by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Stunned by a 25-12 trouncing in the opening set, Kansas City Kansas Community College roared back for a 3-1 volleyball win over Park University’s junior varsity Friday night.
The win evened the Lady Blue Devils’ record at 1-1 heading into home games against Avila University junior varsity Monday at 7 p.m. and Jayhawk Conference rival Cloud County Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
“We had to adjust to Park’s offense,” said KCKCC assistant coach Dee Bruno, who took the coaching reins after head coach Mary Bruno-Ballou had to leave after one set to take part in a wedding. “Park runs a very fast offense so we made some lineup changes and adjusted. Our outside hitters, Katelyn Mask and Amilex Lopez Ayala, had a lot of kills. Overall we did a very good job the last three sets.”
After evening the match at 1-1 with a 25-17 second set win, the Blue Devils went ahead with a 26-24 victory and then turned back a late Park rally for a 25-21 win that closed out the match.
KCKCC led 22-15 in the final set only to have the Pirates close to 22-20. Setter Gracie Golay then caught the Pirates by surprise with a “dink” shot that went untouched and Mask closed out the win with a pair of kills.