AES eliminates CCHS from postseason

No. 14 Central Catholic simply ran into a buzz saw Monday, falling to No. 3 Ascension Episcopal 3-0 (25-16, 25-6, 25-18).
While the Lady Eagles let the first two games get away from them, they were more competitive in the final set against the defending Division V state runner-up.
However, eventually Ascension Episcopal pulled away and advanced to the Division V quarterfinals at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Louisiana High School Athletic Association State Volleyball Tournament where they will face No. 6 First Baptist Thursday. First Baptist advanced after defeating No. 11 Southern Lab 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-21).
The loss also snapped a streak of six straight state tournament appearances for Central Catholic (19-22).
“Ascension Episcopal’s a very good team. … I’m expecting them to go to the Pontchartrain Center and do some good things,” Central Catholic Coach Latashia Wise said. “I wish them all the luck.
“We were just a little bit too small for them, and they got us down on our heels and they pushed away. … They kept punching at us and punching at us, and they did a good job of that. They brought a lot of power from their outside hitter (Addie Vidrine). … They served the ball tough and gave our serve-receive some issues,” Wise said.
In game 1, Ascension Episcopal (27-10) began to get separation early using kills by Vidrine, Kathryn Broussard and Gabby Tremblay to help push its lead to 8-3.
Central Catholic could never get any closer than four the remainder of the way, the last time on a kill by senior Lindsee Case to cut its deficit to 9-5.
From there, AES pulled away for the game 1 victory, 25-18.
In game two, Central Catholic took an early 2-1 lead on a kill by Hallie Autin, but then things simply became a nightmare for the Lady Eagles as Ascension Episcopal reeled off 24 of the game’s next 27 points for the 25-5 win.
After Autin’s kill, Ascension Episcopal tied the game at 3 with a block by senior Maddie Mosing and took the lead for good on an ace by freshman Alaina Hardy.
Ascension Episcopal was dominate at the net in the game 2 victory as the squad got kills from several different players, including multiple by Vidrine, her final one of the set clinching the victory.
Vidrine finished the match with 17 kills, while senior Mary Catherine Franques had 36 digs.
The Blue Gators also recorded several blocks in game 2 and four aces, including back-to-back aces by Hardy early on.
Wise agreed it was crucial to keep each set close against the powerful Blue Gators.
“In the first round of the playoffs, we got away with it,” Wise said. “We got away with … coming back and winning it. When you got a very good team who’s going to keep punching away at you, you have to keep it within one or two. … If you don’t keep it within one or two, they take the lead and they run away with it, and that’s exactly what happened, but we have a young team.”
Central Catholic kept things much closer in game 3 as, through the first-half of the match, the Lady Eagles trailed by no more than three points and came back to tie the game several times at 11 on an Ascension Episcopal error.
However, Ascension Episcopal began to pull away at the midway point of the match and Central Catholic never got closer than 23-17 on an Ascension Episcopal hit out of bounds.
Autin and sophomore Quincee Wiggins led Central Catholic. Autin had six kills and six digs, while Wiggins had four kills and nine digs.
Other top contributors included eighth-grader Yani Johnson, five kills, two digs and two blocks; eighth-grader Katie Hoffpauir, eight assists; and sophomore Taylor Picou, six assists and three digs.
Central Catholic will say goodbye to seniors Case and Samantha Willoughby.
“One was a leader on the court,” Wise said. “One was a leader off the court. Samantha got hurt early on in the season. … She had a long-lasting injury, but she did a lot of coaching from the bench. She did a lot of talking, mentoring the younger kids.
“Lindsee Case has been phenomenal for our program this year. Not always the most athletic. Not gonna give you 10 kills a game, but Lindsee’s gonna give you everything she (has), and she’s done that for our team this year on and off the court,” Wise said.
As for the future, while the team’s current streak of Pontchartrain Center ended Monday, Wise is confident in the future with a young team.
“We’ll be back,” Wise said. “I have a very, very young team. I have a bunch of talented eighth- and ninth-graders. We lose one senior that played this year. We’ll be back. …
“I don’t want to make any promises, but we’ll do a very good job of getting to the final four next year. I know that we will. We’re gonna go back to the drawing board, and we’re gonna work on a whole, whole lot of stuff. We’re gonna work, and we’re gonna go back with this young team based on eighth-, ninth- and 10th-graders, and in the next couple years we’ll make another drive to the Pontchartrain Center,” Wise said.