Lady Tigers hold off H.L. Bourgeois in rivalry match

The district girls’ volleyball playoffs began a little early for Terrebonne and H.L. Bourgeois.

At least that was the way Lady Tigers coach Chip Didier saw things following his team’s 25-18, 25-21, 13-25, 25-22 home victory over the Lady Braves Thursday in front of a jazzed crowd at Terrebonne High School.

&#8220This was a huge win for our state seeding,” he said. &#8220We’re going to finish third in the district, but we’ll probably be seeded in the top 10 in the state by beating H.L.”

Thanks to a balanced attack.

Sophomore middle hitter Sierra Lyons led Terrebonne (29-10 overall, 9-3 in district through Monday) with 16 kills and four blocks, but got plenty of assistance from Macie LeBoeuf (30 assists), Sami Kanode and Danielle Doiron (14 and 13 digs, respectively) and Sami Kanode (seven aces).

&#8220Sierra felt a little uncomfortable with some of the sets she was getting, but eventually started hitting the ball as she’s supposed to,” Didier said. &#8220But everyone did a great job. We actually scored a lot of points when Sierra wasn’t even in the game.”

After trading punches in the first game, the Lady Tigers cruised to a comfortable win in the second to take a 2-0 lead.

They then took a 5-1 lead in the third on the strength of three powerful kills from Lyons.

But just when Terrebonne had the Lady Braves staggering against the ropes, coach Peter Verret’s squad rallied back with a vengeance.

H.L. Bourgeois (10-2 in district through Tuesday) overcame a 9-6 deficit by recording 13 unanswered points to finally win.

&#8220Sadie Hebert (of H.L. Bourgeois) got up there and served us right off of the court,” Didier said. &#8220We gave up a lot of points and made a lot of hitting errors. But give H.L. credit. They didn’t quit and forced a fourth game.”

One that was close, but won by the Lady Tigers.

&#8220After the third game, the girls were getting tense because they were trying not to lose,” Didier explained. &#8220So I just told them to take a deep breath, relax and go out there and play like they are capable of playing. I told them the pressure is on H.L., not us. We served tough, took care of the net and our defense played great.”

The victory extended Terrebonne’s winning streak to 11 heading into Tuesday’s matchup against Catholic High of New Iberia.

The results were unavailable by press time.

&#8220I’m speechless right now,” Lyons said following the match. &#8220It (the win) is important because it’s H.L. and we needed this for our power rankings. I’m just glad we won. We’re back.”

With the loss, H.L. Bourgeois dropped to second place in the district 6-1 standings behind Assumption.

Hebert led the Lady Braves with 10 kills. Brianne Bergeron finished with 24 assists and Blair Billiot recorded 16 digs.