by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College can make a strong claim for being the best unranked volleyball team in the Jayhawk Conference.
Unfortunately, that still leaves the Lady Blue Devils as the seventh best team and in eighth place in the current conference standings.
A decisive 3-0 home court winner over Labette Wednesday, the Blue Devils improved to 3-4 in conference play and 14-10 overall but they still remain a half-game behind Allen County (3-3) for seventh place in the Jayhawk with three contests to play. KCKCC does hold the tie-breaker over Allen by virtue of a 3-1 win.
KCKCC is back on the road Monday at Fort Scott and after a weekend in the Lincoln Land tournament in Springfield, Illinois, the Blue Devils go to Highland Oct. 23 and finish at home against Hesston in the annual Sophomore Game Oct. 30.
Ranked No. 2 nationally, Coffeyville (6-0) leads the conference followed by No. 6 Fort Scott (6-1), No. 4 Cowley (5-1), No. 7 Johnson County (5-2), No.10 Highland (3-3) and No. 13 Cloud County (3-3). Against all foes, the six ranked teams are 140-25.
The Blue Devils jumped on Labette early and often as they rolled to 25-10, 25-13, 25-13 wins.
“An all-around team win with everyone on our roster getting a chance to contribute,” KCKCC coach Mary Bruno-Ballou said. “Cassidy Crist had a career high day with 18 kills and only one error in the three sets and the defense was outstanding..
“Overall I was very pleased with the things we did. As a group we put into play a lot of things on which we worked this week. Now we have to gear up for a really competitive match at Fort Scott on Monday.”
