OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Head coach Jennfer Ei and the Johnson County Community College volleyball program have announced their schedule for the upcoming 2023 season.
In total, JCCC is set to compete in 36 total matches, 10 conference, 26 non-conference, 24 road matches and 12 home matches. Eleven of JCCC's two-year opponents were ranked in the final NJCAA D-II Poll, and four other opponents were ranked at one time during the 2022 campaign.
After exhibition matches on August 12 and 15, the Cavaliers open their season on the road in Rockford, Ill., competing in the Opening Weekend Tournament hosted by Rock Valley College followed by their 2023 conference opener at Kansas City Kansas August 23. They host their first match against Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Saturday, August 26 at noon.
"We are playing in a few different tournaments this season so we can see some more competitive teams at the D-II level," Ei said. "We think playing a competitive schedule with a good amount of ranked teams during the season will help us grow as a team. It also helps to see competitive programs during the season who tend to compete at the national tournament. Opening Weekend Tournament is an excellent tournament to start the season off because they have a huge amount of talented team competing."
JCCC will welcome 10 new student-athletes to the program this fall as the Cavaliers prepare for another strong season in the Kansas Jayhawk Conference while looking for a run to a NJCAA D-II national championship.
Additionally, Ei returns five members from the 2022 team that finished 36-5, won conference and district titles, and placed fourth at the NJCAA D-II National Tournament. Headlining the returnees is outside/right side hitter Sophia Ewy. Last season, Ewy earned honorable mention All-Kansas Jayhawk D-II Conference and honorable mention All-Region 6/District A honors. She was the only freshman on the roster to earn postseason honors last year.
Entering her 16th year at head coach, Ei has amassed a record of 419-129 (.764) and led teams to national tournament appearances in 11 of her 15 seasons, with a national championship in the spring of 2021, runner-up finishes in 2008 and 1010 and third place finishes in 2013, 2018 and 2021. Her 11 tournament appearance are second only to Kansas Jayhawk Conference and Barton Community College legendary coach Ray Bechard. Also in those 15 seasons, Ei has had her team appear in 135 of 144 NJCAA Coaches Polls, including 92 times in the top five, and 13 weeks at No. 1, including seven weeks in the 2022 season. Her team also finished in the top five in seven of the 15 season ending polls.
Ei's Cavaliers are also perennial powers in the Kansas Jayhawk Conference East Division, winning 81 percent (127-30) of her conference matches over 15 seasons. She also guided her team to the Kansas Jayhawk Conference East Division crown in 2010, 2015, 2020, 2022, and runner-up finishes four times. Her 419 wins currently rank fourth among active conference coaches, and are second most all-time in team history. She also is just the second JCCC volleyball coach to be selected as KJCCC East Division Coach of the Year, earning the honor following the 2010, 2020 and 2022 campaigns. She was also selected the NJCAA D-II Coach of the National Tournament and the NJCAA D-II National Volleyball Coach of the Year in 2020-21.