EDW, Morgan City still in state volleyball title hunt

On the second day of the State Volleyball Tournament, hosted at the Pontchartrain Center, in Kenner, two area teams advanced the semi-final rounds of their respective bracket. In Division II, Morgan City beat Chalmette, while Division III representative E.D. White held off a late-rallying Teurlings’ squad.

The E.D. White Lady Cardinals’ semi-final opponent will be Catholic of New Iberia, a team it split matches with this season. Morgan City’s opponent was determined in Thursday night’s late game, between Cabrini and Ben Franklin.

In Morgan City’s 3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-16) win over Chalmette, the Lady Tigers fell behind 1-0 before winning the final three games to clinch the match. Morgan City struggled in the match’s opening game, taking its only lead at 3-2. It trailed the rest of the way, but seemed to gain momentum near the end of the game.

“I don’t if it was jitters, or what,” said Morgan City coach Christy Theriot. “We did not play our offense, and Chalmette did a great on their offense. It kept us off balance the whole first game.”

Things started similarly in the second game, with Chalmette taking a narrow lead early on, but with the score 13-12 in favor of Chalmette, the Lady Tigers’ Alana Mayon held her serve for three consecutive point, putting Morgan City ahead for good, 15-13. The lead eventually extended to 21-15, before the Lady Tigers put it away 25-19.

From there, Morgan City dominated, building a 14-6 lead early in game three. The Lady Owls fought back, cutting the score to 18-15, then 20-18, but could not get closer, as Morgan City sealed it with a 25-20 win.

Game four was tightly contested early on, but Morgan City broke a 15-15 tie with an 8-0 run that all but clinched the match. During the run, Sarah Pontiff had two kills while Emily Czeck added two aces. “We got our passes together,” said Theriot, “which allowed our offense to run.”

Morgan City plays the winner of Ben Franklin and Cabrini, today at 3:15 p.m.

In the nightcap for area teams, E.D. White took a 2-0 lead, before a receiving a scare from Teurlings. Despite a modest comeback bid by the Lady Rebels, E.D. White pulled out a 3-1 win (25-9, 25-13, 23-25, 26-24). “We had a game back in the season, where we put a team away in two games, and they came back and beat us in three,” said Lady Cardinals’ coach Mary Cavell. “We didn’t like happening then, we didn’t want it to happen now.”

With the Lady Cardinals dominating the first two games, and appearing in their way to doing the same thing in the third, Teurlings gained the momentum. In the third game, E.D. White took a 10-4 lead, and appeared to be on its way to a sweep of the Lady Rebels. However, Teurlings exploded on a 14-1 rally to take an 18-11 lead.

E.D. White never fully recovered in the third game, eventually losing 25-23.

The teams traded leads early in the fourth game, with Teurlings jumping to a 5-2 lead, answered b E.D. White’s 10-7 advantage. The Lady Rebels scored the next seven, taking a 14-10 lead, before E.D. White answered to take a 16-15 lead.

From there the teams traded points until E.D. White extended its lead to 24-21.

Facing elimination, Teurlings battled back, tying it 24-24, before consecutive kills by Kathryn Stock gave E.D. White the 26-24 win. “Whatever she wanted at the net, Kathryn had,” said Cavell. “She was on fire. I said to go to Kathryn—she was our go-to-girl.”

E.D. White plays Catholic of New Iberia at 1:30 p.m., today.

Wednesday’s matches:

Division I

Lafayette d. Terrebonne 3-2 (19-25, 26-24, 25-19, 23-25, 16-14)

Mandeville d. Ellender 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-18)

Division II

Morgan City d. Northside 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-21)