Country Day Caps Decade of Dominance with 10th Straight Title, Sets State Record

by: Travis Connelley // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

LAFAYETTE — Playing for a state championship is nothing new for Country Day Volleyball, so the moment wasn’t too big for the top-seeded Cajuns in Saturday’s Division V title game. And in yet another act of déjà vu, the Cajuns walked away with the top honor once again defeating the No. 3 Central Catholic Eagles in straight sets, 25-21, 25-10, 25-8. 

The title win marks the10th-consecutive and 16th in the last 17 years for Country Day.

“I’m so proud of these girls. Every season you have your ups and you have your downs, and we had that this year,” Country Day head coach Julie Ibieta said. “Today was a culmination of everything that we have been through. We played as close to flawless in sets two and three as we could.”

In the opening set, the Eagles jumped out to an early advantage, scoring five of the first seven points of the opening frame and quickly grew that advantage to four at 7-3. 

While junior Jade Washington helped pace the Cajuns early on with three early kills, older sister Leila Washington joined the fray not long afterward with kills on back-to-back possessions as Country Day began to make a comeback. 

Even though the Cajuns took a 13-11 lead, the Eagles got stellar play from Jorden Geason, who led Central Catholic on a 3-1 run, scoring all three points on kills. 

Later in the set, with the score tied at 21, Country Day finished strong, scoring four of the final five points to take the set.

In the second frame, the Cajuns set the tone early using the momentum built from the first set to jump out to a 6-2 advantage. The run was fueled by stellar play from Layla Henderson, who recorded three of the first six points for her team on a pair of kills and an ace. 

The rest of the team followed suit as the Cajuns built a 17-7 advantage. Central Catholic showed grit and determination to try and narrow the gap, but Country Day kept pouring it on as Jade Washington recorded the final three points of the set with a pair of kills and a block. 

Sensing another state title win, the Cajuns continued to shine in the third set. Following a block from Henderson and Lucille Loomis, both the former and Leila Washington took over, scoring Country Day’s next five points with Washington recording back-to-back aces in the process. 

“I feel like it definitely gave us momentum,” said Leila Washington, describing how her aces helped the team set up a strong finish to the set. “We figured that if we were in their heads, it would build our confidence up and convince us to keep pushing through and not stop.” 

Those thoughts came to fruition as the Cajuns pushed on. A 6-1 run followed with Henderson recording two kills and a block assist, and Jade Washington adding two more kills. 

The Eagles continued to fight and got three kills down the stretch from Geason, but it wasn’t quite enough as Country Day scored the final five points to claim the match and the championship. 

Recapping her team’s performance not only in the match but also throughout the year, Central Catholic head coach Sunni Rae Blanchard had nothing but a high level of praise for her group. 

“This whole season has been so amazing with these girls. This game, even though it did not go the way we wanted it to, does not take away from that,” she said. “They worked hard, put in a lot of hours, and made many sacrifices. And I just don’t want them to think that this game defines them.”

Following the match, Jade Washington was named Most Outstanding Player, an honor that she admits she didn’t see coming. 

“I was surprised and I was like ‘Wow!’,” said Washington. 

“Jade truly deserves that award today, but that could have gone to four or five people in our group,” Ibieta added.

Geason led the Eagles with eight kills and two blocks while Addison Grizzaffi had seven kills and one block.

Henderson led the Cajuns with 18 kills and three blocks while Jade Washington tallied 15 kills, 1.5 blocks and nine digs.