COLBY, Kan. – Reigning Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference division one volleyball regular season champion Barton Community College has been picked to repeat as conference champions in the 2024 KJCCC Division 1 Volleyball preseason order of finish as voted on by the nine league head coaches.

Receiving a perfect score of 81 points with all nine first-place votes, Barton is coming off a 25-6 campaign and a 13-3 mark in the KJCCC after winning the regular-season title by two games last season before falling in the KJCCC Tournament semifinals to Butler Community College. Heading into the season under second-year head coach Megan Besecker, the Cougars return nine players from last year’s roster including KJCCC Freshman of the Year and NJCAA Second-Team All-American Phoebe Reyes as well as four other returning all-conference selections.

Picked to finish second behind Barton is last year’s NJCAA Region VI Tournament Champion Colby Community College who claimed their third NJCAA Region VI Championship in program history to compete in the NJCAA Volleyball National Tournament for the first time since 1978. The Trojans earned 64 points after receiving five of the nine second-place votes and will look to follow up last year’s 23-11 overall record under head coach Carey Jones.

Following Colby and picked to finish third was Dodge City with second-year head coach Erin Mellinger set to lead the Conquistadors again after taking DC3 to the KJCCC Tournament semifinal round last season where they saw their season come to an end at the hands of Colby. Dodge City was one of three conference schools to defeat Barton in the regular season last year by sweeping the Cougars at home on September 6th. The Conquistadors picked up 58 points in the poll to edge out fourth-place Butler who earned 55 points as the Grizzlies will look to bounce back from last year’s fourth-place finish in the KJCCC regular season after earning at least a share of both the 2021 and 2022 KJCCC regular season titles. 

Rounding out the 2024 preseason order of finish are Hutchinson (53 points), Garden City (33 points), Cloud County 32 points, Seward County (19 points), and Pratt (10 points) as all nine teams will play a 16-match conference schedule that is set to get underway on Tuesday, August 27th. Hutchinson and Butler will kick off the conference schedule with a 6 PM tilt inside the Power Plant in El Dorado while the 2024 regular season will get underway on Thursday, August 22nd. Garden City will kick off the regular season for all nine schools when they play host to Eastern Wyoming College to kick off the Scooter’s Invitational with the remaining eight KJCCC schools all beginning their season the following day on Friday, August 23rd at various locations and tournaments.