Johnson County lived up to its No. 4 national volleyball ranking Wednesday, turning back Kansas City Kansas Community College 3-0 in front of one of the Blue Devils' biggest home crowds in recent seasons.
The loss in front of an estimated crowd of more than 250 fans and players dropped the Blue Devils' record to 3-2 heading into a 6 p.m. home contest with Northeast Oklahoma Monday.
JCCC used pivotal scoring runs in the 25-19, 25-16, 25-20 sweep. Tied 5-5 in the opening set, the Cavaliers surged to a 16-7 lead. The Blue Devils trailed only 15-13 in the second set before JCCC opened a 20-13 lead. KCKCC led 6-0 in the third set only to have the Cavaliers take leads of 12-11 and 18-16 in the 25-20 win.
"We had almost as many kills (33) as Johnson County, but way too many hitting errors," said KCKCC Coach Mary Bruno-Ballou. "This team can score with any team, but we just had too many unforced errors (20). We need to get better with our serving and passing games."
Freshman Glodalys Colon led the Blue Devils in kills with nine while sophomores Amauri Browning and Taryn Dial along with freshman Jayda Watson each had five. Freshmen Kyra Levassar and Nykeriah Allen had four kills apiece. Dial had 22 assists and sophomore Lydia Huston, 10.
Despite the loss, Bruno-Ballou, who was honored prior to the game for posting her 250th career win the past weekend, was ecstatic about the big turnout.
"It was awesome, really engaged," she said. "It was so great to have just a big turnout."