Lady Cats pick up three wins over Eudora, Topeka, Junction City

Louisburg senior Ali Prettyman goes up for a kill during a match earlier this season. The Lady Cats went 3-0 during last week’s action on the road.

During Tuesday’s Frontier League match at Eudora, the Louisburg volleyball faced adversity early on.

The Lady Cats lost the first set, 25-13, and were all of a sudden behind to the No. 5 team in the state. However, No. 4 Louisburg bounced back in a big way against the Cardinals.

Louisburg won three straight sets, 25-20, 25-18 and 25-19, to pull away and secure what was a big road win to start their week.

Two days later, the Lady Cats picked up two more wins on the road as they rolled Topeka High 25-13 and 25-17 and followed it up with a 25-12 and 25-14 victory over Junction City in a triangular at Topeka High School.

Against Eudora, Louisburg (16-7) struggled to find much energy early on, but the early loss seemed to wake them up as it controlled the rest of the match.

“I thought we responded really well after the first set,” Louisburg coach Jessica Compliment said. “We found some energy that was much needed and we carried that level of energy throughout the match.”

Setters Rinny McMullen and Davis Guetterman got all of their hitters involved, and also got involved themselves at the net at times. The Lady Cats registered 45 kills and did so with their top hitter – Carleigh Pritchard – who is still out with an injury.

Along with her team-high 19 assists, McMullen also had a team-best 12 kills on the night and Guetterman tallied 18 assists. Sophomores Allie Kennedy and Emma Prettyman were also a presence at the night with eight kills each and five blocks between the two players.

Seniors Alyse Moore, Ali Prettyman and sophomore Adyson Ross each had five kills.

“Rinny and Davis continued to do a good job of managing the offense and that evening it really showed how well they run the offense,” Compliment said. “Carleigh amounts for a large portion of our offense, and without her we needed others to step up. Rinny and Davis moved the ball around well to the other hitters, and they in turn stayed aggressive at the net.”

The Lady Cats were also strong behind the service line as they had eight aces, including two each from McMullen, Guetterman and junior Chase Kallevig.

Kallevig also led the Louisburg defense with a team-high 17 digs and Moore finished with 12. McMullen and Guetterman both had 10.

On Thursday, the Lady Cats traveled to Topeka and weren’t challenged in the pair of wins over Class 6A programs.

“We did a good job of playing each match all the way through without many changes in momentum,” Compliment said. “If we lost the serve, we did a good job of siding out quickly and regaining the serve.”

Louisburg will try and keep its winning ways going beginning today in what is a busy week for the program. The Lady Cats will host Basehor-Linwood and Blue Valley in a triangular at 4:30 p.m. tonight, and then will travel to Mill Valley tomorrow for a triangular with Blue Valley North.

The Lady Cats will then host Anderson County and Wamego on Thursday.