OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - The Johnson County Community College volleyball team has been consistently one of the best in the country under 15-year veteran head coach Jennifer Ei, and because of her track record, the Lady Cavaliers have been predicted to win the 2023 Kansas Jayhawk D-II Conference championship race ahead of Cowley, Kansas City Kansas and Coffeyville.
Johnson County will also start the 2023 campaign as the No. 4 team in country. The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) released its Division II preseason poll on Monday. This is the 15th time in 16 years under Ei's leadership that her program has opened the season ranked, with 12 times in the Top 10 and nine in the Top 5 including the No. 1 in 2011 and 2021.
Defending national champion Richard Bland is the No. 1 ranked team in the preseason poll, followed by Scottsdale and Parkland with KJCCC rival Cowley rounding out the Top 5.
The 2023 schedule features 11 matches against nine team ranked in the preseason poll beginning with a pair of matches in the Opening Weekend Tournament in Rockford, Ill. The Cavaliers face No. 8 Muskegon on Friday, August 18 and a day later take on No. 15 Gulf Coast State. The other seven D-II ranked teams are against No. 11 Illinois State (Sept. 8), No. 12 Heartland (Sept. 9 and Oct. 6), No. Parkland (Sept. 9 and Oct. 7), No. 18 Bismarck State (Oct. 6), No. 10 Kirkwood (Oct. 7), No. 5 Cowley (Oct. 11) and No. 7 Iowa Central (Oct. 20).
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.
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.