by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College had defending national champion Coffeyville on the ropes in the NJCAA District II district volleyball playoffs in Coffeyville Saturday.
After dropping the first two sets 25-16, 25-19, the 8th-seeded Blue Devils won the third set 25-20 and led the fourth set 20-17 only to have the No. 2 nationally ranked Red Ravens score the final eight points for a 25-20 win.
“It was heartbreaking after leading most of the set,” KCKCC coach Mary Bruno-Ballou said. “We could just not get out of rotation. We subbed, called time out but were just not able to side out.”
Coffeyville (39-2) would go on to blank Johnson County 25-19, 25-18, 25-18, to join Fort Scott as the Jayhawk Conference’s two representatives in the national tournament. The win was the 15th in a row for the Red Ravens and 32nd shutout in 41 matches this season.
“Coffeyville is very good, very solid,” Bruno-Ballou said. “But we played with heart and fire and left everything on the floor, Libero Natalia Vega Aponte was outstanding and Amilex Lopez dynamic as a middle blocker with 15 kills.
“Even in losing, as a coach it was good to see us play with so much determination and effort and give it our best on the floor. I had several compliments from other coaches on how hard we played,” she said.
The loss ended the Blue Devils’ season at 18-14 with all but one of the 14 losses coming to nationally ranked teams including three to Coffeyville and a total of six to teams in the Jayhawk.