Lady Cats beat Olathe West, fall to De Soto

By Andy Brown
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Updated: September 10, 2019

Louisburg senior Erin Lemke goes up for a kill during a match earlier this season.

DE SOTO – It is never easy to go on the road and get a win, especially against bigger school, and the Louisburg volleyball team found that out Thursday in De Soto.

The Lady Cats took the first set 25-23 over De Soto, but lost the last two 25-18 and 25-22, to fall 2-1 against the Class 5A school. Instead of letting one loss turn into two, the Lady Cats bounced back nicely in their other match against Olathe West.

Louisburg took care of business as it swept Olathe West, 25-16 and 25-19, to end its day on a good note and improved its record to 2-1 on the season.

In that match, junior Alyse Moore led the way up front with a team-high five kills, while seniors Erin Lemke and Riley Kallevig each added four.

Serving was also a big key for the Lady Cats as they tallied six aces, including three from sophomore Chase Kallevig and two from sophomore Rinny McMullen. McMullen also led the team with nine assists on the night.

Louisburg was strong defensively with 17 digs, including five from senior libero Reilly Ratliff-Becher and four from Riley Kallevig.

“It was good to see how the team regrouped and rebounded for the Olathe West match,” Louisburg coach Jessica Compliment said. “Olathe came out strong with some big blocks at the beginning. We had to work to find the hits around their big blockers, and once we did, we were able to find our rhythm offensively.

“Our back row defense made some huge plays during the Olathe West match. Chase Kallevig did a great job defensively and we served more aggressively as well.”

The Lady Cats got off to a good start against De Soto as it took the first set, but had a tough time finding a rhythm offensively in the final two sets.

Middle hitters Haley Cain and Carleigh Pritchard were big up front for the Lady Cats as they each finished with nine kills, while senior Liz Jacobs and Moore each had four. Jacobs also led the team with two blocks.

Chase Kallevig and McMullen each had two aces for the Lady Cats, while sophomore setter Davis Guetterman led Louisburg with 12 assists and McMullen added 10.

“During the De Soto match, I felt like we never found our groove as a team,” Compliment said. “We played a little tight and nervous. We talked afterwards how everyone on this team can be a playmaker, and is fully capable of putting the ball away. But during the second and third set with De Soto, it was almost as if we were waiting for someone else to step up.”

“We also seemed to be fairly reserved or cautious with our serving. We are normally a tougher serving team, but we didn’t show De Soto that. Good teams like De Soto will capitalize and take advantage of those types of situations.”

Louisburg is back in action at 6:30 p.m., tonight when it travels to Santa Fe Trail for a triangular with Burlington. The Lady Cats will face off with Bonner Springs on Thursday in their home opener.