Lady Panthers hitting their stride as playoffs begin

Published 1:00 am Wednesday, November 2, 2022

Catholic High volleyball coach Gary Westcott has been preaching consistency to his young team all season, and the message seems to have been received at the perfect time.

The Lady Panthers, seeded No. 10 in the Division III bracket, have a hot hand coming into their first round playoff game at home Wednesday against No. 23 Morgan City (15-27).

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CHS (25-14) won three of its last four matches over the weekend at the Episcopal School of Acadiana Spooktacular Tournament, headlined by come-from-behind wins over Division I No. 9 Archbishop Chappelle and Division II No. 13 Rayne.

In the regular season finale, the Lady Panthers gave Division II No. 4 Assumption a tussle before losing in three sets.

“We were up 11-10 on Assumption, but we let them score five in a row,” Westcott said of Assumption’s 15-11 win in Game 3.

“We had a good weekend at Spooktacular, which has a lot of distractions. I would’ve liked a home game if we make it to the second round, but we did improve our seeding, especially by beating a very good Chappelle team that had a couple of big hitters.”

If the Lady Panthers get past Morgan City, they’ll likely travel to Baton Rouge for a regional round matchup at No. 7 University Lab (25-8), which hosts No. 26 Church Point (18-18) Tuesday at 5:30 P.M.

Westcott isn’t overlooking Morgan City, however. Far from it.

“Morgan City is very capable of beating us if we make a lot of errors,” he said. “I think it’s the same old story. I think we match up well with most teams in Division III when everybody is on, but we’re striving for consistency.

“I still don’t think we’ve played our best match yet.”

Madison Broussard (260 kills, 55 blocks, 42 aces), Saniya Raheem (242 kills, 69 aces, 274 digs), Anna Kate Minviellle (197 kills, 33 blocks), Amelie Trappey (148 kills, 58 aces, 255 digs), Olivia Cestia (134 kills, 95 digs), Laura Lipari (533 assists, 185 digs, 54 aces), Reece Molbert (399 assists, 183 digs, 56 aces) and Madilyn Clause (451 digs, 29 aces) give Westcott plenty of options.

“I’m hoping we come out with energy and maintain it the whole match,” he said of the ideal scenario Wednesday. “At times, we tend to get a little frustrated. If we don’t give up any big runs, I have a feeling we’ll be successful.

“Don’t be timid – that’s the main thing. We came out flat against Assumption and lost the first game of that match.”

When pressed, Westcott gave a sneak peek at what U-High brings to the table.

“They have some big kids,” he said of the Lady Cubs. “Their big right side looks like she’s 6-foot-2. I have watched some film. Their whole front row is bigger than ours, and they have five or six seniors.”