Lady Cats sweep Eudora in match with postseason ramifications

Louisburg junior Alyse Moore (left) and senior Haley Cain team up for a block during last week’s home match against Eudora.

It may have just been a normal Frontier League match to the casual fan, but last Tuesday’s dual between Louisburg and Eudora at Louisburg High School had more postseason ramifications than many people may realize.

Both teams have near identical records and are fighting for a top four seed to have the ability to host the upcoming sub-state tournament. They knew what was at stake and both teams played like it, especially in the first set.

Louisburg rallied from four-point deficit late and took the first set 30-28 over the Cardinals. From there, the momentum was with the Lady Cats as they took the next two sets 25-21 and 25-21 to win the match.

“Obviously losing to Bonner Springs and Spring Hill earlier in the year, we are out of the running for a league championship, but this is still a league school and we still have to go for it and fight,” Louisburg coach Jessica Compliment said. “With where the records are falling, and the potential to host sub-state, records become important and Eudora has a good record. There are three of us that are like neck-and-neck. There is still a lot to be played, but it is pretty dicey up there with the top five or six teams.”

The top four teams, record-wise, on each side of the state will get to host sub-state and the Lady Cats improved their mark to 18-10 and are currently sitting as the No. 3 seed with two weeks of competition left to go. Since then, Eudora has seen its record fall to 22-13 and in the No. 5 spot.

The Lady Cats were able to get that potentially big victory thanks to the adversity it overcame early. Eudora went on 6-0 run to take a 22-18 lead and was well on its way to taking the first set.

Instead, Louisburg went on a 7-2 run of its own to take a 25-24 lead thanks to kills from junior Carleigh Pritchard and senior Erin Lemke. Eudora won the next two points to force a game point at 26-25, but Lemke and senior Liz Jacobs responded with back-to-back kills to go back up.

It went back-and-forth until Jacobs recorded kill at 29-28 and sophomore Rinny McMullen ended it with a tip over the Cardinals front row to give the Lady Cats all momentum.

“This was probably the first time all season where we have played three sets consistently and aggressive the whole time,” Compliment said. “We played to win every single ball and we didn’t back off on anything. Winning that first set, and battling the entire time was huge for morale and confidence. It was a big first set.

“I just told the girls they need to start putting the ball away and not play timid. You have hit, be smart and be aggressive. I told them there shouldn’t be a ball that gets left untouched and I think they responded.”

From there, the Lady Cats took care of business as they took control midway through each of the next two sets and never looked back.

Pritchard and senior Haley Cain had a big night in the middle as they led Louisburg offensive attack with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Junior Alyse Moore finished with nine, while Lemke and Jacobs each had six. Senior Riley Kallevig had six kills in the win.

Setters Davis Guetterman and Rinny McMullen served up those kill opportunities as they each finished with 22 assists on the night and McMullen also had a team-high three aces.

Defensively, senior libero Reilly-Ratliff Becher led Louisburg with 16 digs, while Kallevig also finished in double figures with 12.

Louisburg will play its final regular season home match Thursday when it hosts Olathe North on Senior Night. The match is set to begin at 6 p.m.

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