OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - The Johnson County Community College volleyball team has been consistently one of the best in the country under 16-year veteran head coach Jennifer Ei, and because of her track record, the Lady Cavaliers have been predicted finished runner-up the 2024 Kansas Jayhawk D-II Conference championship race behind defending conference and national champion Cowley College. Rounding out the top-5 are Kansas City Kansas Community College, Neosho County Community College and Allen Community College. The rest of the preseason order of finish has Highland sixth followed by Fort Scott, Coffeyville, Independence, Labette and Hesston.
Johnson County will also start the 2024 campaign as the No. 3 team in country. The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) released its Division II preseason poll on Monday. This is the 15th time in 17 years under Ei's leadership that her program has opened the season ranked, with 13 times in the Top 10 and 10 in the Top 5 including the No. 1 in 2011 and 2021.
Defending national champion Cowley is the No. 1 ranked team in the preseason poll, followed by national runner-up Scottsdale. Pensacola State comes in at No. 4 and Parkland rounds out the top-5.
The 2024 schedule features 11 matches against 10 teams ranked in the preseason poll beginning with a pair of matches in the Opening Weekend Tournament in Rockford, Ill. The Cavaliers face No.14 Grand Rapids on Friday, August 23 and a day later take on No. 6 Illinois Central. The other 11 D-II ranked teams are against No. 10 Heartland (Sept. 6 and Oct. 17), No. 5 Parkland (Sept. 7), No. 23 Sauk Valley (Sept. 7), No. 11 Des Moines Area (Sept. 13), No. 9 Kirkwood (Sept. 21), No. 1 Cowley (Oct. 12), No. 25 Enterprise State (Oct. 18), No. 4 Pensacola State (Oc.t 18)
JCCC will welcome seven 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 seven members from the 2023 team that finished 374, won a district title, and placed third at the NJCAA D-II National Tournament. Headlining the returnees are all-conference middle/outside hitter Beth Hedke and all-conference outside/right-side hitter Kennedy Smalley,
Entering her 17th year at head coach, Ei has amassed a record of 456-133 (.775) and led teams to national tournament appearances in 12 of her 16 seasons, with a national championship in the spring of 2021, runner-up finishes in 2008 and 1010 and third place finishes in 2013, 2018, 2021 and 2023. Her 12 tournament appearances tie for the most in Kansas Jayhawk Conference history with Barton Community College legendary coach Ray Bechard.
Ei's Cavaliers are also perennial powers in the Kansas Jayhawk Conference East Division, winning 81 percent (136-31) of her conference matches over 16 seasons. She also guided her team to the Kansas Jayhawk Conference East Division crown in 2010, 2015, 2020, 2022, and runner-up finishes five times. Her 456 wins currently rank fifth all-time in conference history, second 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.