Berwick drops tough contest to Rayne

In a three-game match that went into extra points, the No. 5-ranked Rayne High Lady Wolves defeated Berwick Monday in the regional round of the Division III volleyball playoffs, qualifying for the 2014 Allstate Sugar Bowl/LHSAA Volleyball State Tournament beginning Thursday at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner.
The Lady Wolves (34-7) are making it two-in-a-row by qualifying for the state tournament, last year having to face an odd opponent, their district champions, Teurlings Catholic, in the quarters. Rayne will face No. 4-ranked Parkview Baptist in this year’s quarters during a 2:30 p.m. contest Thursday.
“It was a good match, and our girls played well,” said Rayne High Coach Stephanie Garrett of Monday’s win, “But, I’m still seeing peaks and valleys while we play. When you get to this point, that can’t happen against good teams like this — if you do, you have a close match like we had today.”
Both teams saw lead changes early on in the opening game. With an 8-4 Rayne lead, compliments of hitters Tarya Kanonu and Katie Benoit, Berwick (21-16) used a timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, the Lady Panthers gained momentum with a block and kill by Abigail Askew.
With a Berwick missed served, the pendulum swung towards Rayne, taking a 17-11 lead with kills by Charlesha Dugas and Blair Bergeron and solid back row coverage by Whitney Fontenot and Shelli Alleman.
Following another Berwick timeout, Laney Boudreaux struck with another ace and Rayne eventually took a 21-11 lead.
On a foot fault at midcourt, Berwick’s Emma Hover took to the service line for five straight points at 21-16, forcing a Rayne time out.
Berwick delivered three straight kills to cut the deficit to 22-20. Ashton Morales served an ace and Askew faced off a block for a 22-all tie and another time out by Rayne.
With a couple kills and wide hits by both teams, the score was again knotted at 26-all before Benoit put down a kill on the back line and Dugas put up a big block for the 28-26 Rayne win in game 1.
“We struggled early with our passing, and it showed with the score,” Berwick head coach Heather Blanchard said. “We were down 10 early and fought back to tie the game at 20. From there it was back and forth. As our passing improved our hitting also improved.”
Game two saw Berwick take a slight 13-7 lead behind a strong front row game by Morales and Askew, along with a slight miscommunication among Rayne players.
Following a Rayne time out and a Berwick mishit, Dugas and Laney Boudreaux each put down kills to tighten up the score at 13-10, Berwick. But, Sydney Aucoin and Morales each recorded a kill for a 19-13 Berwick lead.
However, Rayne rallied to tie the game at 20-all.
Berwick answered with a kill by Askew and a block for a 23-21 lead before Dugas slammed a point off a Berwick miscue to tie the score at 24.
Following a Berwick timeout, Berwick collected a point off a Rayne net violation, but Rayne answered with a kill by Dugas and Kanonu for the game two win.
While Berwick led for much of game two, Blanchard said the Lady Panthers just couldn’t close out the contest.
“I thought we became tentative and would not attack and finish,” she said.
The Lady Wolves claimed an 8-5 lead off a solid serving effort by Kelli Alleman and a strong front row attack.
Rayne maintained a consistent back-row play behind Fontenot, Alleman and Tristan Mouton, while the front row was led in a rotation by Peltier, Kanonu and Benoit.
The second half of the third game saw Berwick with hits by Askew, Morales and Mary Jordan Melancon, but the Rayne lead was too much to overcome as Kanonu slammed the final kill of the match for the 25-16 win.
“We played like this all year — when we play a good team, we play good and vice versa,” Garrett said. “With a consistent game and if we never give up on ourselves, we can keep our play to a winning level. We can and I hope we will this week.”
Blanchard said errors in game three began to occur and Rayne seized control and began running their offense.
“It became a defensive game for us,” she said.
As a whole, Blanchard said the match was a “very hard-fought” contest.
“I’m proud of the way that the girls stepped up and made a statement,” Blanchard said. “As a 12 seed, it is hard to go on the road and play a higher seed to advance to the state tournament. This game was meant for the state tournament. Our fans traveled well, and we had more fans than Rayne did. The energy from the fans helped us in game one. We struggled all night with hitting and made too many little mistakes. Abigail was hitting the ball well, as well as Ashton. Those two dominated the net and played a big part of shutting down their big middle until the third set. We didn’t spread the ball around enough, and I felt that the other team noticed and started to focus on our two middles.”
Morales, Askew and Hannah Carpenter led Berwick in the loss. Morales had four aces, four kills, four blocks, two assists and 13 digs, while Askew had seven kills, three blocks and three digs and Carpenter, one ace and 15 digs.
Other top contributors included Melancon, one block, six assists and five digs; and Lipari, one assist and five digs.
Monday’s game was the final one for Berwick’s seniors.
“The seniors did a great job this year of leading a young team,” Blanchard said. “Abigail worked so hard in the offseason to improve her game, and it definitely showed down the final stretch of the season. She became comfortable and was able to show everyone the talent that she had. Hannah Carpenter was the anchor of our defense. She, too, worked hard to improve her game. All of our passing went through Hannah, and she showed the senior leadership among the younger group of defensive specialists. Rennen (DeLatte) was our serving leader. She set the tone for a lot of our games with her consistency.
“These girls will be greatly missed, and I appreciate their hard work throughout the year,” Blanchard said. “This was a very tough loss, but overall, I think games like this build programs. We will continue to work towards getting over the hump and into the state championships.”
Additional reporting by The Daily Review.