(KJCCC) March 24, 2021 – There are top-notch efforts by conference athletes that lead to recognition in Week 9 of the KJCCC Athletes of the Week voting.

Division II Women's Basketball Athlete of the Week
Hesston College sophomore guard Des3ny Kessay averaged 21.3 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 2.3 APG, and 3.3 SPG this week in their three games. Des3ny scored a career high 34 points and shot 15-23 from the field. Kessay finished the week shoo3ng over 50% from the field and 45.4% from three-point range.

Division II Men's Basketball Athlete of the Week
In Johnson County's only action last week, sophomore guard Jaycson Bereal registered his second double-double of his career, finishing with 17 points and 10 rebounds, along with four blocks, three assists and a steal. He shot an impressive 73 percent from the floor, hitting 8-of-11 shots, including one 3-point shot. For the season he is averaging 14.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, 1.3 assists and hitting 56.5 percent of his shot attempts, which ranks third in the conference.

Division I Women's Basketball Athlete of the Week
Sophomore forward Tamara Nard had a big offensive week for the Grizzlies averaging a double-double 20.5 points per game and 10.5 rebounds on the week. She connected on 47% of her shots and averaged 2.5 blocks per game in her 25 minutes played per game. Nard has posted four double-doubles this season and has helped her team to a No. 9 ranking in the NJCAA.

Division I Men's Basketball Athlete of the Week
Hutchinson sophomore guard Josh Baker scored a career-high 31 points in an overtime victory at Dodge City and led the No. 23 Blue Dragons to two big wins. Baker was 8 of 20 overall, hitting 5 of 10 3-pointers and 10 of 10 from the free-throw line against Dodge City. Baker hit two game-tying free throws with 9.1 seconds to play in regulation and then nailed a dagger 3-pointer in overtime. Baker averaged 6.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game.

Division I Volleyball Athletes of the Week
Offense:  Macarena Ruiz (Colby) - Macarena Ruiz lead the Colby Trojans to a 3-1 week with three of those matches being on the road. Ruiz notched a total of 80 kills on the week and averaging 5.3 per set. She put up 3 double-doubles this week marking 6 on the season. This week was followed by her season high of 29 kills against Hutchinson the previous Thursday. Ruiz also totaled 5 aces, 2 block assists, and 55 digs on the week.

Setter: Marta Roicka (Colby) - Marta Roicka helped the Colby Trojans to a 3-1 week by notching a total of 153 assists and averaging 10.92 assists per set. She also 14 kills, 15 block assists, 8 aces, and 35 digs on the week. Roicka added 2 double-doubles this week totaling to 6 on the year.

Defense:  Bruna Torres (Dodge City) - Despite two losses, Torres put out an impressive defensive effort. She had back-to-back 30+ dig performances for an average of over 7.5 digs/set for the Conqs.

Division II Volleyball Athletes of the Week
KJCCC Division II Volleyball Offensive Player of the Week
Iva Halacheva, Cowley College Sophomore Outside Hitter, Plovdiv, Bulgaria - Iva Halacheva continued her solid play by recording a pair of double-doubles and setting a school-record with 37 kills in Cowley's match against No. 12-ranked Highland. She recorded 80 kills on the week with a stellar .436 hitting percentage to move into third place on the school's career list for kills.

KJCCC Division II Volleyball Setter of the Week
Gracie Story, Cowley College Freshman Setter, Holliday, Texas Freshman setter - Gracie Story recorded her seventh double-double of the season in a win over the Friends University JV and followed that up with a career-high 70 assists against No. 12-ranked Highland. She had 148 assists in the Lady Tigers' three matches on the week and currently leads the KJCCC in assists. 

KJCCC Division II Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week
Brooklyn Strobel, Neosho County Freshman Libero, Andover, KS - Brooklyn Strobel had another big week defensively, which included matches against two ranked opponents. She had 69 total digs and averaged five digs per set on the week with only one receiving error in 14 sets. She is currently ranked seventh in the nation in digs.

Division I Softball Athletes of the Week
Player: McKayla Encinias (Garden City) - McKayla helped the GCCC softball team to 5 wins this week by contributing 14 RBIs in 6 games, batting .600 on the week. Encinias hit 5 homeruns in the last two games combined against Hutchison Community College helping bring the Broncbusters to 5-1 in conference play. 

Pitcher: Izzy Erickson (Butler) - Izzy Erickson, freshman pitcher from Kimberling City, MO, improved to 9-1 on the season after two strong starts this past week. Erickson pitched four of the five innings on Tuesday against NOC-Enid, throwing a no-hitter with no walks in her four innings. She retired all 12 batters faced in that game. On Saturday, Erickson pitched a complete 5-inning game in the Grizzlies 9-0 win over Colby. She gave up two hits, no runs, no walks and struck out 10 versus the Trojans. She faced a total of just 17 batters in that contest. Erickson has 49 strikeouts on the season, picking up 16 this past week.

Division II Softball Athletes of the Week
KJCCC Division II Softball Player of the Week
Dezmen Duncan, Cowley College Sophomore Infielder, Atchison, KS - Dezmen Duncan helped the Lady Tiger softball team to a 6-0 record on the week as she went 11-for-20 with two home runs, 11 runs batted in and seven runs scored. She added a double, triple, and three stolen bases.  

KJCCC Division II Softball Pitcher of the Week
Lilli Weir, Highland Community College Sophomore Pitcher, Oak Grove, MO - Lilli Weir leads the KJCCC in strikeouts and added another strong outing this weekend. She pitched a complete game shutout in Highland's run-rule win over Coffeyville, adding nine more strikeouts in only five innings pitched.

Baseball Athlete of the Week
Johnson County freshman second baseman Brevon Lee had a huge week for the 9 th ranked Cavaliers. He posted a batting average of .765, going 13-for-17 with three doubles, two home runs, eight runs scored and 11 driven in. He also was 5-for-5 in stolen base attempt, and was perfect in the field with six putouts and six assists. Lee also extended his hitting streak to seven games. For the season, Lee is hitting a .539 clip (27-for-51) with four doubles, a triple, three homers, 23 runs, 18 RBI and 19 stolen bases. He leads the conference in batting average and steals.

Zach Nagle, the Butler sophomore left-handed pitcher from Sioux Falls, SD, came up big in three games for the Grizzlies this past week. He picked up a save and a win on the week in three appearances and his five-innings pitched. He closed out the T-Birds on Friday in the final inning of a 4-3 game striking out all three batters he faced. On Sunday he did something very similar shutting down the T-Birds in their final at bats striking out three and forcing an infield pop out. Nagle struck out nine batters in his five innings pitched while giving up just four hits. Nagle is the Grizzlies most dominant closer at this point in the season and showed it this past week as the Grizzlies went 5-1 in all KJCCC West games.