CCHS hosts Northside Christian today

Some may look at Central Catholic’s 0-4 record in the Episcopal School of Acadiana Spooktacular as a mistake.
Central Catholic coach Latashia Wise sees it as a chance to recharge her squad for what they hope is a lengthy postseason run.
While following their preseason schedule, Wise said she felt if the postseason began then, her squad was prepared.
However, after sweeping through district play and not dropping a set, she said the Spooktacular provided her squad an opportunity to revert back to their preseason form, even if they were winless but competitive against some of the state’s top volleyball teams.
The Lady Eagles (27-13), Division 5 semifinalists the past four years, will try to begin their postseason run today when they host Northside Christian (18-11) today at 5 p.m.
Northside Christian, the No. 13 seed, advanced to the second round after knocking off No. 20 seed Westminster Christian 25-9, 28-26, 25-15 on Thursday.
Wise said she doesn’t know much about her second-round opponent but has gotten some information from the coaches.
“I’m pretty sure any team that makes the playoffs, to me, is a competitive team,” she said.
So while Wise expects Northside Christian to be competitive, she knows her team, the No. 4 seed, will have home court advantage.
Both have a common opponent this year in Division 5’s third-ranked squad, Ascension Episcopal, who Central Catholic beat and Northside Christian fell to.
Although her squad has had more than a week off, Wise said they have worked on things such as serving and serve receive.
While the Lady Eagles front row of Meo Knight and Gee Garrett may get a lot of attention, this year’s Lady Eagles squad had to do some rebuilding in its back row after losing Maria Templet and Abbie Bergeron from a year ago as well as setter Caroline Byrne.
Their replacements this year have filled in well.
“What I’ve been telling my team all year is that they need to reinvent themselves,” Wise said. “This is not the Central Catholic team that everybody’s been watching for the last … three, four years. It is not. It is by far not the same Central Catholic team. I know a lot of people are going to say, ‘oh, Central Catholic, they get to the semifinals every year.’ Well, this year was special because it’s not the same team. Yes, they may have some of the same dynamics but in general this is not the same team.”