Lady Terriers looking to peak with playoffs near

For most, déjà vu provides a nervous and uneasy feeling.

But for the Vandebilt Catholic volleyball team, it served as a positive reminder of just how good they could be.

The Lady Terriers played Assumption last Tuesday, the team who knocked Vandebilt out of the State Semifinals last season.

And this time again, the Lady Terriers had a flashback to their painful playoff memories, as they fell short and lost a close match to the Mustangs in straight sets (25-21, 25-22, 25-17).

But instead of hanging their heads, the Lady Terriers say the loss reiterated to them just how good they think they can be again this season as they make a push for the state championship.

“That’s exactly what I was telling the girls, we didn’t play our best game,” Vandebilt volleyball coach Kristin Son said. “In spurts we did and we played really well, but consistently, as a whole, I don’t feel like we played our best game. I think it was a little harder to take because they know they didn’t play their best game, and they still were able to come that close to beating such a great team like Assumption.”

Vandebilt senior Jacey Armstrong agreed and said after losing a few times in a row to the Terriers’ rivals, Vandebilt is strongly motivated to take the next step as the playoffs near.

“They beat us last year in the semifinals, and there’s nothing we want more than to come out and finally get revenge and beat them,” Armstrong said. “Knowing that they were playing their best and we were playing our worst, it just shows how much we could really beat them if we put it all together.”

While the Terriers weren’t able to defeat state power Assumption, losing hasn’t exactly been the norm for Vandebilt this season.

Following last Tuesday’s match, Vandebilt had a 15-7 record, and in the latest LHSAA-released Class 4A power rankings, the Lady Terriers were ranked No. 3 in the state.

Leading the team is a strong, four-player senior class comprised of Armstrong, Corinne Graffignino, Brittany Guidry and Katelyn Robichaux.

The group said that even despite the lofty record, they do not feel they played as well as they could so far this season – not even close.

“We can be very, very good,” Guidry said. “We have so much potential this year that it’s not even funny. It’s just a matter of being consistent and knowing we’re good.”

Graffignino agreed and said the toughest thing for Vandebilt right now is keeping patience knowing that the season is winding down and the team hasn’t yet reached their summit.

“We haven’t peaked yet,” she said. “We’re still waiting.”

The Lady Terriers’ coach added that the waiting process could soon be able to end for her team.

She said Vandebilt doesn’t have one giant hole to fill, but instead have to plug a few smaller kinks in their armor moving forward.

“They’ve got to correct the little mistakes,” Son said. “Just fix the little errors, the missed serves, the mental mistakes that we’re making. It’s all about those little tweaks. Just little things like that, that if they’d do them consistently, it’d set them on a whole new level.”

But the coach did say that having a senior-laden team does help that process.

“I think they are a great group of girls,” Son said. “They get along with everyone on the team, they are able to bring everybody up, they’re very motivational, and I lean on them a lot. I go to them a lot to help me with the younger kids to pull them up when they might need it. … It’s easy to have these kids as your seniors. It makes my job a lot easier, because they help me a lot with everyone else.”

Because, after all, they don’t want to have their season end the same way it did last year in playoff defeat.

They are going to play every game like it’s their last at the prep level – because it just might be.

“I think this game really made us realize just how much we have to turn it on every, single game and play to our fullest,” Armstrong said. “Because we can definitely be state champs this year, and that’s our biggest goal right now.”

“I don’t want to stop playing,” Graffignino said.

Armstrong agreed and said the Lady Terriers will lean on their experiences, as well as the memories of the school’s four fallen students to ride them to where they want to go the remainder of the season.

“It felt like almost every play, I was talking to our friends, asking them to be there for us,” she said. “I feel like it helps us knowing that we’re going to play for them every game from here on out.”

Vandebilt junior CeCe Williams lifts the ball over the top of two Assumption defenders during last Tuesday’s match. Williams is one of the big hitters for the No. 3 team in the state, according to the LHSAA’s latest Class 4A power rankings. CASEY GISCLAIR