CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – No. 7 seed Johnson County Community College volleyball defeated No. 6 seed Gulf Coast State College in four sets, 14-25, 25-21, 24-22, 25-19 on Friday night in the NJCAA Division II semifinal at Alliant Entergy Powerhouse Arena in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 

The Lady Cavaliers (30-6) advance to the sixth National Championship match and will face top seed and Kansas Jayhawk Conference rival Cowley College on Saturday 6 p.m. CT. This will be the second time JCCC and Cowley have faced off in the championship match.  Johnson County defeated Cowley in four sets in 2005 to win their first national championship.  This will be their fifth meeting in tournament play all-time with JCCC holding a 3-1 advantage.

Cowley (39-0), the defending national champion, has swept all three of its opponents to reach the title match.

In their win over Gulf Coast State, head coach Jennifer Ei got solid production up-and-down her line-up. Six different hitters record six or more kills int the match. Kennedy Smalley led the team with 12, followed by Tori Valentine, Chloe Carlgren and Rilyn Sommer each with eight kills.  Coral Netten tallied seven and Bella Hedke added six kills. 

JCCC also had five players top double-digits in digs led by Carlie Martin with 23. Valentine  had 14 digs, followed by Smalley and Wren VanCleave with 13 and Taylin Stallbaumer with 12. 

VanCleave and Stallbaumer also topped double digits in assists with 23 and 20 respectively. 

JCCC registered 23 blocks in the match led by Hedke with with six, five by Carlgren and four each from Valentine and Sommer.