North Vermilion volleyball team advances to second round

LEROY – The No. 13 North Vermilion Lady Patriots ended a seven-year playoff drought Wednesday with a three-set victory over the No. 20 Plaquemine Lady Green Devils in the Bi-District Round of the 2024 LHSAA Division II Volleyball Playoffs, 25-8, 25-5, 25-14.
The Lady Pats (15-6) advanced past the first round for the first time since 2016. They had lost six consecutive playoff games. For head coach Ashly Boudreaux and the senior class, ending that streak was the goal.
“They had something to prove,” Boudreaux said. “We went through the history books and learned it had been seven years since North Vermilion won a volleyball playoff game. They made up their minds they were going to end it, and they did.”
Senior Libero Mackenzie Turner still can’t fathom that their dream is now their reality. She credited the work they put in and their head coach for pushing them.
“When coach Ashly came in, she had us working all day, every day, as much as we could,” said senior Libero, Mackenzie Turner. “We worked so hard since our freshman year for this. We still can’t believe we just won a playoff game. This is so amazing.”
North Vermilion stormed out of that gate and never let up. They jumped out to a 5-0 lead in set one, expanded it to 18-8 and then scored the last seven points of the set to take a 1-0 lead.
The Lady Pats kept the momentum going in the second set, jumping out to an 8-4 advantage. NV then went on a 13-0 run to take a commanding 21-4 lead. They outscored the Lady Green Devils 4-1 the rest of the way to go up 2-0.
In the final set, NV jumped out to a 10-7 lead before going on another run. The Lady Pats again scored 13-unanswered points to open a 23-7 lead. This time Plaquemine put up a fight, outscoring NV 7-2 the rest of the way. But it was too little too late as NV won the set by 11 and the match 3-0.
In round two, North Vermilion will be looking to make history as the they’ve never won a second-round match. From 2013-2016, they lost four-consecutive matches in the second round. They will play the winner of No. 4 Lakeshore and No. 29 A.J. Ellender.
“We’re going to have to show up with the same intensity and play our hearts out,” Boudreaux said. “They play tomorrow night, and anything can happen, but we’ll probably play Lakeshore. They beat STM earlier this year, and we’ll have to travel there.
“We’re ready to play a 1, 2, 3, or 4. We’ve already played with those teams this year. We know what to expect. If we want to win, we’ll have to keep doing what we been doing. We’ll have to stay together and play our hearts out. It can be done.”
A second-round win is almost too much for Turner to comprehend.
“We’ll be jumping over rainbows,” she exclaimed.