Lady Cats knock off Miege en route to sub-state championship
Louisburg senior Haley Cain holds up the Class 4A sub-state championship trophy and celebrates with her teammates following the Lady Cats’ 2-0 win over Atchison in the championship match Saturday at Atchison High School. Louisburg also upset Bishop Miege in the sub-state semifinal match, 2-0.
ATCHISON – The sub-state semifinal
game between Louisburg and Bishop Miege on Saturday had all the feels of a
state tournament match.
Partially because a year ago, it
was.
Louisburg met Miege in the state championship match only to see the Stags send the Lady Cats to a runner-up finish in two sets. Then three weeks ago the two teams met again, and like before, Miege dispatched of Louisburg in two sets.
However, Bishop Miege saw a different Louisburg team during the sub-state tournament at Atchison High School – one they didn’t expect.
The Lady Cats came out on fire and
never let up in a 25-18 and 25-22 win over Miege to end the Stags’ season. It
marks the first time in at least 12 years, if not longer, that Miege will not
be at the state tournament.
Since the state tournament began
in 1971, Bishop Miege has made 39 state appearances during that time in either
Class 5A or 4A and is the most in Kansas history.
“Our energy was going to be the
difference in that match, so we knew we had to bring it,” Louisburg senior Erin
Lemke said. “We knew we had the same skill set as Miege, but our energy was
what was going to pull us through there in the end. To get there, we just had
to believe in ourselves and work hard this past week to give us the confidence
that we needed.”
However, even after pulling off a
big revenge win that expended a lot of energy, the Lady Cats still had a
sub-state championship match to play against No. 2 seed Atchison. The No. 7
seed Lady Cats took care of business as they won in straight sets, 25-12 and
25-15, at Atchison High School.
This will be the eighth time in 10 years that Louisburg has qualified for the state tournament, including three straight appearances. The Lady Cats have also finished second at state the last two seasons.
“I am super excited,” Louisburg senior
Reilly Ratliff-Becher said. “We have worked so hard this past week in practice,
especially coming off a bad tournament the week before. Our mentality changed
and that was big for us.”
Louisburg (21-15) came out with a
purpose to open the tournament and put Bishop Miege in a hole early as the Lady
Cats jumped out to a 14-5 lead in the first behind kills from junior Carleigh
Pritchard, seniors Liz Jacobs, Lemke and junior Alyse Moore. Senior Haley Cain
also provided two blocks during that span and the Lady Cats were off and
running.
The Lady Cats went up 22-12 after
sophomore setter Rinny McMullen sent the ball to the back corner for a point
away from the Miege defense and they were able to close out the set.
“They were amped up and ready to
play Miege,” Louisburg coach Jessica Compliment said. “I think with all the talk
with private schools against public schools, I think the girls just said enough
is enough and we are going to do this. They realized it is just a name on the
jersey and that they can beat them.”
In the second set, the two teams
were tied at 10-all before the Lady Cats went on a 7-0 run as McMullen served
six straight points, including three aces, to put Louisburg up 17-10.
Miege cut the Lady Cat lead to
21-18 late, but kills from Pritchard and Lemke closed out the 25-22 victory and
put them in the sub-state championship.
“I don’t think Miege expected us
to come out this way,” Compliment said. “They saw us three weeks ago at the
Ottawa tournament and went on an 11-0 run on us. I think our energy, our
aggressive offense and our defense really was the difference. We had some
amazing blocks up front and I think all our girls played great and I don’t
think Miege was expecting that.
“They are a good team and you have
to respect good teams and the tradition they have. Both programs have that
tradition of making it to state and doing well there and this was a rematch of
the state finals and it is odd that it is in the first round of sub-state. Now
one of those teams that usually goes to state isn’t going to be there and I
told the girls that we don’t want it to be us.”
The Lady Cats had a balanced
attack offensively as Pritchard, Jacobs and Lemke each had five kills to lead
the way, while senior Riley Kallevig added four. McMullen also finished with a
team-high four aces and had nine assists along with fellow setter Davis
Guetterman.
Louisburg also stepped up on
defense as Lemke, Pritchard, Cain and Kallevig each had a pair of blocks in the
win. Kallevig also finished with a team-high eight digs, while Ratliff-Becher
and McMullen both had five.
“I wasn’t surprised because this
summer we did amazing things like that and that is how it felt out there on the
court,” Cain said of the Miege win. “It seemed like we had been missing
something lately and I think we brought it out for sub-state.
“I think we played amazing. We
were all consistent and played so well and beating Miege is one of the best
feelings I’ve had.”
Louisburg finished the first match on a high, but the Lady Cats had to keep that momentum going against Atchison in the championship game.
McMullen helped the Lady Cats jump out to a 6-1 lead over Atchison in the first set thanks to three aces and they held the advantage throughout the set. Louisburg finished the first set on a 7-2 run thanks to a pair of kills from Moore and an ace from Chase Kallevig.
The Lady Cats picked up right
where they left off in the second set as they opened on an 11-5 run after two
aces from Chase Kallevig and kills from Moore, Riley Kallevig, Pritchard and
Cain. Louisburg then took a 21-9 lead after a pair of kills from Cain and never
looked back.
“When we play for each other is
when we have our best outcome,” Lemke said. “We had to have same mentality that
we had against Miege. We knew the skill level wasn’t exactly the same, but we
knew we had to play the same way and we are able to go to state.”
Cain led the Lady Cats with eight
kills in the championship match, while Moore finished with five and Pritchard
added four. McMullen set up some of those kills with 10 assists and Guetterman
added seven.
Serving was a strength for
Louisburg as it recorded 10 aces, four of which came from Chase Kallevig.
McMullen recorded three aces and Ratliff-Becher had two.
Defensively, Ratliff-Becher had
six digs to lead the Lady Cats and Riley Kallevig had five.
“Every year going to state is our
goal, but every year you know that you can’t take anything for granted and you
can’t expect that trip to state to happen,” Compliment said. “Kudos to the
girls because every year they have made the time in the offseason, they have
come in during the summer and they have worked hard. We had kind of an up and down
year, and I think some people thought that we weren’t going to be as good this
season.
“It says so much for the girls
this year and I told them that they are capable of doing this but they had to
believe in themselves, put in the work and become a team. This whole season we
have been struggling to find who the go-to person was going to be, and Anna
(Dixon) was that person for us for the longest time, and I am proud of how they
stepped up to play.”
Louisburg will now prepare for the
Class 4A state tournament which begins Friday afternoon at Hutchinson Community
College. The Lady Cats are the No. 8 seed and will open pool play at 4:30 p.m. against
No. 1 Andale (35-2), and then follow up with matches against No. 4 Holton
(24-11) and No. 5 Nickerson (27-13).
No. 2 Independence (35-3), No. 3
Towanda-Circle (33-6), No. 6 Eudora (26-13) and No. 7 Topeka-Hayden (25-14) are
in the other pool. The top two teams from each pool will qualify for the
semifinals on Saturday.
After two runner-up finishes in as
many years, the Lady Cats are ready to take that next step to the school’s
first state championship.
“Our mindset is to definitely go
out there and win state,” Ratliff-Becher said. “We have come up short the last
two years and now it is time to win.”