shots at the halfway mark.

Des Moines Area Community College finished just 11 shots over par in the 36-hole event, a 587 total that was 20 shots in front of runnerup Metropolitan Community College (607).

Five DMACC players finished among the top seven in medalist competition.

Other teams finishing ahead of KCKCC were Ottawa (635), Rockhurst (638) and Baker (641).

Sophomore Cameron Riley of Liberal led KCKCC, finishing in a tie for 12th with an 87-88-155 total.

Three Blue Devils tied for 24th – Jacob Hall (84-81-165) of Tonganoxie, Dylan Freund (85-80-165) of Cheney and Keegan Ellington (82-83-165) of Andover Central.

Mark Towey (86-80-166) of Bishop Carroll was another stroke back in a tie for 28th while Kellen Welsh of Olathe West had the Blue Devils second best round of the final day (89-79-168) in finishing 32nd.

KCKCC returns to action Monday and Tuesday when they’ll compete in the Culver University Invitational that will be played on one of the premier courses in the Midwest, Porta Cima at Sunrise Beach, Missouri, at the Lake of the Ozarks.