Wildcats win three straight heading into postseason

The Louisburg volleyball team is heading into the postseason on a hot streak.

The Wildcats capped their regular season with three straight victories, including dominant wins over Wamego, Ottawa and Baldwin, giving them momentum as they prepare for Saturday’s Class 4A sub-state tournament in Chanute.

Louisburg opened the final stretch on Oct. 16 at Ottawa with a 25-13, 25-18 sweep of Wamego. Senior Caileigh Kilgore led the attack with six kills, and junior Breck Nielsen added five. Setter Adelyn Moore finished with 16 assists and four kills, while libero Regan Williams paced the defense with six digs.

The Wildcats stayed sharp against Ottawa, rolling to a 25-18, 25-13 win. Kilgore again led the offense with eight kills, and McKenna Lohse added five. Moore recorded another 16 assists in the victory.

“We had a really good night against Wamego and Ottawa,” Louisburg coach Rich Brown said. “Ottawa is a much better team than they were early in the season. Getting our block in the right position against their slide hitter was a challenge. Delaney Nelsen played a smart game and was able to score on tips frequently. Our middles, both Breck and Kenna, ran the quick attack consistently.”

Louisburg closed out the regular season Tuesday with a convincing 25-10, 25-21, 25-14 sweep at Baldwin. The Wildcats were dominant from the service line, collecting 12 aces — six from freshman Reagan Varns and three from Lohse. Kilgore finished with nine kills, Lohse added six and Delaney Nelsen chipped in five. Moore dished out 25 assists and added five kills, while Stella Bohnenstiehl and Ellie Vohs led the defense with nine digs apiece.

For the season, Kilgore leads the Wildcats with 308 kills, followed by Nelsen (200), Nielsen (190), Lohse (188) and Rylee Telken (185). Lohse tops the team with 53 aces, and Kilgore has 48. Moore is closing in on a milestone with 939 assists. Defensively, Williams has a team-best 298 digs, and Telken leads at the net with 43 blocks.

Louisburg (23-12) enters sub-state as the No. 8 seed and will face No. 9 Independence (18-16) in the opening round. The winner will advance to meet either top-seeded Chanute (35-1) or the Bishop Miege/Fort Scott play-in winner in the championship.

Brown said his team is focused on preparation and execution as it enters postseason play.

“I’m incredibly superstitious about looking ahead,” he said. “Postseason will be a challenge for us. We played Chanute early in the season and they ran us all over the place. They play great defense and are very smart. But truthfully, we can’t spend more than a minute preparing for anyone other than Independence. That’s who we’ll focus on this week.”

It is also the final postseason run for five Louisburg seniors in McKenna Lohse, Delaney Nelsen, Rylee Telken, Stella Bohnenstiehl and Caileigh Kilgore.

“This group has been starters or important subs for most of the last two years,” Brown said. “I was also lucky enough to coach them when they played JV also. I think they have been a foundation to the things we’ve accomplished the past two seasons. It will be strange next season not seeing them in the gym all the time.”