Area high school volleyball teams will begin their quest to reach the Pontchartrain Center today when the 2016 Louisiana High School Athletics Association volleyball playoffs kick off with the first round of action.
Several local teams will play host to their opponents in the first round after a good enough season to earn a seed in the top halves of their respective brackets. These teams include No. 11 Barbe in Division I, who will host No. 22 East Ascension, as well as No. 10 St. Louis and No. 11 Westlake, which will take on No. 23 Rayne and No. 22 Jennings respectively in the Division III bracket.
Despite losing District-MVP winner Jaden Towner to graduation last year, the Rams had a big task ahead of them a year after reaching the state quarterfinals for the first time since 2008.
But after finishing the regular season 19-13 with a perfect 6-0 District 1-III record, Westlake earned the No. 11 seed and a spot in the tournament that head coach Gloria Fontenot finds as advantageous as ever.
“After looking at it, I think we’re sitting pretty good,” Fontenot said. “It’s one of the best draws I think at this point that we’ve drawn maybe ever. We’ve seen Jennings twice, so we know what to expect from them... then after that — if we win — we’re looking at Brusly, which looks beatable.”
The Rams swept Jennings (16-7, 3-3 District 2-III) in both meetings between the two teams, the first at Westlake’s tournament in which they won 25-12, 25-16, and the next in a regular-season game at Jennings in which Westlake went back home with a 25-14, 25-10, 25-7 victory.
Fontenot says her team is good enough to make a run back to the quarterfinals, and maybe even further if they can put everything together with everything on the line. She said the Rams have struggled to close good teams out this season, she hopes the win-or-go-home nature of the playoffs will be the push Westlake needs get them over that obstacle.
“Everything we’ve done has been to get us ready for this moment,” Fontenot said. Hopefully we’re where we need to be. I think we’re right there. It’s just if we bring it.
“We’ve done everything and tried everything at this point to get them ready. It’s just a matter of them showing up and taking care of business. They playoffs are here. It’s do or die. It’s now or go home.”
After a slow start in a tough nondistrict schedule, St. Louis won 12 of its last 15 games, including all six of its District 2-III games to earn the spot right above Westlake in the bracket.
First-year head coach Elizabeth Thompson said she couldn’t have asked for much more from her team in the regular season, and now she hopes she can lead the Saints to the state quarterfinals for the first time since they reached at least Division III semifinals every year from 2009 through 2013.
Their first game will be against Rayne (9-19, 8-2 District 3-III), another team that struggled in nondistrict play, but ultimately earned a spot in the playoffs with its play in district.
“I keep reminding the girls that its the playoffs, but as long as we focus on our side of the court and as long as we’re clicking on all cylinders, we should be fine,” Thompson said.
“It’s one of the girls’ big goals this year to make it to the Ponchetrain Center since its been awhile since St. Louis made it there. To be able to do that with these girls, especially in my first year, would just be icing on the cake for such a great season with some great girls.”
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