by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College’s young women’s volleyball team got an early wakeup call against Iowa Central Sunday. The visiting Tritons jumped in front 2-0 in the first 13 minutes and the Blue Devils needed three second-half goals to rally to a 5-3 win.
The win kept KCKCC (2-0) unbeaten heading into one of the season’s biggest tests, a Wednesday night home Jayhawk Conference opener against Butler County, the No. 8 ranked team in the nation in the NJCAA preseason poll of Division I teams. The opening kick will come at 6 p.m.
“A good win. We got tested early by some adversity but were able to work our way out of it,” KCKCC coach Shawn Uhlenhake said.
Iowa Central jumped in front at the 35:26 mark on a goal form outside the box by Julia Herbst and added a second two minutes later on a shot by Bruna Bielski. However, the Blue Devils got one goal back on a shot by freshman Corrine Hughes of Grain Valley and then tied it on a goal by freshman Katrina Sargent of Shawnee Mission South at the 22:25 mark. A second goal by Herbst off a foul gave the Tritons a 3-2 halftime lead.
Karleigh Enyart, a sophomore from Olathe Northwest, got the Blue Devils back even 3-3 less than five minutes into the second half with a shot from the top of the box and then put them ahead to stay when she scored from in front of the goal on an assist from freshman Madison Broeker with 23:25 remaining.
Kayla Deaver, a lightning quick sophomore from Lee’s Summit, added a game-clinching goal with 8:46, again on an assist from Broeker, a freshman from Lincoln, Neb.
“Kayley Pederson (Shawnee Mission West freshman) did a good job in the middle and Corrine Hughes and Kayla Deaver gave us big lifts coming off the bench,” Hulenhake said. “Deaver is electric; she makes things happen.”
The Blue Devils launched 14 shots while freshman goalkeeper Jaidyn Takaishi of Olathe North had two saves on six Iowa Central shots.
KCKCC has now scored five goals in each of its first two wins.
“We can score but we can’t count on that once we get into conference play,” Uhlenhake said. “We’ll find out for sure Wednesday night.”