St. Mary volleyball teams look to match, improve in district play

Thibodaux Regional Medical Center’s North Hospital project complete
October 20, 2006
Thibodaux Regional Medical Center’s North Hospital project complete
October 20, 2006

Last season two volleyball teams from St. Mary Parish reached the state playoffs, while two others failed to qualify. The two teams to reach the playoffs were district 6-II’s Morgan City and district 4-III’s Berwick.


Morgan City earned the 9th seed and advanced to the second round after defeating East Ascension. Semi-finalist St. Micheal knocked out the Tigers in the second round.


Berwick was eliminated from the playoffs in the first round, also by an eventual semi-finalist, Notre Dame.

District 4-III’s Patterson and district 1-V’s Central Catholic did not reach the playoffs.


Morgan City


The Lady Tigers reached the second round of last year’s playoffs, but return just two full-time starters from that team — Sarah Pontiff and Claire Beadle. “Sarah is our top hitter, and the biggest kid we had,” said Lady Tigers coach Christy Theriot. “Claire’s a leader. She gives everything she’s got every game.”

Along with those two players, the coach said a total of five seniors being on the team will help Morgan City return to the playoffs this season. “I have five seniors on the court, so they’re all pretty much leaders,” she said.


Those five seniors contribute to the athleticism that Theriot says is her team’s best asset. “They’re very scrappy, they’re defensive,” she said. “They hustle, and they can get to a lot of balls that maybe some other teams couldn’t get to.”


But when asked about an area her team was lacking, the coach quickly answered: “Communication. That’s an easy one. If you would have asked me a couple of weeks ago, I would have said their chemistry was their strength, but it’s not, because they don’t communicate well on the court.”

Theriot said to improve the communication issue she tries to make practices more game-like.


With the district schedule getting under way next week, the coach said she is pleased with where her team stands. “We’re playing a lot of tough competition,” she said. “We’re playing 5-A schools in tournaments, like Assumption, Mt. Carmel, Hahnville and Terrebonne. So we’re playing good competition that I think will help prepare us.”


Berwick

After a 16-16 season, the Lady Panthers reached the playoffs as a 14th seed, but were defeated by semi-finalist Notre Dame. From that team, three starters return, along with two other seniors who will start this season.


The returning starters are Whitney Roan, Wesly Guzzetta and Katie Davis. “Whitney Roan is my middle blocker,” said Lady Panthers’ coach Mark Spradling. “She comes in with the most kills from last year.


“Katie Davis had to transition from the outside hitter to setter,” he added. “So she’s having to set, and when she’s not setting she’s still doing her outside hitting. Wesly Guzzeta is a strong backside hitter and a good leader.”

The other two seniors are Katie Blanchard and Alyssa Balli. Spradling said Blanchard is a backrow specialist who is a “great server and does an excellent job attacking from the backrow.”


Spradling said that Balli is one the team’s top leaders.

Overall, Spradling he is most pleased with his team’s defense. “Out biggest strength right now would be defense on other team’s attacks,” he said. “That’s the most consistent thing we have right now. Currently, this week’s weakness is serve receive.”

Spradling said at this point in the season he is pleased with his team’s performance, despite committing unforced errors. “We’re 2-5 right now, and it’s kind of misleading because three of the five losses we’re had are just being too aggressive,” he explained. “In our attacks we’re having a lot of hitting errors as far as hitting the ball out, or hitting the ball into the net.

“We have a lot of potential. The fact that we’ve played consistently in, we’re hard to beat. We take care of the things that we need to take care of — we control our hitting, our serve receive — and we’re a very tough team to beat. It’s just the inconsistency at this point right now.”

Central Catholic

The Lady Eagles struggled in 2005, winning just one game last season. They have already eclipsed that win total on this season, and coach Sarah Picou said the key to winning more games is getting her players to be more aggressive on the court. “We need to work on having stronger hitters,” she said. “Just that extra ‘umph.’ Actually going for the ball a little bit more, and diving on the floor.”

Leading the way for the Lady Eagles are five seniors and a junior that Picou considers one of the most effective players on the team. “Lacey Brown is a very good player,” said Picou. “She’s a middle, and she’s very strong. She’s probably one of my strongest hitters, and she plays the middle really well. She’s very agile, and can get to pretty much anything.”

The returning senior starters are setter Ashley Wiley and outside hitter Alex Richard. “Ashley is a leader on the court, and she is a smart player,” said Picou. “She’ll make smart decisions, and she hustles and has heart for the game.

“Alex is a smart player. You can always count on her. Set the ball to her, she’ll put it away, keep it in play or find an open spot. She’s a very smart hitter.”

As a team, Picou said defense is the Lady Eagles’ strong suit. “We have a very good defense, and some of our backrow players pick up pretty much anything.”

Patterson

Although Patterson did not reach the playoffs last season, partly due to playing the same district at Berwick and perennial state championship contender E.D. White, the team will be starting six seniors this season, a trait that head coach Annette Boudreaux feels helps her team. “They all play their roles perfectly, and they all do what I ask them to do,” said Boudreaux.

Leading the way for the Lumberjills is middle hitter Jaci Hamm. Boudreaux said Hamm’s net play is her strong suit. “She brings a lot of blocking, and playing at the net,” she said. “As far as kills, and things like that, she’s reliable.

The rest of the team is balanced. My setters do a good job, as do my outside hitters.”

Boudreaux said due to the senior leadership, her team works together well. “Our unity (is our strength),” said Boudreaux. “Nobody is selfish, we just pass it around trying to get open hits.”

So far on the year, the Lumberjills are off to a fast start, at 4-1.

Matt LeBlanc can be reached at (985) 876-3008 or matt@tri-parishtimes.com.