Pink Game Drama: Mount Carmel Outlasts Dominican in Five-Set Showdown

by: Mike Strom // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

NEW ORLEANS – Mount Carmel versus Dominican volleyball, there’s no escaping the truth.
It just means more.

Certainly, none of the standing-room-only crowd of 1,300 plus patrons shoe-horned inside The Pit for Tuesday night’s Pink Game would disagree.

To describe the deafening atmosphere decorated with pink tapestries as electric and raucous would be an understatement.

But there was nothing understated about the effort and performance of the state’s No. 2 and 3 seeds in Division I in their third meeting of the season.

Second-seeded Mount Carmel shook off an opening set loss to win three of the next four games to register a 3-2 District 8-I victory against No. 3 Dominican by scores of 24-26, 25-19, 25-23, 21-25, 15-10 that all but decided the league championship at Dominican’s Charles and Lee Pittman Gymnasium.

Senior middle blocker Emily Caracci recorded a match-high 18 kills but got plenty of support in the power category with sophomore reserve Lila Franovich and senior outside hitters Julia Savois and Giselle Estrada posting 15, 13, and 11 kills respectively while senior setter Emma Richey dished out 49 assists.

Mount Carmel (33-8 overall, 7-0 in District 8-I) defeated Dominican’s four-time reigning Division I state champions for the second time in three matches this season. But Tuesday’s meeting was the lone of the three to count toward the District 8-I standings.

The Cubs can clinch the outright district crown for a second consecutive season by defeating Chalmette at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Mount Carmel in their regular-season finale.

“This is definitely not your normal high school volleyball that you have going on,’’ Mount Carmel’s Caracci said. “It is definitely very, very, very high intensity. It’s very mentally and physically taxing. Our entire lives for the months that we’re in it, there’s nothing else I think about, there’s nothing else I do. It’s not part of my life. It is my life.

“I think that 17 other girls on this team can say the same thing as well as the coaches. That’s why these games are so big to us because when it is your whole life, you want to walk out with a win no matter who you are, no matter who you’re playing. That’s why these games get so big.

“There’s also the rivalry. It’s so loud in here you can’t hear anything. You’re hot and you’re sweating and you can’t hear each other. It’s just like the energy and the intensity and the pressure is so high, but it’s good pressure and it’s good intensity and it makes you play harder no matter what.’’

Dominican (25-8 overall, 6-1 in District 8-I) had beaten Mount Carmel two weeks ago in another nail-biter in the initial Pink Game of the season played between these arch-rivals at MCA. Dominican won that Oct. 16th match, 3-1, by scores of 25-21, 20-25, 25-23, 26-24 after falling to Mount Carmel, 25-15, 25-18, in the St. Joseph’s Academy Tournament two weeks earlier in Baton Rouge on Sept. 28.

Dominican additionally had beaten Mount Carmel, 3-1, in the Division I state championship match last season.

“We just talked about playing intentional, playing with a purpose,’’ Mount Carmel coach Taylor Conaway Ricaud said. “Everything has to have a purpose that we do. We can’t just be on auto-pilot going through the motions. For every single point, you have to leave it (on the floor) and give it your all. One hundred percent of you has to be out on that court.’’

Dominican, too, appeared locked into the challenge at hand only to fall short in a match in which only two points separated the two sides through the first four games.

“I’m really proud of the fight we showed tonight,’’ Dominican coach Jessica Chatellier said. “We know every time we play them that it’s going to be a battle. I think tonight they were able to make the big plays when it counted and they came out the better team.

“But I really feel like our team showed a lot. We definitely put up a lot of fight in that fourth set. We didn’t fold. After being down those two sets, we came out, we fought hard and we made some big plays. We got everything back going again and I’m super proud of the way (Dominican’s players) handled themselves.’’

Senior libero Lauren Pipitone and defensive specialist Maia Bruiglio recorded 46 and 26 digs respectively to pace a Dominican attack that fell short in the power category imposed by Mount Carmel’s Caracci, Franovich, Savois, and Estrada.

Senior outside hitter/setter Molly Baker and senior middle Mihley Clatyton were Dominican’s top kills producers with 10 apiece while junior right side Rani Smith had 6 blocks. Senior setter Rachel Zamjahn and Baker recorded 23 and 19 assists respectively.

“I think the difference was blocking,’’ Mount Carmel coach Taylor Conaway Ricaud said. “We had a lot more blocks than we did the first time we played them. We helped our defense a lot more by putting big hands in their face and we continued to play hard.

