Terrebonne tops rival, wins district

Apparently the Terrebonne High School volleyball team got tired of sharing.

One year after splitting the district title with H.L. Bourgeois, the Lady Tigers made sure a repeat performance wasn’t in order Thursday, securing sole possession of the championship in a four-set thriller over the Lady Braves (25-22, 25-19, 24-26, 25-23).

“We feel really good, because that was one of our goals, to not share this year,” Lady Tigers senior outside hitter Brooke Fonseca said. “Because that’s just not something we want to share.”

Thursday’s match was played in front of a deafening crowd in Terrebonne’s volleyball gym.

Fans of both schools packed the gym and made as much noise as humanly possible, living and dying on every point in the back and forth, thrilling affair.

With the Lady Tigers and their fans left as the last group standing, Terrebonne assured itself at least a share of the district title for the eighth-straight season.

Terrebonne coach Craig Hamner said winning the title in any circumstance is great, but winning it in one of prep volleyball’s best atmospheres makes it even better.

“This is what volleyball’s all about,” he said. “This is the best thing about high school athletics. [This rivalry] brings good fans and it was just a great environment.”

The Lady Tigers’ ascent to the top completes a period of transition for Terrebonne.

Following the 2009 season, the Lady Tigers lost virtually all of its starting lineup from a team that made the state quarterfinals.

The team also lost its coach, longtime veteran coach Chip Didier, who retired following that season.

That left the Lady Tigers scrambling for answers in 2010 with an entirely new lineup.

The team took several bumps and bruises in Hamner’s first season, but progressed throughout the year, upsetting H.L. Bourgeois in their final district game to muster a share of the 2010 crown.

That year, the Lady Tigers were the underdogs.

This year, they were the big dogs (or cats in Terrebonne’s case) on the block.

They wanted to make sure they didn’t have their title hopes spoiled Thursday the same way the Lady Braves’ were last year.

Terrebonne did just that, taking control of the match in the opening sets with balanced offense, led by Fonseca, senior Sabrina Bergeron and junior Darian Dees.

“Brooke played incredibly well and Darian was really good too and with Sabrina, I really think she’s been playing really well in district all throughout,” Hamner boasted of his trio. “I’m just proud of everybody. It was a good team effort.”

H.L. Bourgeois didn’t go down without a fight, winning the third set and pushing the Lady Tigers to a 22-22 score in the fourth set.

Shannon Jones led the Lady Braves with 26 kills, including several in the match’s biggest moments.

But the youthful Lady Braves couldn’t build on their hitter’s power, never able get over the hump thanks to a slew of unforced errors.

“That’s the game of volleyball,” H.L. Bourgeois coach Peter Verret said. “When good teams meet, you cannot make mistakes. … The key was going to be what team was going to make the less amount of errors. … We missed 14 serves. You cannot miss serves, especially in crucial times.”

With the Lady Braves having a hard time placing the ball over the net, Terrebonne took advantage, closed the door and secured the victory.

Dees said not wanting to share with the Lady Braves was part of Terrebonne’s motivation, but added something else was a driving force in the team’s efforts.

“They are graduating,” Dees said pointing to Bergeron and Fonseca. “This is my last year playing with them. … I didn’t want them to go out any other way than as a champion. We had to go all-out for them. So they can finish as a district champion.”

With their rivalry out of the way for another year, both the Lady Tigers and Lady Braves will move onto the playoffs.

Terrebonne is right on the borderline of being one of the top 8 seeds in Division I, a benchmark that would earn the team a first-round bye.

H.L. Bourgeois is definitely playing in the first round.

With the postseason looming, both teams like their chances going forward.

“It’s playoff time and we’re pretty much at our peak,” Verret said. “If we get in there, we just feel like if there’s a few unforced errors that we cannot make, it’s a new ball game.”

“We’re ready, but we know we need to have more practice,” Bergeron said. “But we’ll do what we have to do and make sure when that time comes, we’re ready to play well.”

The Terrebonne High School volleyball team rejoices after completing a four-set win against rival H.L. Bourgeois. The Lady Tigers swept the season series with the Lady Braves and won a share of the district championship. CASEY GISCLAIR