Louisville's Madison Shepard
Photo
compliments of Krambeck Photography.
Click to see additional photos.....
| A Lion Game Ball to ... | ||
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Madison
Shepard In her first year with the Lions, Madison assisted on 21 kills, a team best this season. |
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Front
Liners Natalie Minchow, Sam Lane & Morgan Dittberner Natalie turned in her best all-around performance this season with 14 kills, two aces and a solo block. Sam and Morgan each registered an 8 kill, 1 block performance to balance the offense and keep the Raider defense guessing. |
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Senior
Players Junior Tori Dean saluted the seniors honored at parents night, “Our seniors are a big part of our team even those who are not on the court…..we hear their encouragement and it keeps us going and makes us better.”. |
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Lions
Pound Raiders in Three Straight (9-20-11)
Louisville hammered 35 kills in their three set sweep of the Mead Raiders
in route to a 25-13, 25-19, 25-20 upset of the Omaha World Herald’s
fourth rated D-2 squad. Mead brought a sparkling 8-1 record to the Lions
home court.
Louisville’s offense was clicking to the famous phrase, “there
is no place like home” as the Lions opened their first home match
in 14 outings. Louisville’s pep band played the school fight song,
seniors and their parents were recognized, and students were assembled
to provide a welcome home court advantage to the Lion squad.
“We came out fired up, mixed up our sets and put in a good effort…I
liked our energy,” commented Coach Davenport.
After falling behind 0-4, Louisville began their offensive assault behind
the solid passing of sophomore libero McKenna Zahn.
“I’ve always worked at being a good passer,” said Zahn
who has embraced the role of defensive specialist. “I had an opportunity
to play some back row last year as a freshman…..the play starts
with me and I like that.”
With the score knotted at 6-6 and serving ace Tori Dean at the line the
Lions went through a stretch where they landed nine points on a Dean ace,
3 kills and a block by Natalie Minchow and four kills by sophomore 6-footer
Sam Lane. Down 15-6, the stunned Raiders were unable to organize a defense
for the Lion front liners, dropping the first set 25-13.
Louisville continued its solid performance in the second and third sets,
uncorking one of its best outings of the season in front of the enthusiastic
home crowd. Junior Madison Shephard dished out a season topping 21 assists
while Morgan Dittberner turned in a solid eight kill performance from
her center position. Minchow landed a season best 14 kills in the match.
The Lions, 8-6 on the season, play host at the annual Louisville Booster
Tournament on Saturday, September 24.
| Mead (8-2) | 13 | 19 | 20 |
| Louisville (8-6) | 25 |
25 |
25 |
Mead
(kills-aces-blocks): M Nygren 4-0-0, D. Patocka 0-2-0, L. Taylor 2-1-0,
M. Charles 2-0-0, A. Ruhe 0-0-0, H. Konecky 5-0-0, J. Schnell 1-0-0, A.
Hough 5-0-0
Louisville (kills-aces-blocks): S. Lane 8-0-1, M. Zahn
0-5-0, T. Dean 2-4-0, M. Shepard 3-0-0, M. Poland 0-0-1, J. Marcoe 0-0-0,
N. Minchow 14-2-1, M. Dittberner 8-0-1, M. Bauers 0-0-0, H. Rose 0-0-0,
S. Dillon 0-0-0
Set assists: Shepard (21), Minchow (11), Poland (1)
Statistics are unofficial.
