The stakes were heightened, even from the usual standards of a Hahnville and Destrehan battle in volleyball Tuesday night, as the last two teams unbeaten in District 6-I play squared off.
Hahnville brought the energy and execution it needed to earn that key victory on the road, finishing off a four-game win by scores of 25-16, 27-25, 21-25 and 25-19.
“Hahnville and Destrehan is always big, but we knew we were the last two district unbeatens left and we knew somebody was gonna leave here with a district loss today,” said Hahnville coach Mendi LeBoeuf. “That’s what we focused on.”
Destrehan ended a long Hahnville stranglehold on the rivalry last season when it bested Hahnville in a pair of matches en route to finishing second place in district play to H.L. Bourgeois. This time, however, Hahnville was able to win at the net, with a combined 49 kills including 17 from Brianna Plaisance, 12 from Chelsea Plaisance and 11 from Raegan Young. Bailey Roux was instrumental in that, racking up 43 assists on the night.
“Destrehan puts up a really big block,” LeBoeuf said. “I thought our hitters did good job of staying aggressive and trying to figure it out.”
Said Brianna Plaisance, “We knew it would be a great atmosphere and there was so much energy in the gym. Last year, they really took us down, but I’m so happy for our team to come back and earn a win.”
Hahnville (15-10, 4-0) took a 2-0 lead in the match after leading almost wire to wire in the first game and surviving an intense back and forth second game to win on a kill by Young.
Destrehan fired back in the third game by creating some separation midway through, taking a 15-10 lead and never allowing Hahnville to draw closer than two the rest of the way.
But in the fourth game, Brianna Plaisance and Young started to take over late, at one point the two slamming home four kills in a row between them to push HHS ahead 22-16. Destrehan couldn’t recover from there.
“The adrenaline I had in me, the way this whole scene made me want to push myself and go my hardest, it was awesome,” Young said. “Bailey Roux really knows my timing and she did a phenomenal job distributing the ball tonight.”
Roux had 16 digs, Chelsea Plaisance had 14 digs and Kristen Crutti had 12. Brianna Plaisance served four aces.
For Destrehan (17-10, 3-1), Gia Zeringue had 11 kills, 10 digs and four blocks. Noelle Kelley had 23 digs and three aces. Allie Carmichael had 26 assists.
Destrehan coach Edward Borgstede said Hahnville seemed hungrier from the outset.
“We didn’t block very well tonight and that put too much pressure on our back row,” he said. “We came out flat when we had everything to play for. That’s on me. Too many hitting errors and serving errors … Hahnville came in here firing. It was obvious from the start they wanted it more and that’s gotta change.”
Why wasn’t YELAH MOSES HHS mentioned in this article? She played great. Where is her stats?
Why wasn’t YELAH MOSES name mentioned in this article? She had a great game. Where is her stats? She played both JV & Varsity. Without her I’m sure Hahnville would have lost the varsity game. She should have been mentioned by NAME.