CCHS, Ascension Episcopal to meet Thursday in Kenner

No. 10 Central Catholic will continue its postseason volleyball run Thursday when it takes on No. 2 Ascension Episcopal in Division V quarterfinal action at the 2014 Allstate Sugar Bowl/Louisiana High School Athletic Association Volleyball State Tournament at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner.
The Lady Eagles (21-20) enter the contest after upsetting No. 7 seed Ascension Catholic 3-0 (25-21, 25-11, 13-25, 25-19) in regional round action Monday in Donaldsonville.
Less than 24 hours after the victory, Central Catholic coach Latashia Wise said there was still excitement in the air in returning to the state tournament in a season that was supposed to be one of rebuilding.
“Well, I can tell you I’ve never won a state championship, but I can pretty much bet that’s how you feel the next day after a state championship,” Wise said. “The girls are still very excited about it.”
Wise, whose team returned to the court for practice Tuesday, said she gave her team until 7 p.m. Tuesday to celebrate the win against Ascension Catholic before focusing on Ascension Episcopal.
If one is looking at seeds alone, the Lady Eagles should not still be playing because they were the No. 10 seed and only the top 8 seeds are taken into the tournament.
Therefore, Wise agreed the Lady Eagles have nothing to lose moving forward.
With the Pontchartrain Center comes various changes from before, including fans being further away from the court, a special court is used, there isn’t a lot of room to keep volleyballs in play and serving area is limited.
With all that is different, Wise said she hasn’t sat down and told her squad all that they will face.
She has, though, pointed out different things throughout the season and how things would be different at the state tournament.
Wise also prepped her team with the elevated noise factor recently.
“A couple practices ago, I think I had rock music on as loud as possible in here for them … so I kind of prepared them for that,” she said. “We’ve seen all kinds of different referees, so that won’t bother us too much. The different tournaments … you go to you hear the different whistles, stopping when you’re not supposed to stop.”
As for her team’s next opponent, Ascension Episcopal enters the quarterfinals with a 25-10 overall mark.
The two teams met a year ago in which Central Catholic, with a more experienced team than this year, defeated Ascension Episcopal in five games.
“This year, player-for-player, we’re outmatched a little bit. … They’re a very good ball club,” Wise said. “Anytime you can play that many games and end up being the No. 2 seed, you got to be a pretty good ball club. Jill (Braun) is a very good coach. I know they’re going to be prepared. … But as far as playing them, strategy wise, we’re going to have to serve receive. … I’ve been watching some film on them and they serve the ball tough.”
Wise said Ascension Episcopal has many jump servers and they also have an eighth grader, Addie Vidrine, as a threat at the net.
“They have a very good eighth grade player who’s going to give us a little trouble,” Wise said.
However, Wise said her team must play defense and serve strong.
“If I have to tell my team anything as far as preparing for them, ‘we’ve saw some good teams this year,’” Wise said. “‘You saw a very good Assumption team, a very good John Curtis team. I don’t think we’re going to see anything we haven’t seen this year with our preseason.’ Maybe … because of where we’re playing them and what’s at stake it might create a little more nervousness for them but as far as seeing them, seeing a team (that) we haven’t seen before or something that we haven’t seen, that won’t happen.”
Ascension Episcopal has several quality wins this year, including wins against E.D. White, Academy of Sacred Heart Grand Coteau, Rayne, Iota and Lutcher. Lutcher, Rayne, E.D. White and Iota are Nos. 3, 5, 6, and 7, respectively, in the Division III bracket, while Academy of Sacred Heart Grand Coteau is No. 3 in the Division V bracket.
They also lost to Notre Dame and St. Thomas More in four games and had a close match against Assumption in one of their two meetings this year. Notre Dame is the No. 7 seed in the Division IV playoffs, while Assumption and St. Thomas More are Nos. 1 and 3, respectively, in the Division II bracket
Both teams have a common opponent this year in Vandebilt Catholic, which Ascension Episcopal beat, while Central Catholic split with the Lady Terriers.
Central Catholic lost to Lutcher this season and Assumption.
Thursday’s game will be played on Court 2.