by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College returns to the Jayhawk Conference volleyball battlefield Wednesday after dividing four contests in the Central Nebraska Tournament in Columbus Friday and Saturday.
The Blue Devils (13-10) entertain Labette Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. and are home again next Monday against No. 6 ranked Fort Scott in their next-to-last regular season home contests.
KCKCC opened play in the Central Nebraska tournament with a 3-0 win over Southwestern Iowa Friday and finished with a 3-1 win over North Platte Saturday but dropped two contests in between, 3-2 to Central on Friday and 3-1 to Northeast Nebraska on Saturday.
“Our right side hitters Tara Mattingly and Cassidy Crist, and our middle blockers Michelle Dvorak and Malaysia StClair, played very well,” KCKCC coach Mary Bruno-Ballou said.
A sophomore from Wichita Northwest, Mattingly had 45 kills and 15 digs in the final three matches; DeSoto freshman Cassidy Crist 59 kills in four matches. Dvorak, a freshman from Park Hill South, had 39 kills, and St. Clair, a sophomore from Beaumont, Tex., had 20 kills. Gracie Golay, a sophomore from Trinity Academy in Wichita, had 113 assists in the final three contests.
KCKCC cruised 25-11, 25-16, 25-14 over Southwestern in the opener as Dvorak and Crist each had 10 kills, Adriana Velez 15 and Mattingly 13 assists and Amilex Lopez 15 digs.
Mattingly’s 21 kills and Golay’s 30 assists weren’t quite enough against Central as the host college eked out a 17-15 win in the final set. KCKCC won the first and third sets 28-26 and 25-21 but lost the second 25-16 and fourth 25-14.
After a 25-16, 23-25 split in the first two sets, Northeast Nebraska won the final two 25-12, 25-23. Mattingly had 15 kills, Dvorak 13, Crist 11 and StClair 8 for KCKCC while Golay had 40 assists. Defensively, Lopez had 22 digs, Natalia Vega Aponte 20 and Mattingly 16.
The Blue Devils took the first two sets against North Platte 25-20, 25-13, dropped the third 25-22 and then closed out the match 25-18 as Crist had 20 kills and Mattingly 11 kills and 9 digs. Lopez led in digs with 21 with Aponte added 10 and Golay 12 to go along with 43 assists.