Category: KCKCC

by Tyler Scott, KCKCC sports information coordinator

A four-set win for the KCKCC volleyball team over Allen County Community College helped the Blue Devils not only secure a win on sophomore night, but a home match date in the upcoming district playoff tournament.

The Blue Devils improved to 23-9 overall and finish conference play with a 6-3 record.

For sophomore night, sophomores Ainsley Corwine, Kyla Brayden, Jessy Canales Guzman, Gracey Lovgren, Jo-Annie Perez, Nicole Hughes Hallee Burress and Carlee Lill were honored for their contributions to the program.

KCKCC sprinted out to a 14-4 lead in the first set against the Red Devils. The squad then outscored Allen 11-6 to finish off the first set 25-10.

Allen gave the Blue Devils a scare in the second set, but KCKCC overcame the narrow lead to win 25-20 and took a 2-0 match lead.

KCKCC surrendered the third set 25-18 to Allen County, but in the fourth set, the Blue Devils held a narrow lead late before turning it into a 25-20 set win. It was KCKCC’s fifth straight win and second consecutive conference win.

The Blue Devils will await their opponent next Wednesday, Nov. 2, as they hold a first-round district tournament match inside KCKCC Fieldhouse at 6 p.m.

by Tyler Scott, KCKCC sports information director

The Kansas City Kansas Community College Athletics Department has announced the 2022 Athletics Hall of Fame ceremony will be Saturday, Nov. 12.

This year’s inductees include Steve Bushnell, a former Blue Devils baseball player from 1986 to 1988, as well as the 2012 KCKCC volleyball team.

The ceremony to recognize inductees will take place between the men’s and women’s basketball games on Nov. 12, as part of the annual KCKCC Classic. The women’s game begins at 4 p.m. and the men’s game will begin soon after.

Also being honored will be the 2022 KCKCC softball team members, who will receive their District B Championship rings.

Bushnell attended Sumner High School and played for the Blue Devils as a pitcher and shortstop. He also earned the KCKCC Baseball Mike Haen Hustle Award in 1988 before transferring to Emporia State University in 1989.
“I certainly consider this to be one of the biggest honors I’ve received in life,” Bushnell said. “To be a youngster that grew up playing baseball in Wyandotte County and having attended high school at Sumner Academy. I followed Blue Devil baseball and the tremendous success and program that Coach Burleson had assembled in the 1980s and I wanted to be a part of that baseball tradition.

“I would not have had the opportunities as a player and the success as a high school coach if not for my experiences as a player in the KCKCC baseball program that I learned from playing for Coach Burleson. To be a kid that coach took a chance on and provided me the instruction, knowledge, discipline and an understanding of how to prepare and compete while playing the game of baseball helped set a foundation for how to win in the game life.”

After playing for the Hornets, Bushnell went on to head the baseball team at Seaman High School in Topeka, Kansas. In his 21 seasons as head coach, he has helped the team to 18 Kansas state playoff appearances, nine state championships and four runner-up finishes. In 2019 he entered the Emporia State University Hall of Fame and was recently inducted into the 2022 KABC (Kansas Association of Baseball Coaches) class.

“To be recognized as an inductee in the Blue Devil HOF is probably not deserving of my baseball skill because I’ve seen and followed so many for those former KCKCC greats that deserve this same recognition. I am truly humbled and honored, as is my family, for this amazing recognition from the KCKCC Blue Devil Hall of Fame.”

The 2012 KCKCC volleyball team had one of the most memorable seasons in program history. Finishing with the best record ever thus far at 32-8, the Blue Devils finished ranked sixth in the nation in the NJCAA Poll.

“We had the best group of athletes who were all about competition and striving to be the best,” head volleyball coach Mary Bruno-Ballou said. “They wanted to win and go to Nationals. Our team worded well together because they wanted each other to succeed. They wanted to be the first KCKCC team in history to go to the National Tournament and they were.”

Three of the squad’s best players also hail from the area in Lisa Angello, Jennie Kinsella and Kenya Alexander.

“I had just started playing volleyball and for me to join that team and we break so many records in that timeframe, it was most memorable thing,” Alexander said. “Honestly, that’s a blessing to finish sixth in the nation. I honestly never thought I’d be on the team that would be Top 10 in the nation at that point.
In the record books, Angello has the most services aces in program history and is third in kills. Kinsella has the second most total assists and Alexander holds records for career-high total blocks, single-season total blocks and single-game total blocks.

“It is probably my favorite memory of playing in college,” Kinsella said. “I think a little into the season we knew there was something very different about our team. Playing with that group of girls and Mary was very influential for us and that whole year was very life-changing.”

Alexander said she had a goal in mind to play overseas and playing at KCKCC helped her achieve that goal.

“Mary was the person that made me realize I wanted to play overseas volleyball,” Alexander said. “For her to help me accomplish that goal, is a blessing in itself. I still hold that near and dear to my heart.”

For more information on the KCKCC Athletics Hall of Fame, visit http://bluedevils.kckcc.edu/hof/index.