Members of the Louisburg junior varsity volleyball team are (front row, from left) Emily Lemke, Taylor Jones, Jordan Crow, Colleen O’Brien, Dezaray Hampton, Stevie Gibson (back row) coach Cindy Campbell-Barnes, Marisa Mackey, Stephanie Meganck, Jaclyn Abrahamian, Sarah Dill, Gentry Griffin and Katie Valentine. (Submitted Photo)
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JV volleyball captures league title
Wildcats defeat Ottawa in wild championship game
By Andy Brown, andybrown@miconews.com
EUDORA — Louisburg junior varsity volleyball coach Cindy Campbell-Barnes decided to create a new stat for her team this year.
For every ball that was hit, not tipped, in front of the 10-foot line was a pizza ball. Huh? Yes, that is right, a pizza ball.
Campbell-Barnes knows her team’s weakness for food, so after last season’s Frontier League tournament, she told her squad for every pizza ball hit, she would buy the team a pizza.
The new stat has seemed to work like a charm.
The Wildcats overcame an early loss to Ottawa on Saturday to roll to their second-straight league title after defeating the Cyclones in the championship match, 25-23 and 26-24, at the league tournament in Eudora.
“The girls not only showed heart, but desire and focus as well,” Campbell-Barnes said. “I think they finally proved to themselves that they could come back from behind, fight to the bitter end, and they were the team that I always believed they were.”
Louisburg had to rally in a big way against Ottawa in the second game of the match. Ottawa jumped out to a 10-0 lead, and it appeared a third game was going to be inevitable.
“I called a timeout and asked them where the team was I just had 10 minutes ago, who were passing balls, running an offense, etc.,” the LHS coach said. “They had gotten into that mental game again and were losing severely. I told them they need to get the next few points and start a run quick.”
The Wildcats did just that.
Emily Lemke rattled off eight points in a row shortly after and put her team back in the game. Louisburg found itself down 24-23 late in the game, but Jaclyn Abrahamian served the final three points to capture the league title.
Abrahamian led the team with 14 kills on the day, while Dez Hampton and Lemke added 11 apiece. Sarah Dill finished with 10 kills, Colleen O’Brien added eight and Marisa Mackey recorded four.
O’Brien led Louisburg with 10 solo blocks and Hampton added eight. Stevie Gibson and Taylor Jones ran the offense well, and Gibson led the team with 39 serves.
To start the day, the Wildcats downed Gardner-Edgerton 25-20, 25-20 and followed that up with an easy 25-8, 25-14 win over Eudora. After falling to Ottawa 23-25, 25-12 and 16-14 to finish pool play, Louisburg defeated Paola 25-23 and 25-20 in the semifinals before avenging Ottawa.
As for those pizza balls, Campbell-Barnes is starting to wonder if that was such a good idea as her bill just got a little bigger after last weekend.
“They are up to 10 or so already and the season isn’t even over with yet,” she said.
It just makes the victories taste that much better.
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For every ball that was hit, not tipped, in front of the 10-foot line was a pizza ball. Huh? Yes, that is right, a pizza ball.
Campbell-Barnes knows her team’s weakness for food, so after last season’s Frontier League tournament, she told her squad for every pizza ball hit, she would buy the team a pizza.
The new stat has seemed to work like a charm.
The Wildcats overcame an early loss to Ottawa on Saturday to roll to their second-straight league title after defeating the Cyclones in the championship match, 25-23 and 26-24, at the league tournament in Eudora.
“The girls not only showed heart, but desire and focus as well,” Campbell-Barnes said. “I think they finally proved to themselves that they could come back from behind, fight to the bitter end, and they were the team that I always believed they were.”
Louisburg had to rally in a big way against Ottawa in the second game of the match. Ottawa jumped out to a 10-0 lead, and it appeared a third game was going to be inevitable.
“I called a timeout and asked them where the team was I just had 10 minutes ago, who were passing balls, running an offense, etc.,” the LHS coach said. “They had gotten into that mental game again and were losing severely. I told them they need to get the next few points and start a run quick.”
The Wildcats did just that.
Emily Lemke rattled off eight points in a row shortly after and put her team back in the game. Louisburg found itself down 24-23 late in the game, but Jaclyn Abrahamian served the final three points to capture the league title.
Abrahamian led the team with 14 kills on the day, while Dez Hampton and Lemke added 11 apiece. Sarah Dill finished with 10 kills, Colleen O’Brien added eight and Marisa Mackey recorded four.
O’Brien led Louisburg with 10 solo blocks and Hampton added eight. Stevie Gibson and Taylor Jones ran the offense well, and Gibson led the team with 39 serves.
To start the day, the Wildcats downed Gardner-Edgerton 25-20, 25-20 and followed that up with an easy 25-8, 25-14 win over Eudora. After falling to Ottawa 23-25, 25-12 and 16-14 to finish pool play, Louisburg defeated Paola 25-23 and 25-20 in the semifinals before avenging Ottawa.
As for those pizza balls, Campbell-Barnes is starting to wonder if that was such a good idea as her bill just got a little bigger after last weekend.
“They are up to 10 or so already and the season isn’t even over with yet,” she said.
It just makes the victories taste that much better.