Five-Set Magic: Hannan rallies past Dutchtown for 10th straight victory

by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

GEISMAR – Archbishop Hannan’s red-hot volleyball team had won its last nine matches that included a sizzling stretch of six victories in the Lady Hawks’ own fall classic.

Hannan triumphed over such powerhouses as Division I’s top team – Dominican – and Division II’s No. team – St. Thomas More – and carried that momentum into a pair of straight-sets wins earlier this week for a share of the District 6-III championship.

The Lady Hawks opened Thursday’s non-district match at Dutchtown with a 25-21 verdict that ran their stretch of winning consecutive sets to 21, dating back to their win over Country Day. 

However, the Lady Griffins, the No. 8 team in the Division I power ratings, answered with consecutive wins (25-21, 25-21) and put the Lady Hawks’ run of success in peril.

“These girls are fighters and want to win,” said Hannan coach Rebekka Bonnafee, who guided the Lady Hawks to a Division III state runner-up finish in 2024. “My seniors are good leaders. They battle. I’ve got a great setter (Josie Pathoumthong) who battles all of the time. My middle (Bailey Bevoto) – especially today – didn’t go away. Every time she got on the court, we got better.”

Hannan, who had dropped consecutive sets for only the second time this season, showed its resilience by tying the match with a 25-20 win in the fourth set, and the Lady Hawks (19-5) went on to a 15-12 triumph in the deciding set.

“Losing the second and third sets, that wasn’t us, and we knew that we could play a lot better,” said Bevolo, a returning all-State selection and Spring Hill commitment. “We all came together and decided we were going to play as a team to take this win. Everybody played their heart out.”

Bevolo had a match-high 26 kills with hitting support from Goldie Lowe and Aubrey Ethridge with 11 and 8 kills, respectively. Pathoumthong controlled her team’s offense with 47 assists, led the defense with 17 digs, and contributed seven kills. Avery Lewis, a College of Idaho commitment, had 29 digs, and Grace Furlow had 12 digs and five service aces.

“I was impressed with the way they never quit,” Dutchtown coach Patrick Ricks said. “She (Bonnaffee) made a couple of subs that came in and made some key contributions. She made a couple of changes on defense that kind of made us adjust a bit. They’ve got that championship pedigree. It showed, and we’re trying to get there. They played a great match, and Becky did a great job coaching them.

“I told the girls that I’m not one for a good loss,” Ricks said. “As long as we learn from this, we can do some good things. In the fifth set, we were nervous and didn’t play with that same intensity as the rest of the match. We’re going to be in those situations later. This can only help us get better. We just couldn’t push through in the end. It was about as even as a match could be.”

Hannan, which opened the match with a 25-18 win, responded to the pressure Dutchtown applied by winning the second and third sets. 

The fourth set was tied six times, the last at 14-all, when a kill from Pathoumthong gave the Lady Hawks the lead for good. Lewis served her team to a 20-16 lead following a kill from Lola Soper, a lead that never dwindled below two points. The combination of Pathoumthong and Bevolo worked three times down the stretch, and Lowe added a block for the game-winning point.

“I’m always looking for her when she’s in the front row and I’m setting,” Pathoumthong said of Bevolo. “I know I can depend on her.”

Pathoumthong’s dink found a hole in the middle of Dutchtown’s defense for a 3-2 lead and Hannan maintained the lead throughout the deciding set. Solid serving from Marley Bankston and Lewis helped propel the Lady Hawks to a 10-6 lead that included a lift violation from Dutchtown.

The Lady Griffins (19-10) made one final run behind the service of Jamie Ragsdale and Brynn Gonzales. They went on a 6-1 run, which featured a block and kill from Au’brei McCoy.

The set remained locked at 12-12 on McCoy’s kill, but Pathoumthong delivered three straight assists to Etheridge on a quick set and the last two to Bevolo, whose change-of-pace tip was the game-winning point.

Hannan improved to 5-0 in five-set matches this season, while Dutchtown is now 0-2. The Lady Hawks, the No. 3 team in Division III, are ranked No. 6 in the VSN/GeauxPreps Volleyball Power 25 rankings, while the Lady Griffins are No. 22.

“We’ve had plenty of experience with this, this year,” Bonnaffee said. “We’ve had several five-setters, but my girls have come through in most of them. Even though it boggles my brain why we go away sometimes, they never truly go away. They try to fight back, and thankfully, in the fifth set they came out strong.”

A kill from Aubrey Dearie closed Hannan’s first set until Dutchtown’s Hayden Herring took over in the next two. The senior middle hitter, who finished with 14 kills, had 13 kills in the second and third sets to power her team.

The Lady Griffins built sizable leads of 14-8, 17-11, and 21-13 in the second set that included McCoy’s kill off a set by Olivia Songy. They had to fight off Hannan, which went on a 6-0 run behind the service of Lilly Oberlies, which reduced the lead to 21-19.

Songy and Kinsey Phillips took turns with assists that enabled Dutchtown to tie the match at 1-1, with Phillips finding Herrings for a kill off a block.

The third set had seven ties until Dutchtown took a 17-16 lead following an unforced error, and the serving of Caroline Johnson helped result in a 19-17 lead after kills from Herring and Anna White.

Hannan closed to within 20-19 with the help of an ace from Furlow and a four-hits call against Dutchtown, which held onto the lead behind Phillips’ service. McCoy had a kill, and Herring added a pair of kills, the second on an assist from Phillips, which forced the fifth and deciding set.

McCoy had eight kills, seven blocks, and 13 digs, while Gonzales added six kills and Johnson a match-high 31 digs.

“I told them to play good, fundamental volleyball,” Bonnaffee said of the final set. “Make sure you’re doing the little things right, serving tough. We put a little pressure on ourselves. We knew we had to win that set to keep going. These girls don’t like to lose.”

The Lady Hawks have an ally in Ricks.

“They made less mistakes than us and made some crucial points,” he said. “I’m super impressed with them. I’ve always been a Hannan fan, and I’ll be an even bigger Hannan fan now. Their division is a killer.”