Lady Cats get back on winning track

By Andy Brown
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Updated: September 8, 2016

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

The Louisburg High School volleyball team celebrates a point during a match earlier this season. The Lady Cats defeated Santa Fe Trail and Burlington in two sets Tuesday in Carbondale.

CARBONDALE – The Louisburg High School volleyball team has been a victim of its own schedule as of late as it has had to compete against larger schools, and being in the rebuild process, the Lady Cats haven’t been able to get over the hump against those programs yet.

Louisburg’s schedule evened out a bit Tuesday when the Lady Cats traveled to Santa Fe Trail for a triangular with Burlington and they left with a positive result.

The Lady Cats defeated Santa Fe Trail 25-23 and 25-23 and then downed Burlington 25-16 and 25-20 to stop a two-game losing streak going into the triangular.

“I thought we played OK,” Louisburg coach Jessica Compliment said. “We lost our focus a few times during both matches and made too many errors on our side of the net. We need to work on maintaining our focus and minimizing our errors if we want to continue seeing success.

“There were moments during both matches were I saw a glimpse in to the potential this team has. We just need to find our game and stick to it for an entire match and not get caught in the ups and downs of a volleyball match.”

Louisburg (6-3) opened up with Santa Fe Trail and got a good performance at the net from sophomore Anna Dixon as she finished with nine kills in the two sets and also had a team-high five blocks along with senior Olivia Bradley. Dixon also led Louisburg with four aces.

Junior Sophie McMullen led with way with 12 assists to go along with five kills and four blocks. McMullen also played well defensively with 15 digs, while freshman libero Riley Kallevig had a team-high 16 digs. Sophomore Carson Buffington, who splits setting duties with McMullen, had eight assists.

The Lady Cats had a little easier time against Burlington to complete their perfect night.

Dixon was busy up front as she had 11 kills and McMullen ended up with eight. McMullen was also strong from behind the service line with five aces and Bradley added three.

Buffington ran the offense well with 17 assists and Kallevig had 12 digs on defense. McMullen and Dixon had eight and seven digs, respectively. Seniors Tayler Lancaster and Ellie Katzer also had big digs in both matches.

Louisburg will make a couple different trips to Lansing this week, starting at 5 p.m tonight for a dual. Then on Saturday, the Lady Cats will compete in the Lansing Invitational. The tournament is set to begin at 9 a.m.

Louisburg falls to Blue Valley Southwest, Olathe South

The Louisburg High School volleyball team opened its dual schedule on Aug. 30 when it traveled to Blue Valley Southwest and then again at Olathe South on Sept. 1.

Louisburg got a big test against the two bigger schools and came up just short. The Lady Cats fell to Blue Valley Southwest in a best-of-3 match, 25-19 and 25-17, and lost to Olathe South in a best-of-5, 22-25, 25-21, 25-20 and 25-17.

“Olathe South and Blue Valley Southwest are both good teams,” Louisburg coach Jessica Compliment said. “We played them tough but fell short during both of those matches. Both teams ran faster offenses than what we had seen so far this season so our front row struggled to put up consistent blocks. It was good to see what we needed to work on, and I was proud of how they played those two evenings. They hustled and went after every ball and didn’t give up.”

Against Southwest, junior Sophie McMullen had a big day at the net with a team-high 10 kills and sophomore Anna Dixon finished with seven. Dixon and senior Olivia Bradley led Louisburg with seven blocks each.

Setter Carson Buffington and McMullen had 12 and eight assists, respectively. McMullen also had a team-high 13 digs, Dixon had 11 and senior Ellie Katzer finished with 10.

In the Lady Cats’ match with Olathe South, McMullen had another big night with 17 kills in the four sets and Dixon was right behind her with 15. McMullen also led Louisburg with nine blocks and freshman Haley Cain added six.