Long day leads to second place finish for Louisburg at Frontenac Invite

FRONTENAC – By the time Louisburg reached the championship game of the Frontenac Invitational, the Wildcats were already pushed to the limit.

Louisburg played five previous matches to reach the title game against Chanute. The Wildcats put together their best effort, but fell short of the title to the Blue Comets in a 26-24 and 25-15 loss. In all, the Wildcats posted a 4-2 record on the day, which included a revenge win over Pittsburg in bracket play.

Those six matches were the end to what was as busy week for Louisburg as it played nine matches in a 5-day span.

“It was a major drain on the girls’ energy,” Louisburg coach Rich Brown said. “Playing 6 matches in a day isn’t a usual experience in the high school setting. We definitely found out where we need to build our endurance if we plan to go full speed in the last match of the day.

“I think what excited me the most at Frontenac was the girls’ ability to bounce back after the pool play loss to Pittsburg. We played a long 2 set match and lost to them, but turned right around and played them again in the bracket. We ended up winning that match and got some immediate payback.”

Louisburg opened pool play against Girard and put together an easy 25-15 and 25-20 victory over the Trojans and followed that up with a 25-12 and 25-19 win over St. Paul. The Wildcats dropped their final match of pool play in a 2-0 loss to Pittsburg.

The Wildcats bounced right back as they downed Pittsburg in the quarterfinals of bracket play and advanced with a 25-22, 24-26 and 25-17 win over the Purple Dragons. Louisburg then met Riverton in the semifinals and won another 3-set match, 25-18, 19-25 and 25-22, before falling to Chanute in the championship.

“Overall I thought we played well as a team,” Brown said. “I had 9 players who wanted to stay on the court all the time. I like that attitude and hope their goals and my goals can coexist. Our ability to receive serve started to drop around the third match of the day, but we recovered and passed better in the fourth and fifth match.”

Junior setter Adelyn Moore ran the offense for the Wildcats to the tune of 150 assists and set up a lot of strong attacks. She also led the team with six aces on the day and had 35 digs.

“I liked the way Adelyn distributed the ball and was able to take advantage of the one -on-one matchups with the blockers,” Brown said. “Getting our hitters to run first tempo every play is essential to us winning against teams with experienced blockers.”

Moore had a lot of options to choose from as several Wildcats made impacts at the net. Senior outside hitter Caileigh Kilgore paced the Louisburg attack with 49 kills on the day.

Senior Rylee Telken and junior Breck Nielsen had 33 and 31 kills, respectively, while seniors Delaney Nelsen and McKenna Lohse had 30 and 23.

Defensively, Kilgore was also busy on the back row with 44 digs and senior Addi Mallett had 36. Junior libero Regan Williams had 24 digs, while senior defensive specialist Stella Bohnenstiehl finished with 22. Nielsen and Lohse both had six blocks to lead the way at the net.

The Wildcats (7-3) will look to continue their strong play on Sept. 16 when they travel to Bonner Springs for a Frontier League dual.

Louisburg gets road win over Ottawa

Ottawa hasn’t been the easiest place to play for Louisburg in recent years, but the Wildcats took care of business last Thursday against the Cyclones.

Despite dropping the first set, the Wildcats roared back to win the next three in the 24-26, 25-17, 25-19 and 25-23 victory and moved to 2-0 in Frontier League play.

“The loss in the first set falls fully on my shoulders as I was trying a different lineup to give a player some recovery time,” Brown said. “When I finally figured it out, we played with much more trust and cohesiveness the other three sets. Ottawa pushed us with their great defense and we won some points by outlasting them.”

Cailiegh Kilgore had a big night at the net for the Wildcats as she tallied a team-high 19 kills. Breck Nielsen and Delaney Nelsen each finished with nine, while McKenna Lohse had eight kills to go along with a team-best six aces.

Junior Adelyn Moore ran the offense well with 49 assists on the night. Defensively, junior libero Regan Williams tallied a team-high 17 digs and senior defensive specialist Stella Bohnenstiehl had 13 in the win.

Wildcats split with Wichita-Trinity, Piper

Louisburg hosted Wichita-Trinity and Piper on Sept. 9 and the Wildcats earned a split in the triangular.

After falling to Trinity in three sets (25-16, 23-25 and 25-22), Louisburg responded with a 25-14 and 25-16 victory over the Piper.

Senior Caileigh Kilgore paced the Wildcats with a team-high 17 kills and four aces on the night, while Rylee Telken and Delaney Nelsen had 13 and 11 assists, respectively. Setter Adelyn Moore led the way with 48 assists.

Defensively, Moore and Kilgore each led the way with 16 digs each and libero Regan Williams finished with 13. Telken led the way at the net with four blocks.

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