“Their defense is phenomenal. It’s flawless. We struggled to put the ball down on them because they’re just fabulous. But I think our defense came out and gave them a struggle just as much as they did to us.’’

Caracci, Estrada, Savois, and Franovich were catalysts in Mount Carmel’s 25-19 victory in the second set. The Cubs opened on a 9-4 run and expanded it to 16-10 as Franovich put down three consecutive kills that she and Caracci followed later with two clutch dinks good for a 21-16 advantage.

The third set won by Mount Carmel, 25-23, was tighter throughout until the Cubs scored five consecutive points to take a 17-11 lead that would stand up to Dominican’s 12-8 closing.

In the decisive fifth set, Caracci, Franovich, and Savois again got the Cubs rolling with their power games that produced leads of 8-4 and 11-7 that expanded to the final 15-10 margin via three consecutive kills by Franovich and one by Caracci.

“We obviously had a tough loss (to them) and I think we just came into (this match) with the mentality that we’re not going to come out of here with a loss,’’ Franovich said. “I told my teammates, we’re not going to come out of here losing. We all just had a very good connection. We all played as a team. It wasn’t individual at all. We were just like one big family and it was so fun. It was very fun.’’

“We have a tendency to start slow,’’ Caracci said. “I think you saw that tonight. We have a tendency to do that. But I think it was important for us that this time when we start slow that we understand that we’re not going to go 25-0 in every set. We’re going to lose points. Being positive no matter what is important.

“We were down in that fourth set, but being able to fight back no matter what the score is. Us saying, ‘Next ball. We got the next one We got the next one.’ And actually believing it. Because you can always say that and then not put it out on the court.

“Also, remember that for seven of us (seniors) out here, this is like the last Pink Game we’ll ever play. To be able to leave it with a win was incredible. We lost to them two weeks ago. We came out there with a vengeance. We didn’t want to lose another game.

“We already had played them earlier in the season and won one and then lost one. So this broke the tie. We’ll probably see them again and it will be just as big of a game. It’s always so fun to play them every year because they’re great competition.’’

Dominican can secure a tie for the District 8-I championship by beating Riverdale on Thursday at Dominican if Mount Carmel loses to Chalmette on Wednesday. Riverdale at Dominican is scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. start.

“I think our middles were able to come alive a little bit,’’ Chatellier said. “They gave us a lot of action, so that was definitely very helpful. Our pin (hitters) did a great job. We just needed to be able to move the ball a little bit more. We were able to do that in the fourth set.

“In that last set (Mount Carmel was) able to put the ball away, which definitely helped them. I think our defense kept us alive all match. Finally, in the fifth set, they were kind of able to find the floor (with their kill shots). But it wasn’t until the fifth set that they were able to do that.

“Our defense did an incredible job. Our block was doing really well most of the night. It was just in that fifth set that they were able to find some holes.’’

Each side expects to see the other again, much like last season, when Dominican downed Mount Carmel in the state finals.

“I think the odds are very high’’ that we play again, Ricaud said. “And the way it’s lining up, (the rematch) might be to get to the state finals, in the semifinals. So right now we’re focusing on one game at a time because we can’t get there if we don’t win the ones before it. We’re going to keep preparing mentally and physically.

“Now we’re just looking forward to continuing to grow and working on things that were flawed in this game. We’re just going to continue to try to grow and climb the ladder.’’

“It’s very fun and nerve-racking, but it’s like a good kind of fun,’’ Franovich said. “The adrenalin and the happiness you get is so fun. Then hearing all of the cheers, it’s such a fun experience.’’

RE 2 sophomores, Nos. 14, 22, Gabrielle Locascio and Lila Franovich; freshman libero Ali Offner stepped up …  

“I’m really happy for the younger girls who stepped up,’’ Caracci said of Locascio, Franovich, and Offner. “We had two sophomores (Locascio and Franovich) and a freshman (Offner) on our court and I think they played like they are our age (seniors).

“They played like they were real high-level volleyball players and they’ve always rised up. I can’t wait to watch them the next couple of years and become insane. Because without them we don’t win this game. With them being able to step up was a huge deal.

“It really held us together a lot. Because some of us older girls we can fall apart just like (the younger ones) can. It’s nice to always have each other’s back no matter what. We’re really like sisters on the court and off the court. So it’s good to have a family around you no matter what. We win and lose together.’’

Ricaud the MCA coach was smiling broadly nearby.

“I’m enjoying this,’’ Ricaud said. “And I believe in my girls, 100 percent.