Healthier Lady Cats defeat Piper in regular season finale

Louisburg senior Corinna McMullen tips a ball over the net Tuesday at Piper High School. The Lady Cats defeated Piper, 3-1, in their regular season finale.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Injuries have just been a part of the Louisburg volleyball team’s season for better or for worse — mainly for worse.

The Lady Cats were recently without three senior starters and that coincided with a six-match losing streak heading into Tuesday’s regular season finale at Piper.

Although Louisburg got its senior starters back healthy enough to play, the Lady Cats were dealt another setback with junior middle blocker Emma Prettyman out with an injury.

Throw in the fact that the Lady Cats are without starting middle blocker Allie Kennedy, who is done for the year with a leg injury, and Louisburg has been having a challenging season.

Louisburg saw a glimmer of hope Tuesday as it pulled out a 3-1 victory over Piper with much of their starting rotation back in action.

“We are very happy to be back on the winning side of things,” Louisburg coach Leanna Willer said. “Our team is very competitive and really wanted to win Tuesday night to finish out the regular season. We are extremely happy to have our seniors back playing – their leadership is a game changer for us and it was important to all of us that they were able to play in their last league match of their high school careers.”

The Lady Cats (19-16) showed a little rust at times, but they were able to get stronger as the match went on. 

Louisburg won the first set 25-23, but fell in the second, 19-25. The Lady Cats responded as they won the next two sets. 25-20 and 25-20 to seal the road victory.

“Overall we played well,” Willer said. “We definitely had some kinks to work out as the group on the floor hadn’t played together for a while, but once we figured out how to limit our errors and just relax and play we felt pretty good. Piper is a strong team that has challenged every team in the league this year, so it was nice to win in the end.”

Senior setters Corinna McMullen and Davis Guetterman were back to running the offense and Guetterman led the way with 28 assists and also had three aces. McMullen had 18 assists, two aces and also had a team-high 13 kills.

Junior Claire Brown and sophomore Hailey Sword were also big at the net. Brown was second on the team with 12 kills and Sword had 11. Sword also had a team-high three aces.

Defensively, senior libero Chase Kallevig returned to lead the back row with 25 digs. Junior Adyson Ross had 12 and senior Aubryn Berck added 12 digs.

Now the Lady Cats’ focus is on the postseason. Louisburg earned the No. 7 seed and will travel Saturday to Baldwin High School for sub-state action.

Louisburg will face off with No. 10 Parsons in the sub-state semifinals at 3 p.m. A victory could set up a rematch with Louisburg and Baldwin.

The Lady Cats defeated Baldwin in five sets at home earlier this season, but they know sub-state will be a more challenging test.

“Our girls have been working hard all week at practice and they are excited to come out and perform tomorrow,” Willer said. “We know that nothing is guaranteed and we have to show up ready to work for every point and earn each win as a team, with everyone working together. I cannot think of a season that has had to have such an emphasis on being team players as much as ours. At some point, every single player on our roster has had to step up into major roles on the court and we have relied on each and every person. 

“At this point we are pros at facing adversity and overcoming obstacles, so we are prepared for whatever challenge comes our way on Saturday. We will face some very tough opponents in Parsons, and potentially Baldwin, Coffeyville, or Chanute. Our sub-state bracket is tough, but we have come to the conclusion that we are thankful for the opportunity to play some really great volleyball and fight for a spot in Hutchinson.”

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