Louisburg volleyball falls to De Soto, Olathe West

Louisburg’s Evyn Richardson (left) and Hailey Sword team up for a block during a match earlier this season.

DE SOTO — Going against bigger programs can be difficult and the Louisburg volleyball faced its fair share of challenges Thursday.

The Wildcats traveled to De Soto for a triangular with Olathe West and left with a pair of setbacks. Louisburg lost to Olathe West 24-12 and 25-16 and also fell to De Soto 25-19 and 25-20.

“Thursday presented a couple of tough opponents for us,” Louisburg coach Leanna Willer said. “I thought we did a good job of keeping ourselves in the game and battling throughout the night. There were also a couple of key things that we worked on in practice Wednesday after last Tuesday’s game that I was happy to see improvement in on Thursday.”

Louisburg senior Hailey Sword led the Wildcat offense at the net with 10 kills on the night and senior Madie Williams finished with seven.

Middle blockers Izzy Moreland Evyn Richardson also played strong as Moreland finished with six kills to go along with a team-high four blocks. Richardson had three blocks on the night, as did senior Katie Elpers.

Offensively, senior Megan Quinn led the Wildcat offense with 15 assists on the night and freshman Adelyn Moore tallied seven. Quinn also led the defense with a team-high 14 digs.

“Both middles, Izzy and Evyn, did a good job of making themselves available in the offense and capitalizing on their opportunities,” Willer said. “Also, I thought that Megan had a great defensive night as she actually led our team in digs. Very proud of her.”

Senior libero Bronwynn Williams and Madie Williams each tallied 10 digs on the night, while senior Ashlyn Berck led Louisburg from behind the service line with three aces.

Louisburg (0-3) is back in action tonight as the Wildcats host Burlington and Piper in a triangular. The Wildcats will play Burlington at 4:30 p.m., and Piper at 6:30.