CCHS to host CHPC Thursday

The Central Catholic Lady Eagles will open the Division V volleyball postseason Thursday when it hosts Catholic High-Pointe Coupee in a 6 p.m. contest.
Central Catholic, the No. 4 seed, received a first-round bye, while Catholic High, the No. 13 seed, advanced to the second round after defeating No. 20 False River 3-1 (25-21, 25-21, 16-25, 25-20).
The Lady Eagles enter today’s contest with a 26-11 overall mark and were the champions of District 6-V.
Central Catholic coach Latashia Wise said the team had a successful one so far after last year’s team finished 19-20 and fell in the second round of the postseason.
“I think, for the most part, we’ve done some great things coming from this last season,” Wise said.
When the Lady Eagles hit the court today, it will be the first time in two weeks the squad has played. Their last game was Oct. 19 in a five-set victory against Houma Christian for the district championship.
While the team had no games scheduled the last week of the season due to homecoming, Wise said she thought the break was good for her squad because of the amount of games they played this year and how close the games were bunched at times.
“I think we got some much-needed rest,” Wise said. “We got to regroup. We got to actually practice and go over some of our flaws, some of our weaknesses, critique some of our strengths.”
Catholic High and Central Catholic faced off earlier this season at Catholic High in a contest in which the Lady Eagles won 3-2 (25-17, 22-25, 22-25, 25-6, 15-4).
Wise said she watched video of the teams’ match and more recent film on Catholic High and thinks they have improved since that first meeting.
“I think Pointe Coupee found their stride later in the season. Just a week ago, they were ranked 23 in the power rankings and just over a couple days they shot up to 13 so should tell you something about the type of ball club that Pointe Coupee is. I don’t think that it’ll be an easy opponent for us. I don’t think it’ll be an easy win. … I think it’ll be a great challenge for us, and I’m looking forward to it.”