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HCC Sports Information
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The Hutchinson Community
College volleyball team opens the 2009 season ranked No. 13 in the preseason
NJCAA Division I national poll, released on Wednesday.
The defending Jayhawk West
and Region VI champion Lady Dragons were 30-16 last season, finishing 10th
in the NJCAA National Tournament.
This is the sixth time in
the last seven seasons that the Lady Dragons have been ranked in the NJCAA
national preseason poll. It also marks the 49th time in the last 51 national
polls that the Lady Dragons have been ranked.
“It’s nice to be ranked in
the preseason poll,” HCC head coach Ronda Shirley said. “I don’t have a
grasp right now of if that’s where we should be, but with this group, this
is good pressure to have. It gives our kids a good sense of the tradition we
have and the expectations that are on us.”
One full-time starter, two
part-time starters and six players overall return from HCC’s 2008 regional
championship team.
Shirley and the HCC coaching
staff now begin the process of blending those six players with a talented
group of freshmen that the 12th-year Lady Dragon coach is very high on.
Returning for the Lady
Dragons are middle blocker Debbie Ohl, who had 175 total blocks and averaged
2.02 kills and hit .242 in her freshman season where she was first-team
All-Jayhawk Conference and first-team All-Region VI.
Sophomore outside hitter
Bailea Phelan came on during the final third of the season and started
throughout the postseason. Phelan averaged 1.82 kills and hit .127. Those
numbers improved to 2.00 kills per game and a .151 hitting percentage over
the final 11 matches of the season.
Outside hitter Karol Marins
returns after a freshman season where she shows dominant moments. Shirley
said she has put a lot of off-season time to continuing her transition from
the Brazilian beach to the six-player court. Marins averaged 1.93 kills and
hit .193.
Also returning is Shayley
Jacobson (4.03 set assists), who was a back-up setter in 2008, middle
blocker Shelley Kemper and defensive specialist Mara Huck (1.83 digs per
game).
Shirley is also excited
about freshmen middle blockers Kate Morrell (6-foot) from Ogallala, Neb.,
and Beth Cornwell (6-1) from St. John. Another key addition to the 2009
Lady Dragons is transfer outside hitter Carol Logato, a Brazilian native who
played last season at Polk State College in Florida.
HCC’s schedule for 2009 will
once again be formidable.
Right off the bat, HCC will
face three nationally ranked teams in the season-opening Iowa Western Reiver
Classic on Aug. 28 and 29 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. HCC opens the season with
Division II, No. 5 Des Moines Area Community College and Division I No. 6
Iowa Western on the tournament’s opening day and No. 3 Missouri State-West
Plains on Day 2.
HCC will also play No. 17
Pratt and Division II, No. 12 Butler. Also, the Lady Dragons will compete in
tournaments at No. 10 Hillsborough Community College and No. 22 Tyler Junior
College.
“(The schedule) is good for
us.” Shirley said. “Whether we get wins or losses, it gives our kids a
reality of what it takes to be one of the top teams in the nation. I’m
excited that we are playing two Top 6 teams at Iowa Western. I don’t know if
we are 100 percent ready to play, but it will give our kids a sense of being
at that level and what it takes to get to that level.”
Defending national champion
Blinn College is the No. 1 preseason team. Western Nebraska, the 2007
national champion is No. 2.
2009 NJCAA DIVISION I
VOLLEYBALL PRESEASON POLL
1. Blinn
College 32-2
2. Western Nebraska CC 59-4
3. Missouri State-West Plains 38-15
4. Miami-Dade College 26-8
5. Salt Lake
CC 35-10
6. Iowa Western CC
51-5
7. Frank Phillips College 42-11
8. North Idaho College
32-12
9. San Jacinto College
30-13
10. Hillsborough CC
33-8
11. Indian Hills CC
32-12
12. Eastern Arizona
18-17
13.
Hutchinson 30-16
14. College of Southern Idaho 30-6
15. Casper College
32-18
16. Temple College
26-14
17. Redlands CC
26-8
18.
Pratt 20-19
19. Northeastern Junior College 33-12
20. Florida State College-Jacksonville 25-7
21. Arizona Western
15-18
22. Tyler Junior College
15-16
23. Hill
College 25-14
24. Cape Fear CC
13-13
25. Wallace State CC N/A |
