CCCC Sports Information
CONCORDIA - Preseason camp is set to wrap up in the next 48 hours as the Cloud County Community College volleyball team will open up regular-season play on Friday with a pair of matches against NJCAA Region XI schools in Iowa Lakes Community College and Marshalltown Community College to officially kick off their 2022 campaign.
Playing four games this weekend at the RKP Invitational hosted by Southeast Community College with action for the T-Birds getting started against the Lakers of Iowa Lakes at 11 a.m. on Friday before taking on Marshalltown at 3 p.m. to close out their opening day of competition. The weekend will then resume at 3 p.m. on Saturday when CCCC takes on Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Division II foe Coffeyville at 3 p.m. before a 5 p.m. match with Central Community College in what is slated to be the only match between schools this year after playing three times in the 2021 calendar year.
Of the 15-player roster that will don the black and gold this fall, only five are returners from last year's squad that won 17 games and gave head coach Deb Monzon her 600th career victory with a three-set sweep of Pratt. Heading into her 19th season at the helm of the T-Birds, Monzon currently sits 10th among active NJCAA Coaches in career wins and 20th among all NJCAA coaches both active and inactive. All five returners (Camryn Wessel, Zoe Bechard, Mariah Janda, Erin Deters, and Kenzie Cooper) saw action last year with Janda and Bechard both appearing in over 30 matches and 100-plus sets. Cooper finished fourth on the team last year in kills with 203 while ranking second in kills per set at 2.23 kills per set (91 total sets played). Newcomers that will look to make an immediate impact this fall are Marysville, Kansas native Madison Ronnebaum along with Doga Eski from Turkey as both will look to provide some offense on the front line.
Following the season's opening weekend RPK Invitational, Cloud County will then jump right into Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play as part of the nine-team KJCCC Division I setup with 16 conference games. Opening the conference slate with reigning KJCCC Champions and NJCAA Division I fourth-place finishing Butler Community College on the road on Aug. 24, the T-Birds will then have a full week off before hosting Colby Community College for their 2022 home opener on Aug. 31.
Other notable matches on the schedule for CCCC this season includes a four-game weekend at the 2022 Hutchinson Blue Dragon tournament against teams from Missouri and Iowa by taking on Missouri State-West Plains, Jefferson College, Mineral Area College, and Indian Hills over the weekend of Sept. 23-24, while sophomore night will take place on Oct. 24 against the Bethany College JV team. Of the 33 scheduled matches in the regular season, just 13 will come inside the friendly confines of Arley Bryant Gymnasium with nine of the 13 coming on Wednesday evenings.
Fans can watch all CCCC home matches this season on the T-Birds Sports Network (www.cloudtbirds.com/tbirdsportsnetwork), as well as stay up-to-date with all Cloud County volleyball-related news at www.cloudtbirds.com. Broadcast information for any road or neutral-site matches (if available) will also be posted to both the Cloud County athletics website and social media pages (Twitter and Facebook).