Thibodaux Lady Tigers happy to finally be back on the court

Before there was ever any talk of storms, locals were chattering about sports.

The football teams were on practice fields bracing for battle and the volleyball teams took to the court, digging, bumping, setting and spiking in an effort to get themselves into game shape.

When the storms hit, Gustav and Ike wiped out the first two weeks of non-district play. Now that the season is resuming, most area schools find themselves in the district title chase. At least that was the case for District 6-I’s Thibodaux and Assumption high schools volleyball teams.

Thibodaux’s Lady Tigers lost to St. Thomas More in the first round of the 2007 LHSAA Volleyball Playoffs. Assumption’s Lady Mustangs, on the other hand, advanced to the semi-finals before losing to St. Joseph’s.

The Lady Tigers were able to squeeze in one match post-Gustav and Ike. The team traveled to H.L. Bourgeois last Wednesday where they lost the non-district series 3-0 (25-14, 25- 22, 25-14).

The Lady Tigers returned to their home court Thursday to face the Lady Mustangs.

Both teams made their share of mistakes, but in the end the Lady Mustangs prevailed. They were able to capitalize on the Lady Tigers’ mistakes, winning three straight matches (25-18, 25-18, 25-12) to improve to 1-0 overall and in district. The Lady Tigers fell to 0-2 in district and overall.

But Lady Tigers head volleyball coach Allison Tauzin said just being able to play again brought the team relief.

“I hated being home for two weeks not being able to do anything,” she said. “We missed the girls and they were ready to come back and play. Between the H.L. game and this game, it shows them that we have the capability to play with the better teams.”

Longtime Lady Mustangs head volleyball coach Sandy Fussell agreed that the opportunity to finally play again was overdue.

For her Lady Mustangs, things don’t get any easier as they play two of last season’s top three district teams – Terrebonne and H.L. Bourgeois – before meeting playoff regulars Dominican and defending state champions St. Joseph’s the following week.

“It’s almost like everybody started all over again,” she said. “Everything that we worked on over the summer and built up in the summer is starting from scratch after the time off. Conditioning will be a big factor for us over the next couple of weeks. We have a tough schedule.”

In the meantime, Tauzin is working to get her team back into playing shape for the remainder of the season.

“I am pleased with the way we played in the first and second game against Assumption because we came out and gave them a run for their money,” she said. “(The players) understand that little things make a difference and errors can kill us. They killed us at key points of the match.”

Although the scoreboard didn’t reflect it, the Lady Tigers did produce a number of highlights. Taylor Ford produced a team-leading 13 digs; Jordan Chiasson had five kills and Jackie Traigle came up with 10 assists.

“We need to learn how to capitalize on their errors like Assumption capitalized on our errors,” Tauzin said. “I think (the team) learned a lot. We’ve been doing more and more footwork and all that kind of stuff. Hopefully, we can get back to where we were.”

Lady Tigers’ Jordan Chaisson (19) sends Assumptions’ Meagan Blanchard (31) and Jasmine Knight (10) scurrying to block a hit. Thibodaux lost Thursday’s match, falling to 0-2 in district play. * Photo by KYLE CARRIER