Two St. Tammany Parish volleyball teams advance to state semifinals

The LHSAA/State Farm Volleyball State Tournament was held Thursday through Saturday at the
Pontchartrain Center in Kenner. Two of our St. Tammany Parish teams made their way to the Saturday's semifinals.
In Division II action, the No. 2 seeded Lakeshore Lady Titans fell in their semifinal match being downed by No. 6 seed Vandebilt Catholic, 25-14, 25-23, 25-14. Lakeshore finished 36-7 under second-year head coach Jennifer Hebert. The Lady Titans' Erin Schenck  powered down 11 kills with four blocks playing well at the net. Maddison Grapp connected for 19 assists, while Brooke Blackshear and Kacey Freeman pulled up 16 digs each.  
In the other semifinal match, St. Scholastica Academy, the No. 5 seed, came up just short falling to No. 1 seed and eventual state champion St. Thomas More, 25-21, 25-22, 25-23 in a highly competitive semifinal match. SSA coached by Pete Bertucci, finished 26-16. Jessica Lucio topped the Doves with 10 kills, seven digs and an ace, while Maddie Morris contributed 8 kills, three digs and an ace. Emma Estapa connected for 29 assists and Madeline Luke pulled up seven digs. In Friday's quarterfinal match, SSA squeaked past, No. 4 Ben Franklin, dropping the first two games before making a comeback to win the next three sets to advance. Morris spanked 16 kills with seven digs and two aces, while Lucio nailed 15 kills and added 11 digs. Gabby Chaix finished with 12 kills and two blocks in the quarterfinal victory. Estapa totaled 45 assists. Madeline Luke added 13 digs and Natalie Helm netted four blocks for the Doves.

St. Tammany Parish volleyball results

In local volleyball action, the Northshore Lady Panthers upped their district record to 5-1 and
8-9 overall, sweeping Slidell, 25-14, 25-20, 25-13 led by the consistent play of Hailey
Kirkpatrick, who polished off a match-high 20 kills with 9 digs, and 5 aces. Hannah Epperley
delivered 27 assists and 5 digs, while Adora Anadi contributed 6 kills with 2 blocks. Kacie
Brandt finished with 6 kills and Katherine Cognevich netted 5. Slidell's Erica Bennett
knocked down 6 kills followed by Jaslyn Bright with 5. Riley Herdliska connected for 18 assists
and Kacie Livingston pulled up 6 digs to pace the Lady Tigers, who slipped to 1-5 in district
play.
Mandeville's Lady Skippers evened their district mark at 3-3, topping the Covington Lady Lions,
by identical 25-9 scores in all three sets. MHS, 8-12 overall, was led by Caroline Hasse with 9
kills and 6 blocks. Marissa LeCompte netted six kills and added four blocks as the Lady Skippers
controlled play at the net. Sarah Rinaudo contributed 18 assists with four aces. Ali LeBlanc finished with 9 digs followed by Amber Sheffield with 5. Covington, 6-12, had 10 kills from Douglisha Hamilton with Bella Biondini passing off for 10 assists. Donna Montgomery added 8 digs for the Lady Lions.
Mandeville hosts the Ponchatoula Green Wave tomorrow afternoon at 5 in a Pink Game to benefit the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center fund.
The Lakeshore Lady Titans topped SSA, 25-18, 25-22, 25-17 at home yesterday. Lakeshore moved
to 24-4 and 3-0 in district. SSA, 16-9, suffered its first district loss and is  2-1.
Lakeshore's Raven Daniels, Madison Grapp and Skylar Pepper delivered five kills each, while
Grapp netted 14 assists. Brooke Blackshear served five aces and Daniels added 3. Daniels
also had 5 blocks and Grapp added 4. Kacie Freeman pulled up 17 digs with three aces. Julia
Dean contributed 6 blocks.
SSA's Maddie Morris topped the Doves with 5 kills, 5 digs and 3 aces. Alexis Barcia and
Jessica Lucio added four kills each. Emma Estapa totaled 18 assists with six digs, while Natalie
Helm pulled up 3 digs with 3 blocks.  Northlake Christian School 18-8 and 1-1 in district returns to action this afternoon on the road against District foe Archbishop Hannan. The varsity only match gets underway at
4 o'clock.

   

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