Lady Cats snap losing skid with win over Spring Hill

By Andy Brown
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Updated: October 7, 2016

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg junior Sophie McMullen records a kill in the Lady Cats’ match with Spring Hill on Tuesday at Spring Hill High School. Louisburg defeated Spring Hill 3-1 to move its record to 18-11 on the season.

SPRING HILL – Trailing by five points in a critical third set, the Louisburg High School volleyball team didn’t want to trail Spring Hill by a set with two remaining.

The Lady Cats were tied at one set a piece with the Broncos in a best-of-5 dual and they knew they had to make something happen. Louisburg picked up its energy and rallied for a 26-24 win.

Louisburg went on to win the match 23-25, 25-14, 26-24 and 25-17 to snap a two-game losing streak and improved its Frontier League record to 2-2 on the season.

“For us to come back in that third set, that was big for us,” Louisburg coach Jessica Compliment said. “We have had close matches all year where we have lost 32-30, 28-26 or something like that and we haven’t been able to finish those matches. For us to finish that one was a good confidence boost for us and let the girls know that they can win sets like those and pull it out. They showed a lot of heart and determination to finish that third set out and was key for us.”

Mistakes hurt the Lady Cats in the first set as they weren’t able to find much of a rhythm and it was the same for Spring Hill in the second set.

Some of those mishaps came back to the forefront for Louisburg and Spring Hill was able to take a 20-15 lead in that pivotal third set.

“That first set we made a lot of mental errors,” Compliment said. “They were the mistakes where we just weren’t focused and had a lot of miscommunication or missed serves. Those are things we need to clean up across the board. As the match went on we got a little bit better.”

Senior Olivia Bradley (left) and Anna Dixon team up for a block Tuesday in Spring Hill.

The Lady Cats (18-11) cut into the lead thanks to kills from Anna Dixon, Sophie McMullen and Haley Cain. McMullen recorded a kill to tie the match at 22-all and during that time Dixon served four straight service points.

Spring Hill then battled back to take a 24-22 lead to set up game point, but the Lady Cats rattled off four consecutive points. McMullen got the game winner as she chased down the ball, dug it out and sent it over the net for the final point.

Energy didn’t seem to be a problem late in the third set as the Lady Cats made their run and eventually closed the match out in the fourth.

“Our energy seems to ebb and flow,” Compliment said. “(Senior) Ellie Katzer stepped up and challenged the girls that she wanted to see and hear the energy out there. That is what we need to have the whole time and we play so much better when we have high energy on the court.”

Dixon led the attack for the Lady Cats as she finished with a team-high 23 kills and also had team-high 15 blocks to dominate the net for Louisburg. Senior Olivia Bradley also had a big night with 14 blocks to go along with five kills.

McMullen had 14 kills in the win and also tallied 18 assists, while Cain had six kills and six blocks. Sophomore Carson Buffington led the way with 19 assists, while she and Katzer each had three aces. Katzer and freshman Riley Kallevig also had several digs in the back row.

Louisburg returns to action Tuesday when it hosts Eudora for senior night. Freshman matches will begin at 4:30 p.m., with junior varsity and varsity matches to follow.

Lady Cats fall to Olathe Northwest, Paola

Louisburg lost a pair of duals last week, including one on Sept. 27 against rival Paola and another on Sept. 29 against Olathe Northwest.

In their home match with Paola, the Lady Cats got off to a slow start after losing the first set 25-18. Louisburg nearly tied the match in the second set, but lost a close one, 27-25.

Momentum was with Paola in the third set and the Panthers finished out the match with a 25-18 win.

“Paola had all the momentum,” Louisburg coach Jessica Compliment said. “Paola did a fantastic job of digging everything. They were aggressive on the front line and aggressive on defense. We started to miscommunicate on a few things and Paola played to win. They came out ready and we need to find that mentality. We just played nervous and played tight.”

Anna Dixon led Louisburg with 14 kills and four blocks. Olivia Bradley added seven kills and four blocks in the win, while Carson Buffington had 18 assists.

Against Olathe Northwest, the Lady Cats got off to a rough start on the road as they lost the first set 25-7 to the Class 6A school. Louisburg played better in the final two sets, but still fell 25-21 and 25-16.