St. Amant and Ascension Christian advance

The St. Amant and Ascension Christian volleyball teams won their respective regional playoff matches on Monday and punched their tickets to the State Volleyball Tournament.

The second-seeded Lady Gators were able to enjoy a bye for first-round action. Parish and district rival Dutchtown cruised to a 3-0 win over Woodlawn--setting up yet another clash with St. Amant.

It didn't take long for the Lady Gators to prove why they were the No. 2 seed in the state. They rolled to an easy 25-8 opening-set win, and they never looked back--blanking the Lady Griffins with 25-13 and 25-9 wins in the second and third sets.

Toni Rodriguez dominated the net as usual as she hammered down 20 kills along with an assist and two digs. Shayli Schutz complimented her with eight kills, and Brooke deVeer was right behind with seven of her own.

Kelly Young led all players in assists as she piled up 35 of them. Alaina Decoteau led St. Amant in digs with seven.

Some of the leaders for Dutchtown included: Lauren Mills with five kills, Tiyena Brown with 10 assists and Melissa Bailey with a game-high nine digs.

The Lady Griffins' season comes to an end at 19-19.

As for the Lady Gators, they move to 35-6, and they'll now be making the trip to Kenner for the State Volleyball Tournament.

Their oppenent will be Northshore. They're fresh off of a thrilling 3-2 upset win over seventh-seeded East Ascension in the regional round.

The Lady Spartans actually won the opening set 26-24. Northshore stormed back to win the next two by scores of 25-12 and 25-18.

East Ascension forced a deciding fifth set and in that set, Northshore squeaked out the upset 15-12.

They will meet St. Amant Thursday at 6:45 p.m. at the Pontchartrain Center.

The Lady Gators beat Northshore in their lone regular season matchup. They defeated them 2-0 in a Cabrini High tournament on Oct. 20.

As for Ascension Christian, they earned themselves a spot in the state quarterfinals as well with a 3-1 win over parish rival Ascension Catholic on Monday.

The Lady Lions dropped the opening set 25-20 before winning three straight close sets to clinch the match. The second and third sets were the toughest as they squeezed them out 25-23 and 25-22.

And when senior Sierra McGraw served up a ace in the fourth set, Ascension Christian was on their way to Kenner.

Amanda Stewart led the Lady Lions in kills with 10, and Reyna Jones was right behind with eight of her own.

Sidney Sehon and Victoria Schexnayder both had impressive all-around games.

Sehon led the team with six aces and added four kills, five blocks and 10 digs. Schexnayder had four aces, two kills and led all Lady Lions with 12 digs and 21 assists.

With the win, Ascension Christian will now have a date with MP Country Day Thursday at the State Volleyball Tournament at 11:45 a.m.