Are the Lady Cardinals poised for a repeat?

Winning one state championship is quite a laborious accomplishment, but winning two, much less consecutively, is oftentimes impossible.

Entering the 2009 volleyball season, the E.D. White Lady Cardinals set three goals for themselves: Reload. Refuel. Repeat.

Well, if the conclusion of the 2009 regular season is any indication, the Lady Cardinals are capable of making a deep run in the playoffs.

RELOAD

After playing a schedule with a mixture of opponents, finishing 23-9 overall, and earning their 10th straight district title, the Lady Cardinals believe they can pull off the “impossible.”

Close matches against three former state champions – McGehee, Northlake Christian and St. Joseph’s – have helped prepare coach Mary Cavell’s team for the district slate, in which they finished 5-1 overall and shared the title with Cecilia.

The team is out to prove that nothing is impossible, even without the services of Gatorade Volleyball Player of the Year Kathryn Stock on the team, who graduated last year.

After all, it was the Lady Cardinals who made seven straight trips to the state championship game before winning their first title last season; so, impossible is not in their vocabulary.

Although the overall record doesn’t depict the dominance one would expect from a volleyball powerhouse, it’s left the coach satisfied.

“I’m pretty pleased,” Cavell admitted. “We scheduled a tough preseason. We beat some top schools in St. Thomas More and Dominican. With that, I think that helped us improve our level of play by having a tough preseason.”

REFUEL

With the help of five seniors on this year’s squad – outside hitters Lindsay Constant, Jeanne Robichaux, Emma Morel and Alaina Toups and setter Jessica Politz – Cavell believes a repeat is not out of the question as long as her team continues to improve in the final three weeks of the season.

The play of Politz and Constant are going to be key down the stretch for the Lady Cardinals as they fight for a return trip to the Pontchartrain Center, according to the coach.

“Their leadership has been really key,” she said. “Both of them have been playing since they were freshmen with us. Not starters, but playing and having a heavy part in the tradition we founded here at E.D. White. Both of them even said at the end of last year when they won the state title that they wanted to come back and repeat.”

“All of the seniors have stepped up,” Cavell added.

But the younger players have stepped into their roles as well. Junior hitters Whitney Babin, Abby Filce and Emily Albert have all played substantial roles in the Lady Cardinals’ success this season.

Cavell said it’ll take teamwork to continue the team’s trek.

Both Politz and Constant saw significant playing time on the Lady Cardinals state championship team last year that helped them carry over into this season.

They both believe this Lady Cardinals team is poised for a repeat.

“When we are on, every aspect is on,” Politz said. “We have everything, a strong offense, really good hitters and a strong defense. If we can play our best we are going to be very tough to beat. We’ve reloaded, refueled and we will repeat.”

As a senior, Constant felt it is her duty to “treat every game like it’s our last.”

“We want to leave it all on the court,” she said. “As long as we can keep on improving, then there is no question we can repeat.”

REPEAT

Now that the team has repeated as district champions, they look to take that a step further and repeat as state champs.

However, repeating as district champions took a little work. The defending state champions were swept by Cecilia on the road on Oct 20 before avenging the loss at home last Thursday in four sets.

“These girls didn’t want to be the team to break the streak,” Cavell said. “After the first loss they did a little soul-searching and realized what they wanted and decided to do what it takes to get to that point.”

One of the main things Cavell likes about the team is their willingness to establish their own identity, which is instrumental in any team’s hoping to make a deep run in the playoffs.

She said while they’ve embraced the success of previous seasons, they are determined to win a championship to prove to themselves they can do it with this team.

“You use the years before, the tradition and where we’ve been to have ownership in their own team,” Cavell said. “They really have done a good job. The seniors have really helped out in helping the girls feel like a family of sisters and bringing us hopefully to the next level and winning another state championship.

“I still don’t think we’ve reached our peak,” she added. “We want to continue to improve and play our best ball when it counts.”

If the Lady Cardinals reach their peak now, then Cavell may be able to add yet another item to his already impressive 18-year coaching resume.

E.D. White’s Abby Filce (12) goes for a kill against Cecilia last week. With their 3-1 victory over the Bulldogs the Lady Cardinals clinched their 10th straight district championship, sharing the title with Cecilia. * Photo by KYLE CARRIER