Lady Cats face four ranked teams in challenging week

By Andy Brown
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Updated: September 21, 2020

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Junior Riley Kallevig digs up a ball during Louisburg’s home match with Bonner Springs on Sept. 10. The Lady Cats went 1-4 in a week where they faced four state-ranked teams.

It was a difficult week for the Louisburg volleyball team as its schedule got a lot more challenging as the Lady Cats faced off with four state-ranked teams and played in a competitive tournament.

That resulted in one win in five matches and it made it even more difficult when the Lady Cats lost one of their starters, setter Davis Guetterman, to an injury.

The latest loss came last Tuesday when they traveled to the No. 4 team in Class 5A, Spring Hill. The Lady Cats, the No. 6 team in 4A, fell 3-0. A week prior to that, Louisburg hosted No. 7 Bonner Springs and lost 3-1.

Louisburg did get some good news in that stretch as the Lady Cats got sophomore starter Allie Kennedy back from injury and gave them more depth at the net. Sophomore Adyson Ross has also stepped in for Guetterman during that time.

“We played okay against Bonner and Spring Hill,” Louisburg coach Jessica Compliment said. “Both teams are tough and have some good players. I feel like we matched up with them okay, but also made some mental errors that cost us quite a few points. This past week has been different for us because our line up changed with Davis out, and Allie working back into practice and matches. With the order changing, we needed other players to step up and contribute more. Adyson did a good job of quickly adjusting to the pace of a varsity match and has done a good job over the past week.”

Against Spring Hill, the Lady Cats (5-5) were able to find some positives against the Frontier League leader, despite the 25-18, 25-7 and 25-14 setback.

Senior Carleigh Pritchard led the Lady Cats with eight kills and fellow senior Alyse Moore added six. Kennedy and sophomore Emma Prettyman each tallied five.

Junior Rinny McMullen finished with 26 assists to lead the offense, while senior Madi Quinn had five digs on defense.

Louisburg got out to a great start against Bonner Springs on Sept. 10 as the Lady Cats took the first set 25-19, but the Braves rallied to take the next three, 25-15, 25-20 and 25-13.

Pritchard and Moore each had 13 kills to lead the Lady Cat attack and Ross finished with five. McMullen ran the offense with a team-high 32 assists.

***Sophomore Emma Prettyman goes up for a block during the Lady Cats’ home match against Bonner Springs.***

Junior Chase Kallevig had three aces and 11 digs as the team’s libero, while Quinn finished with 12 digs. Emma Prettyman had three blocks.

On Sept. 12, the Lady Cats traveled to the Lansing Invitational, where the competed in a little different format than in year’s past.

Due COVID-19 precautions, the tournament consisted of just pool play, where each team played three matches. During that, the Lady Cats finished with a 1-2 record.

Louisburg opened the tournament with a hard-fought 21-25, 25-17 and 25-22 loss to the No. 10 ranked team in Class 5A, De Soto. The Lady Cats did respond with a 25-18, 25-27 and 25-15 victory over Basehor-Linwood, before falling 25-17 and 25-19 to No. 9 Topeka-Seaman.

“I think we played fairly well at the Lansing tournament,” Compliment said. “The format was slightly different, but I don’t think it affected how the team played. We knew we only had three matches that day, so we needed to make the most of each one. The teams we faced were tough teams, and I think we did a good job of working together. Each time we step out on the court, we are working to improve upon the previous match.”