North Vermilion beats VC in volleyball

LEROY – The North Vermilion Lady Patriots defeated the Vermilion Catholic Lady Eagles Monday night in straight sets, 25-14, 25-18, 25-11, to earn their first victory of the young season.
 With the win, the Lady Pats (1-1) avenged a preseason loss to VC.  The Lady Eagles (1-4) defeated NV  2-0 last month in Abbeville when the two teams met for a scrimmage.
 Lady Pats head coach Ashly Boudreaux felt the difference for her team was preseason versus regular season.
 “You have to play in the summer, you have to scrimmage, and then you have to figure out who goes where and get the kinks out,” Boudreaux explained.  “This is the real deal now.  It’s time to show up and show out.  They did exactly that tonight.”
After playing to a 6-6 draw early on in the first set, VC took a 9-6 lead behind the strong serve of senior Marley Moore.  The Lady Pats roared back and tied the score at nine.
With the score knotted at 10, junior Zoe Harrington ran off five-straight points to put the Lady Pats in control 15-10.   NV outscored the Lady Eagles 10-4 the rest of the way to win the set.  
During the rally, the front-line combination of Harrington, senior Ava Denais, and junior Stevie Brasseaux started to assert themselves.
The trio blocked and altered shots on defense while hammering ball after ball on offense—that pressure caused VC problems the whole match.
“They’re three big hitters,” Boudreaux said.  “They’re some powerful girls.  They keep working hard and getting better.  Our kids have done a good job of getting one percent better every day.  That’s all you can ask for.”
The two teams played to a 10-10 tie to begin the second set before VC took a 12-10 lead and expanded it to 15-11.  The Lady Pats roared back, scoring nine straight points to take a 20-15 lead.
Once again, the play of the NV front line made the difference.  During the nine-point run, Harrington had three kills and one block while Denais had a kill and a block. Senior Anah Gibbs also had a kill and a block, while senior Charley Veazey added a kill and several sets.
The Lady Eagles battled back to 20-17 but couldn’t get any closer as NV claimed the six-point win.
After playing to a 3-3 tie early in the third set, the Lady Pats ran off 14 unanswered points to take a commanding 17-3 lead before cruising to the 14-point win in the final set.
Lady Eagles’ head coach Kristin Son credited the Lady Pats with playing an outstanding match. She felt that trying different lineup combinations affected her team’s play. She also said her team is too interested in personal glory and needs to focus on the team.
“North Vermilion looked like the team we saw in the summer, not in the scrimmage,” Son said.  “I played with the lineups to see who in what position will help us the most.  Also, we need to gel as a team and not worry about ourselves and our stats.  It needs to be a team effort.”
 “We did some great things.  We didn’t capitalize.  Once we cleanup what we can cleanup and learn to capitalize on all the great plays we made, we’ll be okay.”
The Lady Eagles were at Westminster Christian Academy on Tuesday before traveling to Delcambre to take on the Lady Panthers on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.  They finish the week on Thursday when Acadiana comes to Kim Guidry Gym.  The first serve is at 6 p.m.
The Lady Pats were at New Iberia on Tuesday.  They finish the week at home against the Eunice Lady Bobcats on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.