Lady Cats seventh at Hayden Invite

By Andy Brown
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Updated: September 23, 2015

Louisburg senior Lauren Dunn sends a kill over the net during a match earlier this season. The Lady Cats traveled to the Topeka Hayden Invitational on Saturday and finished seventh overall with a 1-4 record.

TOPEKA – The Topeka Hayden Invitational featured seven state ranked teams in three classifications, so the Louisburg volleyball team knew it was going to be a tough road Saturday.

The Lady Cats had their hands full, got off to a bad start and couldn’t recover as they finished with a 1-4 record on the day. Louisburg did finish the tournament on a positive note as it defeated Bishop Carroll 25-18 and 25-9 in the seventh-place match.

It was a revenge match of sorts as it was Bishop Carroll, the No. 7 team in Class 5A, that handed the Lady Cats their first loss of the day. After Louisburg won the first set 25-23, Carroll responded with 25-19 and 25-15 victories in the first match of pool play.

Louisburg (17-7) got strong performances from seniors Madison Turner and Lauren Dunn in that first match. Turner led the way with a team-high 12 kills to go along with six blocks.

Dunn finished with eight kills, but also had a team-best 14 digs on defense. Sophomore setter Sophie McMullen added 27 assists in the three-set match.

Next up in pool play for the Lady Cats was Olathe East, the No. 2 ranked team in Class 6A. It was a tough battle, but Louisburg came up short in the 25-17 and 25-21 loss.

Freshman Anna Dixon led the Louisburg attack with six kills and an ace. Turner had a team-high 10 blocks on defense and fellow senior Cate Stambaugh added eight in the loss.

It didn’t get any easier as Louisburg squared off with host Topeka Hayden, which also happens to be the No. 1 team in Class 4A-Division I. The Lady Cats, which are ranked No. 4, couldn’t get the momentum it needed in the 25-20 and 25-20 setback.

Dunn led the Lady Cats with seven kills and Dixon added six, while senior Megan Lemke finished with two aces. Turner added a team-best nine blocks and senior libero Makenzie Kallevig had eight digs in the back row. McMullen also had 17 assists to lead the Lady Cat offense to go along with five blocks.

Louisburg finished up pool play against the No. 10 team in Class 6A, Manhattan. The Lady Cats wrapped up pool play winless in the 25-22 and 25-17 defeat.

Turner and Dixon finished with nine and seven kills, respectively, to lead the Lady Cat offense and McMullen added 21 assists. Defensively, Kallevig racked up a team-high 16 digs and Dunn finished with 10. Stambaugh also had nine blocks to help the Louisburg defense.

After all the losing, the Lady Cats took their aggression out on Carroll in the seventh-place match to win in two sets.

Turner and Stambaugh had a strong match at the net from their middle hitter positions with eight and six kills, respectively. Dunn added a team-high four aces and Kallevig recorded three.

Kallevig also came up big again defensively with 14 digs. McMullen moved the ball well from the setter spot with 18 assists.

The Lady Cats will try and rebound as they host the Louisburg Invitational on Saturday. Pool play is set to begin at 8 a.m. Teams scheduled to attend are Basehor-Linwood, Fort Scott, Leavenworth, Olathe North, Olathe South, Shawnee Mission East and Turner.

Lady Cats sweep quad at Prairie View

Louisburg didn’t have much of a problem Thursday when it traveled to Prairie View High School for a quadrangular with Osawatomie and Fort Scott.

The Lady Cats won all three matches in two sets and didn’t get much of an opposition.

Louisburg defeated Fort Scott 26-24 and 25-15 behind 10 kills from Lauren Dunn and six kills each from Cate Stambaugh, Madison Turner and Anna Dixon. Stambaugh also had a big match at the net with 10 blocks.

Setter Sophie McMullen handed out 22 assists, while three Lady Cats posted double-digit numbers in digs. Dixon led the way with 14, while Dunn and McMullen added 11 and 10, respectively.

It was much of the same against Osawatomie as the Lady Cats rolled to a 25-13 and 25-13 win. Dixon, Dunn and Turner had five kills each, while Dixon had three aces to lead the Louisburg offense. McMullen also added 18 assists.

Against Prairie View, Louisburg took care of business against the home team with a 25-15 and 25-9 victory. The Lady Cats served well as they racked up 11 aces in the two sets, with Dixon and Turner recording four each.