Wildcats fall to Spring Hill on Senior Night; get road win over Paola
Senior Night is always a special moment for any team and it was the case again Thursday as the Louisburg volleyball team hosted Spring Hill for a Frontier League dual.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Spring Hill put a damper on the evening as the Broncos handed Louisburg a 25-16, 25-19 and 25-13 loss in what was the final home game this season.
Still, the Wildcat players and fans had a chance to say thank you to the five Louisburg seniors — Jaden Bentz, Ally Brown, Aspen Coulter, Katie McKain and Evyn Richardson — as they played their last game in the LHS gymnasium.
“Senior Night is always a very special night for our program,” Willer said. “With volleyball, the timing of senior night can be tricky, and this year was no different — senior night is happening yet we still have quite a few games left to play. I think that helps our girls to know that we still have time with our seniors left, but it definitely brings attention to how that time is winding down and how we want to make the most of the time we have left with this particular group of girls.
“These seniors have brought so much fun and energy to our program and they each bring their own unique personality to the gym every day. They have truly impacted our program and are going to leave their mark on the team this year.”
Spring Hill is currently undefeated in Frontier League play and is on pace to win the league title and the Broncos made it tough on the Wildcats.
“Against Spring Hill, we saw our team do some really great things and make some big plays that had us hanging in there, especially in the second set,” Willer said “Unfortunately, we couldn’t string enough of those good plays together to come out on top in the end. Overall, I thought we fought hard and our seniors especially really tried to make the most of playing on our home court for the last time.”
Richardson had a big night in her final home performance as she finished with a team-high 10 kills to go along with two blocks. Juniors Caileigh Kilgore and McKenna Lohse added five kills each.
Louisburg setter Adelyn Moore had a team-high 23 assists to go along with nine digs and two blocks. Brown was also second the team with nine digs.
The Wildcats will try and get back in the win column Tuesday when they travel to Tonganoxie for their final league dual of the season. Varsity is set to begin at 6:30 p.m.
Louisburg gets league road victory at Paola
It may not have been as easy as the 3-0 score indicated, but Louisburg picked up a win over its rival last Tuesday in Paola.
The Wildcats defeated the Panthers 25-23, 26-24 and 25-22 as they were able to pull out three close set victories on the road.
“Winning another league match is always going to be a positive, especially when we can do it in straight sets,” Willer said. “With Paola being our closest competitor geographically in the league, we have a natural rivalry, so beating them is always important to us. We didn’t play our best, but I’m proud of the team for being able to dig themselves out of some holes in each set and come back to win.”
Serving and defense provided the Wildcats with a good starting point against Paola as Louisburg tallied eight aces in the those three sets, including three each from Ally Brown and Delaney Nelsen.
Brown also stepped up in the back row as she tallied a team-high 21 digs and another senior, Jaden Bentz, had 11 and Nelsen added nine.
Offensively, junior McKenna Lohse had a big night as the Wildcat middle blocker led the team with five blocks and also had a team-high 11 kills. Junior Caileigh Kilgore added nine kills in the win.
Louisburg sophomore setter Adelyn Moore had a team-high 31 assists.
“I thought our defense was really strong and we made some great digs that we were able to then convert to offense which is exactly what we need to do,” Willer said. “Defensively, Ally stood out as she made some really great digs out of middle back. Offensively, I think Kenna stood out as she took some big swings and finished as the kill leader for our team.”