Cavaliers Win 2005 National Championship
JCCC is the champion of NJCAA Division II volleyball. he Cavaliers completed their run through the tournament with a 3-games-to-1 victory over East Jayhawk Conference rival and No. 1 ranked Cowley County, in the title game in Scottsdale, Ariz. t is JCCC’s first national championship, and sixth appearance in a national tournament. he Cavaliers finished the season 35-4, the most wins under head coach Jill Stinson. The team also improved to 14-0 in Scottsdale this season. Earlier in the campaign, JCCC went 9-0 competing in the Valley of the Sun Tournament hosted by Scottsdale Community College.
Three sophomores, Lauren Kracl, Katie Jaschke and Emily Escher, were named to the National All-Tournament Team. Kracl was selected the tournament MVP. tinson was received the NJCAA Division II Coach of the Year award. JCCC, ranked No 2 nationally entering the tournament, opened the match with a 30-28 win, followed by another close win, 33-31. owley cut their deficit in game three, winning 31-29, but JCCC closed out the match with a 30-28 victory in game four. The win avenged a loss to Cowley County earlier this season, which prevented JCCC from winning the conference title. JCCC reached the title game by downing host Scottsdale Community College, 3-games-to-2. JCCC took the early advantage, winning the first two matches, 30-19 and 30-24. Scottsdale, the No. 4 ranked team in the country, fought back with consecutive wins of 30-22 and 30-27, sending the match to a fifth and final game. CCC prevailed 15-13. Stinson said Kracl, Escher and Katie Latenser passed the ball extremely well in the tournament, particularly the final two matches.
“Those three handled the ball so well, and Tenser (Katie Latenser) served an ace on the match point,” Stinson said. “I could tell from her toss and hit it was going to go in. atie served on match point in regionals and missed it, so it was great to see
Stinson said the Cavaliers got great effort from those three, as well as Jaschke, Ashley Simmons, Christine Watson, Krissy Busboom and Amanda Hester. Emily Goodlin, Lindsey Carpenter, Chelsea Davison and Whitney Segrist also played key points to help JCCC win the championship. he Cavaliers opened the tournament with a 3-1 win over Iowa Lakes, a team JCCC defeated twice earlier in the season. The Lakers opened the match with a 30-21 win, but JCCC rebounded with three straight game victories, winning 30-24, 30-28 and 31-29. CCC followed with a 3-0 win over McHenry County (Ill.), posting wins of 30-18, 30-22, 30-19. The Cavaliers defeated Central Nebraska 30-20, 28-30, 30-16 and 33-31 in the quarterfinals of the tournament.
JCCC takes down No. 2 Parkland to win the 2020-21 NJCAA D-II Volleyball national championship
The Johnson County Community College volleyball team completed its amazing run through the NJCAA Division II Tournament with a 3-1 (25-15, 22-24, 25-18, 25-19) victory over No. 2 seed Parkland College in the national title match Thursday night at Alliant Energy Powerhouse Arena in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
The Lady Cavaliers (27-2) swarmed the middle of the court after sophomore right-side hitter Mikayla Powell’s game-high 19th kill hit the floor close out the match and seal JCCC’s first national championship since 2005.
“This is the most amazing group of women – character-wise – that I’ve ever coached,” JCCC head coach Jennifer Ei said. “Not just successful here (on the court). Every single one of them got honors academically. They just are good people.”
Powell, who was named MVP of the tournament, had 19 kills and a hitting percentage of .351 in the championship match. She finished the tournament with 57 kills and a .339 kill percentage.
Sophomore Shannon Riley and freshman Sydney Healy, both members of the all-tournament team, combined for 19 kills against Parkland. Riley tallied 51 total kills and a .314 kill percentage, and Healy added 42 kills over the four matches.
Sophomore Gracie LaForge put up solid numbers at the net over the tournament. She contributed nine kills and a team-high seven blocks in the championship, and closed out play with 37 total digs and 15 blocks.
Setters Kallie Fenske (Broken Arrow, Okla.) and Ryleigh McBurney (Blue Springs South/Blue Springs, Mo.) combined for 44 assists. For the tournament, they tallied 110 and 97 respectively.
On the back row, sophomores Makenzie Griffel, Alyssa Smith and Maddie Steiner combined for 38 digs. Griffel led JCCC 88 total digs in tournament play, followed by Smith with 64 and Steiner with 39.
Parkland (33-2) finished second for the third straight season. Halle Everett and Jayden Sortor led the Cobras with 15 kills apiece. Summerlyn Smith had 44 assists for Parkland.
JCCC’s ride to the championship was quite bumpy at the beginning. The Lady Cavaliers survived two five-set matches against Pima and Kirkwood, fighting off six match points against the Eagles just to reach that point. Then JCCC caught fire. They took six of seven sets from the top-two seeded teams, sweeping No. 1 Illinois Central and went 3-1 with Parkland.
“We were a little shaky in the first match,” Stinson said. “We had some nerves when the tournament started, but after that, the girls played extremely well. They said it helped we had played there (Scottsdale) earlier this year.”