Lady Cats send four seniors out in style

By Andy Brown
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Updated: October 20, 2017

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

(From left) Sophie McMullen, Sarah Wilson, Riley Kallevig, Mikayla Quinn, Carson Buffington and Anna Dixon celebrate a point during Tuesday’s Senior Night match against Ottawa.

The result was never really in doubt.

The Louisburg High School volleyball team hosted Ottawa for its final regular season match of the season and the Lady Cats had no problems in the 25-17, 25-18 and 25-18 sweep of the Cyclones.

Although they were happy with the win, it wasn’t on the mind of the Lady Cat players – it was more about honoring their four seniors.

Sophie McMullen, Mikayla Quinn, Ainsley Vance and Sarah Wilson walked on the LHS gym floor for the final time as players and were recognized in front of their home fans Tuesday. All four players have left an impact on the program.

McMullen, who is headed to play at Northwest Missouri State next season to play volleyball, has been a four-year starter and helped Louisburg to state appearances her freshman and sophomore seasons.

Quinn has found herself in a varsity role her last two years, while Wilson and Vance are playing varsity for the first time this season. Louisburg coach Jessica Compliment is proud of what her four seniors have accomplished.

“Sophie has obviously done a lot for us these last four years,” Compliment said. “Her first two years, she ran a 5-1 offense for us and helped us to a third and fourth place finish at state. We transitioned her into a new position and she has handled that really well. She has been a good leader on the team and she is one of the players that I am counting on to get stuff done in matches.

“Mikayla has spent the last two years on varsity and we also changed her position this year. We have moved her around a lot, but she has always been open and willing to do whatever the team needs. Both Sarah and Ainsley have worked their way up through the program playing freshmen to varsity and it is exciting to see them both step up and make plays.”

Seniors (from left) Mikayla Quinn, Ainsley Vance, Sarah Wilson and Sophie McMullen were honored during Senior Night, prior to Tuesday’s match with Ottawa.

All four seniors saw the floor and each of them had an opportunity to make an impact on the match. McMullen finished the night with 15 kills to go along with a team-high 19 digs, while Quinn had two kills and two blocks. Wilson and Vance each had a dig in the win.

As for the rest of the Lady Cats, they put together a strong performance as the Cyclones never threatened to win a set. The No. 3 team in Class 4A-Division 1 provided a lot of positives.

“Overall, I think we played well,” Compliment said. “I just felt that all night we were more efficient and we just took care of the ball. We had some good passes, nice sets and good hits and got the points when we needed to. We didn’t have very many mental mistakes or errors on our side. Our energy level might not have been as high as in the past, but I think with it also being Senior Night there were a lot of emotions.”

Junior Anna Dixon provided a lot of offense at the net with a team-high 21 kills and also led Louisburg with four aces and four blocks.

Carson Buffington ran the offense well from the setter position as she racked up 34 assists on the night and also had three aces and three blocks. Libero Riley Kallevig had a big outing in the back row with 16 digs.

Sarah Wilson (left) and Mikayla Quinn go up for a block Tuesday.

The day the Lady Cats have been waiting all season for is almost here as they will travel to Paola on Saturday for the Class 4A-Division I sub-state tournament.

Louisburg, which earned the No. 1 seed with a 28-9 record, will square off with No. 4 Paola (13-21) at 2 p.m. If the Lady Cats advance, they will play the winner between No. 2 Ottawa (17-18) and No. 3 Spring Hill (17-20) in the championship match at approximately 4 p.m.

The Lady Cats lost in the sub-state championship match to Paola a season ago and are ready to put that all behind them Saturday.

“They are excited and amped up for it,” Compliment said of her team. “We kind of joked around that it is the Frontier League sub-state. This was the first time we saw Ottawa this year, but we have seen Paola twice, Spring Hill three or four times, so they are teams we are familiar with. At the same time we know we can’t take anything for granted and we have to work hard. They are excited for the opportunity, especially after not making to state last year. It has left a bitter taste in their mouths. This year, they have been focused and I think they are ready to go.”

Lady Cats place seventh at Emporia Invitational

Playing ranked teams isn’t something new to the Louisburg volleyball program.

The Lady Cats saw their fair share Saturday during the Emporia Invitational as they faced off with state-ranked Lawrence and Lawrence Free State in 6A and another ranked team in Maize that is Class 5A.

Record wise, Louisburg didn’t fare as it would have liked as it ended the day with a 3-3 record and a seventh-place finish last Saturday. Despite that, coach Jessica Compliment still liked what she saw from her group that had a little different look to it.

Senior Sarah Wilson and sophomore Erin Lemke each saw a lot of playing time as outside hitters, while junior Riley Vohs stepped up and joined the rotation on the back row for defense.

Junior Anna Dixon led the Lady Cats in kills, but sophomore Haley Cain rose to the occasion and was second on the team in kills.

“There were a lot of very good teams there,” Compliment said. “We saw teams like Lawrence, Lawrence Free State and Maize, all of which are ranked in higher classes. We also saw teams like Junction City and Bonner Springs that we don’t see of as much. The girls responded to the challenge well and really played hard.

“Erin got to play a lot on the outside, Sarah got lots of reps on the right side and Riley Vohs stepped in and played some good defense for us. The girls just rallied around each other and had to play some different roles. I thought Haley did a really good job the entire day hitting wise.”

Louisburg finished pool play with a 2-2 record and had wins over Bonner Springs (25-19, 19-25, 25-21) and Junction City (29-27, 23-25 and 25-14), and fell to Maize (25-12, 25-15) and Lawrence High (25-13, 25-23).

The Lady Cats moved to the consolation semifinals where they fell to Lawrence Free State (25-27, 25-22 and 25-14), but beat Bonner Springs for seventh place (25-15, 25-7).