Tied 1-1 after two sets in Wednesday’s opening round Division I playoff match with visiting St. Amant, Hahnville knew it was win or go home.
And the Lady Tigers played like it.
Hahnville rolled to victory in each of the third and fourth sets to capture a 25-14, 18-25, 25-14, 25-12 win to advance to round two.
The No. 4 seeded Tigers are set to host No. 13 St. Joseph’s Academy at noon Saturday.
Jada Moore led Hahnville with 15 kills. Maci Hollingsworth and Mariah Mott each notched nine kills while Olivia Schlumbrecht added seven. Kylie Spurgeon notched 25 digs, while Mott made 19, Hollingsworth 13 and Ebby Zeringue 11.
Hahnville (30-7) entered the playoffs with two losses in its final three regular season games. But once the playoff match began, there was no doubt a very experienced Tigers team was ready for the urgency of a postseason match, leaping out to a 21-10 lead before securing the first set 25-14.
“I thought we started fast, and we’re a team that really needs to play fast,” said Hahnville head coach Mendi LeBoeuf.
Hollingsworth said the Tigers were amped up and ready to kick off the playoffs.
“We were very excited. We’d been here before … we’ve brought so much back from last year’s team and we know we have a chance to go far this year,” Hollingsworth said. “We were ready to play.”
However, St. Amant (17-22) began to find its footing at the end of that first set, and jumped out to a 10-4 lead early in the second. A Moore kill cut the lead to 11-7 before the Gators’ Blakeli Landry answered with one of her own. Alyssa Evans’ tip extended St. Amant’s lead to 14-8.
“I thought we really allowed ourselves to get slow, and were waiting on the ball and weren’t taking very good touches,” LeBoeuf said.
Two kills by Hollingsworth and an ace served by Schlumbrecht fueled a run of points that pulled Hahnville into a 17-17 tie. But the Tigers couldn’t quite take the lead, trading scores before St. Amant ended the set on a 7-0 run, finishing on a Gabi Saucier block.
Hahnville didn’t stay down long and dominated the early going in set three. Mott and Hollingsworth made back to back kills to push Hahnville to a 15-4 lead. St. Amant managed to close the gap before LeBoeuf called a time out to regroup with her team. From there, Hahnville closed out strong, securing the final point on a St. Amant violation.
It was back and forth to begin the fourth set, St. Amant leading 6-5 early. Hahnville then took over. Schlumbrecht’s block made it 9-6. She made two more for scores quickly after. With Cambri Garcia serving, Hahnville reeled off six straight points to open up a 15-7 lead, including two on Hollingsworth kills.
The Tigers showed a finishing instinct to end the set. Moore smashed three consecutive kills, then Zeringue served an ace to make it 21-11. St. Amant could not pull back into it. Moore and Hollingsworth each slammed another kill and Hahnville was on to round two.
“We talk about mental toughness and keeping ourselves on a high. We have people on our team that bring everyone together and bring a higher energy,” Hollingsworth said.
St. Joseph’s (19-14) awaits in round two after it defeated Baton Rouge in round one, 25-14, 23-25, 25-16, 27-25.
With St. Amant focusing defensive attention on Mott, Hahnville showed as it has all season that it boasts firepower all over the court, including a big day from Moore.
“(Mott) always has a difficult task, because people are going to key in on her. But we started running our middles and were able to open up a little more offense … Jada is high energy and when she’s on the court, she helps us move a little quicker,” LeBoeuf said. “That’s who she is, through and through. I thought she did a really good job of being aggressive, not settling for tipping, but really swinging on every set she was given. That really helped us pick up the pace.
“We’re excited by getting this win, we get to play here again. It’s always so much better being in your own house, so we’ve enjoyed that,” LeBoeuf said.
