Central Catholic will travel to face Ascension Catholic today

Central Catholic and Ascension Catholic high schools have met once on the volleyball season this year in the first game of the year in a three-game sweep for the Donaldsonville-based school.
Two months later, the two schools will meet again and Central Catholic head coach Latashia Wise is confident not only that her team will look different on the court but she thinks they will win.
When the two teams first met, Ascension Catholic took a 3-0 (25-18, 25-9, 25-16) victory.
Wise said at the beginning of the season, her team was “bad.”
“Coaching wise, I had different people on the court,” she said. “I was trying everybody, getting everybody an opportunity trying to see where we were going to go with our lineup. I think that Ascension Catholic will see a very different team. They won’t see the team they saw back in September. … They’ll see a team that’s coming together, having a little bit more chemistry, having a little bit more confidence.”
Ascension Catholic (20-16) enters today’s contest after receiving a first-round bye as the No. 7 seed.
The squad took in the Lady Eagles’ first-round win against West St. John. Central Catholic won that matchup 3-0 (25-23, 25-7, 25-19).
Throughout the season, the Lady Eagles and Ascension Catholic have played several common opponents in East Ascension, Assumption, Lutcher, Riverside and St. Thomas Aquinas. Both fell to East Ascension, Assumption and Lutcher, although Ascension Catholic did win one set against East Ascension at Dunham’s tournament.
Ascension Catholic split with St. Thomas Aquinas and St. John.
Central Catholic defeated St. Thomas Aquinas in their lone matchup and fell to St. John.
Ascension Catholic also defeated Riverside, while Central Catholic fell to them.
Both teams defeated Thibodaux.
As for what her squad will face in Ascension Catholic, Wise said her squad will see an athletic and consistent team.
“Just like West St. John, they play very good scrappy defense,” she said. “Not very many balls hit the ground, so we’re going to have to defensively play well, we’re going to have to serve the ball strong and we’re going to have to have the hands up at the net. Their middle is very, very good, so we’re going to have to play one of our best games of the season in order to accomplish that victory.”
Central Catholic actually owns a win in
Division V against a team seeded higher than Ascension Catholic as the Lady Eagles defeated No. 5 seed Houma Christian twice in district play en route to a district title.
In talking about the upcoming rematch, Wise singled out Central Catholic’s Hallie Autin and her play for the Lady Eagles.
“Hallie Autin’s playing very well for us right now,” Wise said. “She’s coming into her own and she realizes that she’s key to this team and she’s playing like it. So I think they’re not ready for that. They’re not ready for our consistency. We (weren’t) consistent in the first game.”
Wise said she thinks her team is feeding off her confidence heading into this second-round matchup.
“I’m very confident about this game,” she said. “I really am. Knowing where we started off this season and knowing where we (are) at right now, I’m pretty confident about it. Do I think we (are) going to get it done in three (games)? No, I don’t think so. I think it’s going to be a battle, but I think that we’ll come out victorious.”