Terrebonne moves on; Bourgeois season ends

Tri-Parish Times

For the fifth time this season, Terrebonne and H.L. Bourgeois met on the volleyball court, and for the fifth time, the Lady Tigers left the court with a victory. They also left with a spot in the State Volleyball Tournament at the Pontchartrain Center, in Kenner, beginning on Wednesday.

The Lady Tigers swept H.L. Bourgeois 25-16, 25-20, 25-16, in the Bi-District round of round of the playoffs.

The win means that No. 11 seed Terrebonne will face No. 6 seed Lafayette at 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, at the Pontchartrain Center.

Although it was the two teams’ fifth meeting of the season, Terrebonne entered the match with the attitude of it being just one game. “I thought we stepped up and we played well,” said Lady Tigers’ coach Chip Didier. “We took it as one match, and not five. I think we kept the pressure on them, and we kept firing at them. I think that eventually wore on them.”

Didier said throughout the match, he felt the Lady Braves were giving his team easy balls. “A lot of free balls,” he said. “You give us a free ball, it’s going to be a struggle, because we’re going to keep firing at you, and that’s what we did.”

On the other side of the court, Lady Braves’ coach Pete Verret said he did not feel his team played its best ball.

“It don’t know where it went,” he said. “It’s like they didn’t know what they were doing. We had no team camaraderie when we hit the court, and it showed throughout the entire match. We took ourselves out of the game. I didn’t find Terrebonne played as well as they did … in the second match, we were just not there.”

Early in game one, the teams remained close, for the most part trading points until halfway through the game. With the score tied 11-11, Terrebonne separated itself with a 6-0 run to take an 11-0 lead. From there, they never looked back, allowing H.L. Bourgeois to get no closer than 17-12.

The Lady Tigers led by as many as 10, before winning 25-16.

The second game saw a similar start, only this time, H.L. Bourgeois hung close further into the match. But again, with the score 19-18, Terrebonne extended its advantage to 22-18.

H.L. Bourgeois got no closer than three points the remainder of the game, and lost 25-20.

Didier said, as a whole, he was pleased with his team’s performance. “I thought that we controlled the net, we controlled the serving game,” he said. “We did exactly what we needed to do — the things we had worked on.”

The Lady Tigers pulled away earlier in the third game, taking a 3-2 lead early on, and never relinquishing it. Although the Lady Braves never kept it within five points for most of the early goings, Terrebonne pulled away and led by as many as nine, 24-15, before clinching a spot in the State Volleyball Tournament with a 25-16 win.

Verret said his team lacked aggressiveness throughout the contest. “It’s just like we weren’t aggressive,” he said, “and we didn’t execute. We didn’t play as a team. All of those things came back to haunt us.”

Kamyle Lowndes led the way for Terrebonne with 25 kills and 11 digs. Rachel Temple added nine kills and Sierra Lyons contributed five kills. Nira Stewart recorded 36 assists, and Ashley James had 24 digs.

For H.L. Bourgeois, Brittany Rogers led with 10 kills, and Sadie Hebert added six kills and nine digs. Brianne Bergeron recorded 27 assists and nine digs.

Didier said his team is evenly matched with its next opponent, Lafayette. “A very, very tall team,” he said. “A very good team. A team that we can play with. We have to serve tough, and we have to get them out of their rhythm. We can’t let them dominate the net. They have some tall girls, but I think our experience could really play a big key.”

In other playoff action throughout the area:

Division I

No. 2 Mandeville def. No. 31 Central Lafourche 3-0 (25-12, 25-14, 25-16)

No. 15 Ellender def. No. 18 Grace King 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 18-25, 25-21, 15-12)

Note: Ellender plays at 3:15 p.m., Wednesday

Divsion II

No. 10 Morgan City def. No. 23 Breaux Bridge 3-0 (25-7, 25-13, 25-9)

Note: Morgan City plays at 1:30 p.m., Wednesday

No. 15 Chalmette def. No. 18 Vandebilt Catholic 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-15)

As of press time, results were not available for Thibodaux, Patterson and E.D. White.

Terrebonne moves on; Bourgeois season ends