Wildcat volleyball finishes runner-up at Atchison Invitational

By Andy Brown
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Updated: October 11, 2023

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The Louisburg volleyball team finished with a 4-1 record Saturday at the Atchison Invitational and brought home a second place plaque.

ATCHISON — In its final regular season tournament of the year, the Louisburg volleyball team put together a strong showing as it inches closer to the postseason.

The Wildcats traveled to the Atchison Invitational and left with a runner-up plaque Saturday as they finished the tournament with a 4-1 record.

“This was a fun new tournament for us to join with a lot of teams we don’t see very often,” Louisburg coach Leanna Willer said. “Overall, I think we played well and showed up ready to show everyone what Louisburg volleyball is all about. It was a long day, and we faced our fair share of moments where we had to push through a tough moment, but we rallied together and played hard each match. It’s always nice to come home with some hardware.”

Louisburg went 3-0 in pool play and it started with a 25-17 and 25-10 win over Junction City. The Wildcats followed that up with a 25-5 and 25-17 victory over Atchison and a 25-18 and 25-10 win over Atchison County Community.

Those wins pushed the Wildcats into the semifinals where they squared off with Paola. The Panthers pushed Louisburg to three sets, but the Wildcats came through with a 25-22, 23-25 and 25-16 win and they advanced to the championship against Perry-Lecompton.

The Wildcats battled a talented Perry-Lecompton squad, but came up short in a 25-23, 23-25 and 25-18 loss.

“Perry-Lecompton is a strong 3A team who has a couple of stud players,” Willer said. “They came out with a lot of energy, they played some relentless defense, and they have some strong offensive weapons that can put the ball away. The game was fun to play because they were a great match for us – it was very even all throughout. Unfortunately, we did not come out on top in the end, but we fought hard and left it all out there on the floor. I’m proud of how hard they played.”

Throughout the tournament, the Wildcats featured a balanced attack on offense and it started with seniors Madie Williams and Hailey Sword. Williams finished with 36 kills over the five matches and Sword added 33.

Sophomore Caileigh Kilgore tallied 22 kills, while sophomore Delaney Nelsen and senior Izzy Moreland had 16 and 13, respectively.

Senior Megan Quinn and freshman Adelyn Moore set up the hitters well. Quinn had a team-high 62 assists and Moore added 45.

Nelsen was strong from behind the service line as she had 14 aces in the tournament, while Williams and Quinn each added eight.

Defensively, Moreland, Kilgore and Nelsen each had five blocks to lead Louisburg. Sword had a team-high 46 digs, Williams had 32 and Nelsen finished with 29.

“We played well together as a team throughout the day and leaned on different players during different games,” Willer said. “Our setters did a good job of running the offense and implementing what we’ve been working on in practice. We were able to serve tough and get a lot of the other teams out of system throughout the day, all of which helped get us to the championship and playing better each game.”

The Wildcats will hit the court one final time in the regular season this Thursday when they host Olathe North and Wamego in a triangular. Matches begin at 5 p.m.