MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / November 11, 2000

KENNER – Mount Carmel will not get an argument from Destrehan that the Cubs are the No. 1 team in the state.The defending Division I state champions defeated the Lady Cats, 15-1, 15-2, in the regionals Thursday evening, advancing to the quarterfinals of the state volleyball tournament at the Pontchartrain Center.

Mt. Carmel (39-4) played Chapelle Friday afternoon. Chapelle defeatedHiggins late Thursday night.

Destrehan, the District 9-I runner-up, finished at 9-17.

Mt. Carmel never trailed in the match Thursday night, scoring the first fivepoints of the first game. Alyson Mull started it off with a kill. Laurie Randellfollowed with two aces and another kill to make it 5-0.

Destrehan got its first point with Jessica Johnson as Kristen Franco hit a spike long. The Cubs answered with an ace by Katie Noto and a kill by Mull tomake it 7-1. Three serves later, the Cubs pulled away with six straight pointswith Christine Zimmer serving. Consecutive kills by Mull started the run.Blaire Gimma added another one and Mull killed a lob at the net to make it 11- 1. A dunk by Lauren Leaumont and a block by Gimma built the lead to 13-1. Ablock by Leaumont and a Destrehan error gave the Cubs the game.

Mt. Carmel started the second game on a 6-0 run. Mull got it started with adink and Zimmer delivered a kill to make it 3-0. Another kill by Mull and an aceby Noto built the lead to 6-0. Zimmer hit two straight spikes long to give theLady Cats two points but Randell and Zimmer delivered kills to build the lead back to 8-2. An ace by Randell made it an 11-2 game.A serve later, the Cubs pulled to match point on a kill by Zimmer and a dink to the right side by Lauren Pyle. Destrehan held off two serves but the Cubsgot the match winner on an ace by Erin Duhon.

Mull finished with a team-high nine kills. Randell had three aces and five digs.Noto also had three aces while Zimmer had five digs. Duhon had a team-high11 assists.

“They’re a real good team,” Destrehan head coach Calvin Ike said of Mt, Carmel. But our girls played with heart and they played with pride and I’msatisfied with that.”Destrehan opened the tournament with a 15-10, 15-12 victory over Warren Easton in the bi-district playoffs Wednesday afternoon. The Lady Catsstarted sluggish but pulled away in both games.

Warren Easton jumped out to a 4-2 lead on a net violation against the Lady Cats and an ace by Tenisha Smith. Destrehan came right back on its nextserve, scoring four straight points with Qunina Sinceno serving. Atina Porterled the way with three straight kills. She delivered a cross-court kill to theleft baseline a serve later to build the lead to 7-4.

Easton pulled to within one behind a dink by Judy Smith that was tipped out of bounds. But Destrehan again had an answer, pulling out to a 10-6 lead on twoPorter kills and an ace by Jan Chauvin. The Fighting Eagles again rallied,pulling to 11-10 as Trenice Smith delivered two kills and blocked a shot.

That would be it for Easton, however, as Destrehan got the serve back on a block by Porter. Two Easton errors and an ace by Katherine Kain built thelead back to 14-10. Easton held off two serves but the Lady Cats got thegame winner as Sinceno had a serve deflected out.

Destrehan built a 6-1 lead in the second game behind four Easton errors and two cross-court kills by Porter. Easton chipped away at the lead, pulling towithin one on an ace by Tenisha Smith and three Destrehan errors. The LadyCats again answered, using three Easton errors and a lift call on a dink by Porter to make it 10-6. A dink by Erica Edwards and a block by Trenice Smithcut the deficit to 11-9.

A block by Porter made it a 13-9 game. Easton fought back to within 13-12lead behind a dink by Smith. But a service violation by the Fighting Eaglesgave the Lady Cats the ball back and Porter responded with a cross-court kill for a 14-12 lead. After an Easton timeout, Porter delivered another kill downthe middle of the court for the match winner.

Porter finished with a match-high 19 kills. The majority came off assists byJessica Johnson who finished with 18. Sinceno led the way with two blocks.”When Tina is on, she’s hard to stop,” Ike said of Porter.

Trenice Smith led Easton (14-7) with six kills, six assists, four blocks and two digs.

“We got in a little late and we didn’t get warmed up like I wanted to,” Ike said.

“We were rushing and we never got into a groove. I really wanted to playbetter than we did. We started playing better in the second game as far asmoving and hitting and we played good in spurts.”

Return To Sports Stories

Copyright © #Thisyear# Wick Communications, Inc.Best viewed with 4.0 or higher