New players join Lakers Volleyball

MCC-Longview this week unveiled the new players and a new team manager that will join the Lakers this fall for the 2011 season.

Ali Tomlin, Brooke Endsley, Julia LaBella, Rebecca Jordan, Sammi Phegley and Taylor Charmichael will join the Lakers for their summer camp and training as they prepare for the upcoming season. To keep track of your Lakers Volleyball team, be sure to check in here, on Facebook and over at the Lakers Volleyball Website.

Read about where each of the new players are coming from after the jump.

Sign up today for the MCC-Longview Lakers Volleyball all-skills camp

The MCC-Longview Lakers Volleyball team once again will be offering exclusive volleyball camp opportunities.

Coach Rob Kaleikau and assistant coach Marnie Winters, along with the Lakers volleyball team, will demonstrate the fundamentals and basic skills needed for any budding volleyball superstar.

All skill levels are welcome. Send in your sign up sheet today!

Lakers Volleyball All-Skills Camp

June 20 - 24, 2011

Longview Rec. Center

Cost $130/person

Call 816.604.2400 with questions.

Download the application and get signed up today.

Intramural tournament champions in basketball, volleyball, dodgeball

Students from Metropolitan Community College-Blue River competed with students from MCC-Longview and MCC-Penn Valley in the intramural tournaments, a huge event hosted by MCC-Blue River. The intramural tournaments boasted 21 teams comprising 78 players of three sports, including basketball, volleyball and dodgeball. In all, eleven basketball teams, seven volleyball, and three dodgeball teams took the court.

The final winner of the basketball tournament was the team KJock, whose members were Kyle Jackson, Korey Stucker, Hakim Houston and DeAngelo Mack. They defeated a team made up of Somali students from MCC-Penn Valley in the final round. Their contrasting styles of play made for a fun final.

Team SWAG won the Dodgeball Tournament. SWAG was the only team to participate in all three intramural tournaments. The team members were

Muggles and Misfits - MCC-Blue River volleyball fun

­On Thursday, Dec. 2, several MCC-Blue River staff and students participated in the Blue River Coed Volleyball Tournament. Two teams landed in the finals – one comprised of staff and one made up of students.

On the students’ team were Paul Carter, Luke Hermann, Leah Carter, Kai Ortner, and Sabrina Collison. The staff team included Meg Holcomb, Karen Goos, Jenny Steen, and Rowdy Pyle. In full Blue River spirit, the teams coined fun names for themselves such as “Misfit Toys”, “Muggles” and “Awesome Opossums.”

Throughout the afternoon, they had great fun spiking, setting, digging, serving and dishing out a whole lot of good-natured blame (i.e. “I thought you had it!”).

However, to the staff went the spoils of victory. They defeated the students’ team with a final of score of 26 to 24.
Everyone had a great time and is eagerly awaiting the next volleyball tournament in February. All players received a cool Blue River t-shirt.

Lakers volleyball continues to dominate as the team pushes season record to 15-5

MCC-Longview's Laker volleyball team went on an impressive 3-0 winning streak on the road this past weekend at a tournament in Central Iowa.

Here is what assistant volleyball coach Marnie Winters had to say about the team's performance:

"We had a fantastic week and improved our record to 15-5.

"Kat Partridge, our setter, is still ranked #1 in the nation in assists/set and pulled further away with that lead after adding 114 assists from the last three games. her average assists per set (game) is 11.17!

"Ali Cavanaugh is ranked 41st in the nation in digs per set. She added 46 digs to her total (now 269) for the season! She also finished last week with an outstanding .44 kill percentage with 30 kills in three matches! Ali is a 5'5" outside hitter.

"Emily Brand, one of our middle hitters, had 31 kills last week and finished with a .46 kill percentage! She served 45 times, had 2 aces, zero errors and won 31 points off of those serves! That's a 69% serve point average.

"Our other middle hitter, Mel Church, is ranked 41st in the nation in kills per set. She added 15 kills this weekend, to her total (now 186) for the season.
GO LAKERS!!

The Lakers play tonight at home, 6 p.m. Longview Recreation Center, against Allen County Community College.

Lakers Volleyball continues to roll through the season - next home game tonight

The Lakers Volleyball team went 3-1 this past weekend at the Highland Community College regional tournament. The successful weekend pushes the Lakers to a 7-3 record as they now return home for two games.

Here is what assistant coach Marnie Winters had to say about the weekend tournament:

"Allen County Community College and Kansas City Kansas Community College were our only two losses of the season when going into the Highlands tourney. To beat them BOTH, and quite impressively, was a result we hadn't expected.

"We lost to Highlands, but it was due to our own unforced errors - so if we meet them again, it's certain to be a different level of play. 

"We finished a very respectable 10-4 in sets for the weekend."

Kathryn Partridge lead in assists with 145 for the weekend. Andrea Lopez had 60 digs in the two days. Ali Cavanaugh was second with 58. Kalei Moppin was all-around impressive with 44 kills, 3 aces, 9 blocks and 50 digs. Emily Brand matched Kalei's lead with 3 aces and lead the team in blocks with 14.

The Lakers meet William Woods' JV again tonight, Sept. 14. The Lakers will then play Coffeyville Community College for the first time this season on Thursday, Sept. 16. Both games are at home and start at 6 p.m. 

MCC-Longview Lakers volleyball kicks off another intense season

In their opening week, the MCC-Longview Lakers' volleyball team did not shy away from their competition in two intense matches both on the road and at home.

The Lakers dropped their first game of the season against Allen County Community College in an away game, but two days later came right back for a big win against Cottey College.

The Lakers beat Cottey in three sets. The scores were 25-16, 25-14, 25-12.


In the final set the team had a 44 percent kill rate. The Lakers made 44 serves with only 4 errors - or a 91 percent kill rate. Andrea Lopez had 14 digs, Emily Brand, Ali Cavanaugh, and Mel Church had nine kills each.

The Lakers are on the road again this weekend as they take on Kansas City Kansas Community College in a double header on Sept 3 and 4. The following weekend they then head to the Highland Community College Tournament in Kansas

Laker's Volleyball team to take on alumni this Friday.

The MCC-Longview Laker's Volleyball team will be taking on a familiar foe this Friday: Former Players.

Join Lakers past and present for the MCC-Longview Laker Alumni Challenge. Current players will square off against former players and alumni in a scrimmage that should be full of fireworks.

"It's a yearly event focused on keeping in-touch with our past volleyball players and also allows us a challenging pre-season scrimmage," said assistant coach Marnie Winters. "Plus, keeping our alumni involved really helps keeps this program alive."

The Alumni Challenge is set to begin at 6 p.m. on Friday at the MCC-Longview Recreation Center. The entire bout will include three sets and will give fans a chance to see the 2010 Lakers Volleyball team in action.

For more information, call 816.604.2400.

MCC-Longview athletes shine in 09-10

It was another great year for the MCC-Longview athletes as they competed not only on the field but also in the classroom.

This year MCC-Longview boasted an Academic All-American and a Distinguished Athlete for the 2009-2010 school year. This means they had a stellar performance in their sport and in the classroom - maintaining a GPA of at least 3.5.

This year's all-Americans according to the National Junior College Athletic Association are:

Stevie Katzer - Cross Country Half Marathon - Distinguished Athlete

Holly Wilson - Volleyball - Academic All-American