Lady Cats face three state-ranked teams in up and down week

Louisburg junior Carleigh Pritchard and senior Liz Jacobs team up for a block Saturday during the Lansing Invitational.

It was an up and down week for the
Louisburg volleyball team last week – one with started with two wins and ended
with losses to three state-ranked teams.

During the Lansing Invitational on
Saturday, the Lady Cats finished with a 1-3 record in a tournament that
featured some of the state’s best teams.

Louisburg opened tournament play
with a 25-23 and 25-9 victory over Shawnee Mission North behind five kills each
from seniors Liz Jacobs and Haley Cain and senior Riley Kallevig added four.

The Lady Cats (5-5) also shined
from behind the service line as they recorded 10 aces in the match, including
five from sophomore Rinny McMullen and two from sophomore Davis Guetterman.
McMullen also handed out 12 assists to lead the Lady Cats.

The schedule got much more
difficult for Louisburg as they lost a pair of 2-0 matches to No. 6 Spring Hill
and No. 3 Lansing, who are both ranked in Class 5A. The tournament ended with a
2-1 loss to Olathe West.

Louisburg was also a little
short-handed as senior hitter Erin Lemke had to sit out with an injury

“Even though we went 1-3 on the day at
Lansing, there were some bright moments throughout the day,” Louisburg coach
Jessica Compliment said. “We struggled to find ‘our game’ and played that way
all day. The Lansing tournament is loaded with great teams, and has always been
one of our toughest tournaments we play in. We stayed with most of the teams
throughout the day, but once it got to 15-14 or 16-14, they took off and
finished, and we struggled to ‘play to win.’

“We became hesitant and played it safe
rather than fighting back and playing to win. There were many instances
throughout the tournament we were playing some great volleyball. Our back row
had some great saves and our offense clicked well. As I told the team, we need
to work on finding that drive, that motivation, that energy, and carry it
throughout every set and every match.”

On Thursday, the Lady Cats hosted
another state-ranked team in their home opener when they faced off with No. 5
Bonner Springs. Louisburg came up short in a 25-23, 25-19, 22-25 and 25-18 loss
to the Braves.

It was a competitive match
throughout, but the Braves were able to make several runs late in each set to
pull away.

Cain led the attack at the net
with 12 kills, Jacobs finished with nine and junior Alyse Moore added eight in
the loss. McMullen and Guetterman ran the offense well with 22 and 19 assists,
respectively, and Guetterman also added two aces.

Defensively, Kallevig paced the
Lady Cats with 18 digs on the night and senior Reilly Ratliff-Becher finished
with 13. Lemke and junior Carleigh Pritchard had two blocks each.

At the start of the week, the Lady
Cats traveled to Santa Fe Trail for a triangular with Burlington. Louisburg
left with a pair of easy wins.

The Lady Cats knocked off
Burlington 25-8 and 25-14 and downed Santa Fe Trail 25-10 and 25-14.

“The team played well,” Compliment said. “They weren’t our cleanest matches this season, but our serving was tough, and we moved the ball around well. It was hard for us to maintain our pace throughout the evening, but we were able to get on some long runs where we were very efficient in both the front and back row.”

Everyone got involved in the win
against Santa Fe Trail as Kallevig led the way with nine kills, while Lemke and
Pritchard each finished with seven. Guetterman had three aces to lead Louisburg
and Kallevig finished with two. Guetterman and McMullen also had 12 and 11
assists, respectively.

Defensively, sophomore Chase Kallevig
had a team-high nine digs and Ratliff-Becher added seven.

Against Burlington, Pritchard had
a team-high four kills in the match, but it was the serving that was the story
of the match.

Louisburg tallied 11 aces against
Burlington, including five from Guetterman and three from McMullen. The two
sophomores also combined for 13 assists.

Louisburg returns to action with a
pair of home duals this week, including a rematch with Spring Hill at 6:30 p.m.
tonight.