Lady Cats get revenge to take third at Lansing

Senior Cate Stambaugh (left) celebrates a big point during Louisburg’s pool play match against Topeka Seaman on Saturday at the Lansing Invitational. The Lady Cats defeated Topeka Seaman and finished third overall.

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LANSING – The Louisburg High School volleyball team went up against some big and talented schools during the Lansing Invitational on Saturday.

The Lady Cats showed resiliency several different times as they left Lansing with a third-place finish overall, including big wins over Topeka Seaman (Class 5A) in pool play and Shawnee Mission West (Class 6A) in the third-place match.

Louisburg defeated Shawnee Mission West 25-23 and 25-20 for third and exacted a little revenge in the process. The Lady Cats fell to West in pool play in two sets, which put them in danger of not making the championship bracket.

It was a weird day as the tournament lasted longer than normal and the team had to do a lot of sitting in-between matches.

“Saturday was definitely a roller coaster ride,” Louisburg coach Jessica Compliment said. “We had a lot of highs, but we also hit a lull where we let too many things get to us and let the other teams get the momentum.

“We are used to that tournament where you play back-to-back, but with the new format and only three courts, we played and then sat. It was just harder to stay focused after sitting for so long and then having to play.”

Senior Lauren Dunn had a big day at the net with a team-high 33 kills. Defensively, she was second on the team with 42 digs.

Freshman Anna Dixon was second with 29 kills and had a strong day serving with eight aces, including four in the third place match against Shawnee Mission West.

Middle hitters Madison Turner and Cate Stambaugh also made their presence known. Turner finished with 22 kills and a team-high 46 blocks, while Stambaugh added 20 kills and 33 blocks on the day.

Sophomore setter Sophie McMullen ran the offense well as she moved the ball around and racked up 97 assists in the six matches. McMullen was also the best from behind the service line with 13 aces.

Makenzie Kallevig, the team’s libero, was busy in the back row with a team-high 51 digs and also had five aces. Megan Lemke also had 25 digs and two aces from the back, while outside hitter Olivia Bradley had five kills and four blocks.

The Lady Cats didn’t have much of a problem to start the day as they opened with a 25-20 and 25-20 victory over De Soto. Then came Shawnee Mission West in the second match, which left them a little frustrated in the 25-17 and 25-20 loss.

“We just never found our groove against Shawnee Mission West the first time,” Compliment said. “They played good defense and they were picking every single ball and that was frustrating, which got in our hitters’ heads a little bit.”

If Louisburg wanted to keep its hopes alive for the championship bracket, then it had to beat Topeka Seaman in its next match, and it did, 26-24 and 25-18.

It was no easy task as the Lady Cats trailed early on in the first set, but put together a big run to grab a 17-12 lead. Seaman put together a rally of its own to record 10 straight points and take a 22-17 advantage.

Louisburg had one more run left in it as it took a 24-23 lead before winning 26-24. The Lady Cats used that momentum to finish off the match in two sets.

Stambaugh was a force defensively at the net with 11 blocks to turn away several Topeka Seaman attempts, while Dunn and Dixon each had six kills.

“We needed to beat Topeka Seaman to stay at the top of our pool so that was a big win for us to be able to stay in the top two and allowed us to move on,” Compliment said. “Once they find that rhythm, they don’t give up. They are good at competing and being able to bounce back. Volleyball is very much a game of momentum and I was happy with the way they fought there.”

The Lady Cats made quick work of Piper (25-17, 25-14) to advance to the championship bracket where they faced Shawnee Mission East in the semifinals. East, which is ranked No. 5 in Class 6A, showed why as they defeated Louisburg 25-9 and 25-16 to stop the Lady Cats’ bid of a title.

“Shawnee Mission East just dominated us with their serves,” Compliment said. “We never found a rhythm against them. They are a good team and they just started picking us apart. I don’t think we showed them the team that we are.”

Louisburg came to life against Shawnee Mission West in its third place game and it had revenge on its mind. The Lady Cats won the match in two sets behind seven blocks and six kills from Turner, along with six kills and four aces from Dixon.

McMullen ran the offense well with 18 assists and also had three aces. As a team, the Lady Cats had nine aces. Defensively, Kallevig had her best game of the day with a team-high 14 digs to go along with two aces.

“To come back and beat Shawnee Mission West was good for us,” Compliment said. “To play in that consolation game is always tough. It was the last match of the day, it was late in the evening and for the girls to find the energy and drive to beat a team you had already lost to, I was happy to see where they came out and played.”

Louisburg returns to action Thursday when it travels to Prairie View for a quadrangular with Osawatomie and Fort Scott.

 

Lady Cats fall to Blue Valley West

Louisburg still had yet to lose its first match of the season when the Lady Cats traveled to Blue Valley West last Thursday.

The Lady Cats, ranked No. 4 in Class 4A-Division I, went up against the No. 4 ranked team in Class 5A and couldn’t stay with the bigger program in the 3-0 loss. Louisburg had a tough time staying with West as it fell 25-17, 25-18 and 25-14 in the best-of-five dual.

Dunn led Louisburg with seven kills on the evening and Dixon added two aces. Stambaugh finished with a team-high eight blocks, while Kallevig had 12 digs. McMullen also had 12 assists and five blocks in the loss.