Flexing Its Muscle: No. 1 St. Thomas More Volleyball Sweeps Past No. 6 Parkview Baptist
by: William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Three-time reigning Division II state champion St. Thomas More was unflappable early in the face of adversity.
The Lady Cougars, facing their greatest deficit of four points in the match, steadily climbed back into the opening set and took control for a 25-20 victory and went on to sweep Parkview Baptist – 25-21, 25-16 – during a non-district match Thursday at Parkview Baptist.
“I’m proud of my kids,” STM coach Jessica Burke said. “They’re very steady, very emotionally mature. They take errors and they learn and fix them for the next play. We’re not afraid to make mistakes knowing that they’re part of the game. We have mature players, and they handle the ins and outs of games very well.”
STM (9-0), the No. 1 team in the VSN/Geaux Preps rankings, extending its win streak to 15 matches dating to last season. The Cougars have swept their last four consecutive matches going into the start of District 4-II play against Cecilia at home next Tuesday.
“I was proud of the kids because we’ve been struggling to come out the first two sets,” Parkview Baptist coach Allison Leake, whose team is ranked sixth in the state rankings. “I thought we played well, especially in those first two sets. We just had moments of runs and you can’t give a team like St. Thomas More four and five points in a row. It just can’t happen. That’s really hard to overcome.”
STM’s Marvel Potier had a team-best 13 kills and Ella Broussard added eight. The Lady Cougars finished with a .214 attack percentage with 14 kills.
Parkview (9-2), which had a six-match winning steak stopped, was led by a double-double from LSU commitment Laurel Cassidy with 12 kills and 17 digs. Aadyn Polk led the Eagles with 20 assists and added 12 digs, while Jana Thymes added seven kills and three service aces, and libero Ava LeBlanc had 13 digs.
Potier was extremely impressive with four and five kills, respectively, in the first two sets to propel STM to leads each time. It was the chemistry she enjoyed with Broussard (19 assists) and UL-Lafayette commitment Rhyan Miciotto (16 assists) that kept Parkview’s defense off balance.
“We like to work together a lot at practice,” Potier said. “Team bonding also plays a big part, the chemistry.”
Parkview’s 9-5 lead wilted under a 5-0 run from STM with Beverly Potier serving and ultimately giving her team a 12-11 lead on a ballhandling error.
STM outscored Parkview 9-2 to open a 14-11 lead on a combination block from Marvel Potier and Marissa Billedeaux against Cassidy.
The Eagles closed to within a point on three different occasions until the Cougars pulled away, taking advantage of three errors and Marvel Potier’s block of PBS’ Marin Price.
“We’ve been working the middle blocker chemistry with the setters,” Burke said. “It’s always something that takes time to develop, even if they’ve worked together in the past. We’ve given it a little more attention as of late to give our middles and setters the look that they need to grow that connection. It showed that it was developing well tonight.”
The second set was tied six times, the final time at 19-19, when Eleanor Guidry’s service ace broke the deadlock followed by Broussard’s assist for a kill by Remi Guins, and Broussard fed Marvel Potier for another kill that made it 24-20.
STM closed on a 6-2 run on Broussard’s service ace.
“In the second set it was point for point for the most part,” said Leake, whose team had a .073 attacking percentage and totaled 26 kills. “We missed four serves. Guess how many points we lost by? Four. When you’re playing a team like St. Thomas More who has a great program and is well coached, every point matters. I thought our kids played well.”
STM scored the first three points of the final set and built a 4-1 lead on Marvel Potier’s block when Parkview got back into the match. With Thymes jump serving, the Eagles tied the match for the first of seven times before later falling behind by three points (12-9) on a service error.
The set was tied four times, the last at 15-all, when Beverly Potier’s kill gave STM the lead and it was her service that resulted in seven straight points that made it 23-15. The combination of Miciotto and Ava Roger worked for a pair of kills during that stretch.
Riley Hauck and Norah Frank combined on a block and brought Parkview to within 23-16, but a kill from Billedeaux and a block from Marvel Potier enabled STM to clinch the match.
“I think we try to start off strong and stay strong throughout,” Marvel Potier said. “It’s kind of how we come in thinking.”