Wildcats get a pair of victories at Ottawa Invitational

Louisburg seniors Allie Kennedy (left) and Claire Brown team up for a block Thursday at home against Tonganoxie.

OTTAWA — It had been another busy week for the Louisburg volleyball team, and by the time the Ottawa Invitational was done Saturday, the Wildcats had played seven matches in a span of five days.

Although the Wildcats finished just 2-5 during that stretch, they took several positives away from tournament play Saturday.

Louisburg went 2-3 at the Ottawa Invitational, with two of those wins coming against Basehor-Linwood and Ottawa. The Wildcats also lost a close match to state-ranked Bishop Miege.

“We were hoping to end up with a better record on the day, but I felt that we played pretty well for the most part – even in a couple of the games that we lost,” Louisburg coach Leanna Willer said. “We are working on our consistency as a team, even when things may not be going our way. I was proud of the resilience and mental toughness we showed throughout the day to persevere through the challenges we faced.”

The Wildcats opened tournament action with a 25-18 and 25-23 loss to Maize South and then fell to Tonganoxie, 25-11 and 25-20.

Louisburg responded well as the Wildcats avenged a loss from earlier in the season as they defeated Ottawa, 22-25, 25-22 and 25-21. They got back-to-back victories as the downed Basehor-Linwood, 23-25, 25-19 and 25-22.

In their final match of the day, the Wildcats lost to Bishop Miege, 25-22 and 25-21.

“It was great to get a win under our belt right before the lunch break, especially against Ottawa,” Willer said. “Looking back to our match against them earlier this season, we knew it would be a battle again but we really wanted to come out on top this time. We showed some grit in those final plays and we saw some kids step up to shut down the match.

“Although we lost to both Maize South and Bishop Miege, those games were close, intense, and included a lot of really great volleyball. We were neck and neck with both teams and found ourselves contesting both teams every step of the way. The biggest positive for me to see as a coach in those games was that our confidence never wavered and we continued to play great team ball.”

The Wildcats (12-15) got good play at the net as five players earned double digit kill numbers. Senior Claire Brown led the way with 35 kills on the day and junior Madelyn Williams was second with 30.

Senior Emma Prettyman finished with 23, while senior Allie Kennedy and junior Hailey Sword had 21 and 20, respectively. Prettyman and Kennedy also led the Wildcats defense at the net with eight blocks each.

Junior setter Megan Quinn finished the tournament with 104 assists and was also second on the team with five aces.

Sword led the Wildcats from behind the service line with a team-high seven aces, while senior Adyson Ross and Kennedy each had four.

Defensively, Ross — the team’s libero — led the Wildcats in the back with 37 digs. Brown and Williams were right behind her with 36 each.

Louisburg is back in action tonight as the Wildcats travel to Eudora for a Frontier League match. Varsity is set to begin at 6:30 p.m.

Wildcats fall to Tonganoxie on Senior Night, Baldwin on road

Louisburg seniors Claire Brown, Adyson Ross, Allie Kennedy, Emma Prettyman and Ava Jorn walked onto their home court for the final time Thursday when the Wildcats hosted Tonganoxie on Senior Night.

Unfortunately, it didn’t have the end they all were hoping for.

Tonganoxie handed Louisburg a 25-11, 25-16, 14-25 and 25-17 loss in what was their second straight defeat on the week. Last Tuesday, the Wildcats fell to No. 3 Baldwin on the road, 25-19, 25-19, 11-25 and 25-15.

“Baldwin and Tonganoxie are both strong teams in our league,” Willer said. “Baldwin is currently 24-1 and they have some incredible athletes on their team. Tonganoxie has improved greatly over the past year and their ball control and defense were rock solid on Thursday. They just wouldn’t let anything drop. I give credit to both teams for playing so well, we just weren’t able to match either team’s level of play at the time. 

“That being said, we are so thankful that we were able to honor our seniors on Thursday and are looking forward to putting in the work to continuously improve throughout these final weeks.”

Against Tonganoxie, Kennedy closed out her home career on a strong note as she tallied a team-high 13 kills. Junior Hailey Sword was second on the team with 10.

Setter Megan Quinn recorded 35 assists, while senior libero led the Wildcat defense with a team-high 16 digs. Brown and Prettyman each had a team-best three blocks.

Brown had a big match for the Wildcats against Baldwin as she led Louisburg with 11 kills and had team-highs in aces (4) and blocks (2).

Ross and Williams each had 13 digs to lead Louisburg and Brown was right behind them with 12. Williams was also second on the team with nine kills and also had two blocks.