With the volleyball regular season wrapping up in the next several days, Destrehan enters the final week in solid position with an 13-5 record and a potential District 7-I championship in its grasp – the latter looks to be settled later week when the Wildcats visit Chapelle.
Wildcats’ head coach Edward Borgstede, however, believes there’s still another level his team can achieve, and he says the time to climb that rung on the ladder is now.
“It’s the home stretch,” Borgstede said. “We’re just a little inconsistent right now. I’d say there are some things we’re definitely improving on and doing better, doing some things how it’s expected. But we’ve still got to get away from those chunk points where we allow three or four scores in a row. There are times where we’re just too experienced to be making the errors we’re making.”
Eliminating unforced errors has been the focus in practice of late. That said, Borgstede said it’s a matter of refining execution. He does not want a shift in his players’ attacking mentality.
“We can’t get away from being aggressive. Don’t go out there and play safe,” Borgstede said. “Nobody wants to watch you just keep it in play … they want to see power volleyball.”
Power volleyball is a style Ryley Boyne is certainly comfortable with. The senior and McNeese State commitment recently reached a milestone – 1,500 kills in her prep career, which she surpassed in Destrehan’s victory over Riverside last week.
Destrehan is 2-0 in district play. Non-district play of late has seen Destrehan go 1-2 over the past week against some terrific competition in the form of Dominican, Mount Carmel and Riverside.
Dominican swept the Wildcats in three sets, 25-19, 25-17, 25-16.
Ryley Boyne had 16 kills, while Khara Morton and Kamryn Boyne each posted four. Skylar DeFrisco had 22 assists.
In district action, Destrehan rolled past Grace King, 25-6, 25-4, 25-7. Ryley Boyne had 10 kills, while Lily Hayes and Enaya Kimble added five each. DeFrisco had 22 assists. Madison served five aces.
As DHS faced Riverside, the Rebels took the first set from Destrehan, but the latter rallied to win 26-28, 25-20, 25-11, 25-18. Ryley Boyne had 22 kills, while Morton added 11 and Sadie Rochelle made 7. DeFrisco had 37 assists
Mount Carmel bested DHS 25-15, 25-13, 25-18. Ryley Boyne had 11 kills and DeFrisco had 22 assists.
Both the wins and losses figure to have Destrehan prepared for what promises to be a packed and loud gym at Chapelle for the latter’s “Pink Night,” on Thursday where the Chipmunks will wear pink jerseys to promote breast cancer awareness.
“I don’t think the atmosphere will rattle my girls,” Borgstede said. “They’ve been in some loud gyms before. It’s up to us to stand up and go into their gym and play our best game.”
One thing Destrehan has been refining has been its offense. Starting about two weeks ago in its matchup against Hahnville, the Wildcats shifted offensive alignment, playing a 5-1 rotation with one setter, in this case DeFrisco. Sarah Simon, who was a setter alongside DeFrisco, has shifted into a defensive specialist role.
“Since we switched the offense, Skylar has been getting a lot more touches all the way around, getting a lot more balls on the block,” Borgstede said. “She’s worked extremely hard. Sarah been strong in her new role, and her serve has gotten a lot tougher now that she’s been able to focus more on that.”
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