OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Johnson County Community College head volleyball Jennifer Ei recently achieved a historic milestone: her 500^th career victory, earned last Wednesday night, October 1,  in her team's 3-0 sweep over Coffeyville. Ei becomes just the fifth head volleyball coach in Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference history to reach 500 victories.

For 18 seasons coach Ei has been the driving force behind the Cavaliers volleyball program, building  a tradition of excellence that has earned her a reputation of producing perennial top-ranked teams in the NJCAA. This season her team has been a top-10 ranked program in all six polls and currently hold down ninth spot  in NJCAA Division II.

Ei has led the Lady Cavaliers to national tournament appearances in 13 of her 17 seasons, with a national championship in 2020-21, runner-up finishes in 2008, 2010 and 2024, and third place finishes in 2013, 2018, 2021 and 2023. Her 13 tournament appearances are the most in Kansas Jayhawk Conference history passing Barton Community College legendary coach Ray Bechard. Also in those 17 seasons, Ei has had her teams appear in 156 of 165 NJCAA Coaches Polls (95%), including 108 times in the top five, and 17 weeks at No. 1, including seven weeks in 2022 and four weeks in 2023. Her teams have also finished in the top five in nine of the 17 NJCAA season ending polls. 

Ei's Lady Cavaliers are also perennial powers in the Kansas Jayhawk Conference, winning 81 percent (148-35) of her conference matches. She also guided her team to the Kansas Jayhawk Conference East Division crown in 2010, 2015 and 2020-21, and runner-up finishes five times.  Her 486 wins currently rank first among active conference coaches, fifth among all-time 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 and 2020-21 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. 

Ei has also mentored 21 NJCAA All-America performers, including 12 first-team selections, one NJCAA National Player of the Year, seven AVCA All-Americans, four volleyballmag.com All-Americans, 16 NJCAA All-Tournament picks including one MVP, 62 All-Region/District selections, and 68 All-East Jayhawk Conference selections, including two conference MVP awards, two Defensive Players of the Year and one Freshman of the Year. 

Off the court her student-athletes have consistently been recognized for their academic achievements, as 83 percent of her players (179-of-216) achieved a grade point average of 3.0 or better during the fall semester in each of her 17 seasons.  In the 2014, 2020 and 2021 fall semesters, all her student-athletes topped a 3.0 grade point, in 2015, 13 of the 14 players recorded GPAs above 3.0 and in 2022, 12 of 13 roster players had a 3.0 or higher. Additionally, 74 of her players have gone on to earn NJCAA Student-Athlete Academic award honors accumulating a grade point above a 3.6, including 24 earning a 4.0 GPA.

In 2020, libero Rylie Barnum became the second JCCC female athlete, and first volleyball player, to earn Academic All-America® College Division At-Large as named by College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA). In the spring of 2021, Gracie LaForge was bestowed the prestigious honor of Academic All-America® by CSC and in 2023 Jaydyn Troutman became the third volleyball player honored. Ei also has had six student-athletes earned CSC Academic All-District® College Division At-Large.

KJCCC Coaches with 500 Victories