Louisburg volleyball sweeps home quadrangular

By Andy Brown
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Updated: September 19, 2017

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg sophomore Haley Cain goes up for a kill against Prairie View on Thursday at Louisburg High School. The Lady Cats rolled to 2-0 wins over Prairie View, Fort Scott and Osawatomie in their home quadrangular.

When the latest Kansas Volleyball Coaches Association rankings came out last week, the Louisburg High School volleyball team got a little bit of good news during what was a rough patch.

The Lady Cats were in the midst of a three-game losing streak when it was announced that they were the No. 2 team in Class 4A-Division I. That good news carried over Thursday into their home quadrangular.

Louisburg snapped its losing skid and replaced it with a three-game winning streak after the Lady Cats rolled to easy 2-0 wins over Osawatomie, Fort Scott and Prairie View at Louisburg High School. The wins improved the Lady Cats’ record to 15-5 on the season.

“The three wins Thursday evening were nice,” Louisburg coach Jessica Compliment said. “The whole program (freshman and junior varsity) swept their quads as well so nine wins for the program was great to see.

“Overall we played okay. We lost our focus at times and it showed that we need to continue working on our mental game and minimizing errors.”

Osawatomie was the Lady Cats’ first foe and Louisburg didn’t have much of a problem in a 25-10 and 25-12 victory.

The Lady Cats played well all over the court, but got a good performance from Sophie McMullen. The Louisburg senior recorded seven of the team’s 11 aces in the match and also had a team-high seven kills.

Senior Sarah Wilson rises up for a kill against Prairie View.

Sophomore libero Riley Kallevig and junior Anna Dixon both had a team-high six digs, while setter Carson Buffington tallied 14 assists in the match. Sophomore Reilly Ratliff-Becher and McMullen contributed four digs, while Dixon and sophomore Haley Cain had four and three kills, respecitively.

It was much of the same in the Lady Cats’ next game when they squared off with Fort Scott. Louisburg controlled the match from the opening serve in its 25-6 and 25-9 victory.

Dixon had a big performance at the net with a team-high 12 kills. As a team, the Lady Cats had a big night from behind service line with 12 aces. Dixon and Cain led the way with three each, while Buffington and McMullen recorded two.

Buffington ran the Lady Cat offense well with 16 assists, while Kallevig led the defense with seven digs. McMullen and Ratliff-Becher had five and four digs, respectively.

Louisburg didn’t let up in its final match of the day as it continued its dominance with a 25-10 and 25-9 win over Prairie View.

Dixon, once again, had another big outing at the net with a team-high 16 kills and McMullen recorded six. McMullen also served well as she recorded five of the team’s 14 aces. Kallevig, Cain and Buffington each added three each.

Senior Ainsley Vance gets ready to make a pass to a teammate Thursday in the Lady Cats’ home triangular.

Buffington had 22 assists in the win, while Kallevig had another big match on defense with a team-high eight digs and McMullen had six.

The Lady Cats will try to keep that winning streak going tonight when it travels to Baldwin for a Frontier League dual. The freshman match will start at 4:30 p.m., with the junior varsity and varsity to follow.

De Soto wins battle of ranked teams

Going into their Frontier League dual on Sept. 12, both the Louisburg and De Soto volleyball teams were ranked in their respective classifications.

It was a battle between the league’s top two teams – a battle De Soto won.

De Soto, the No. 6 team in Class 5A at the time, defeated Louisburg 25-17, 25-15 and 25-23 to hand the Lady Cats their first league loss of the season.

The Lady Cats struggled to get going in the first two sets, but managed to take a 23-21 lead late in the third to try and force a fourth set. Instead, De Soto scored the final four points to earn the sweep.

Senior Sophie McMullen and junior Anna Dixon were both active at the net with 12 kills each and McMullen also had two aces. Junior setter Carson Buffington recorded 26 assists