Rising to the Challenge: No.14 Parkview Topples No.1 St. Michael in Five-Set Thriller

by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

RBATON ROUGE – A jammed-packed gymnasium, complete with the host team’s pep band, and the state’s No. 1-ranked team were among the variables waiting for Parkview Baptist’s volleyball team.

The surging Lady Eagles, ranked No. 14 in the VSN/Geaux Preps Power 25, were able to deal with all of the elements and, most importantly, a red-hot St. Michael the Archangel team, in an epic five-set road victory Thursday.

The two local powers, separated by a 12-mile stretch in southeast Baton Rouge, alternated winning sets with the Lady Warriors forcing a fifth set with a 25-22 verdict in the fourth. There were seven ties in the finale until an ace from Parkview Baptist’s Rylan Varnado climbed over the net to spark a 7-2 run en route to a 15-10 victory that provided the Lady Eagles with a share of the District 5-III championship.

“This may have been the largest crowd I’ve competed in front of ever in high school,” Parkview senior hitter Jana Thymes said. “Hearing the noise of the other team was pushing us to keep going. We were here to compete. Watch out for Parkview because we’re coming. It just drove us.”

Parkview Baptist (21-8, 4-0 in district) extended its winning streak to eight matches and has won 12 of its last 13. The Lady Eagles were accustomed to winning at St. Michael, a place they swept the Lady Warriors last season in the district tournament, and have now won four straight over their rivals. 

“I wasn’t worried coming in here,” Parkview senior setter Aadyn Polk said. “I know they were ranked No. 1, but we beat them here last year and had that going for us. We knew they had all of the pressure because they were first.”

Parkview won the first and third sets by scores of 25-20 and 25-22, while St. Michael responded with wins in the second and fourth sets, 25-19 and 25-22.

This was the first match the Lady Warriors (29-2), the No. 1 team in Division III power ratings, played as the state’s top-ranked team. They had a 19-match winning streak snapped and lost for the first time since Sept. 19 by Dominican in Sacred Heart’s tournament.

“This is the type of volleyball you want to be playing at this time of the year,” St. Michael coach Latashia Wise-Jackson said. “This is the caliber of volleyball; this is the environment you want to be playing in. It’s good volleyball for the state of Louisiana and for Baton Rouge. Parkview is a phenomenal club who is well-coached. I didn’t think it was going to be easy. At this time of the year, everybody’s gotten better from the beginning of the year. 

“All I asked of my team was to come out and keep fighting, and they did,” Wise-Jackson said. “Unfortunately for us we had some errors at the wrong time. We missed some serves when we shouldn’t have, but they did too. They were just the more consistent team, and they deserved to win.”

Marielle Gary served St. Michael to a 7-5 lead in the final set, setting Aliza Gary for a kill.

Varnado enabled PBS, the No. 5 team in the D3 power ratings, to rally with three service points ignited by her ace. Polk, a Lees-McRae College commitment, set Marin Price for back-to-back kills and an 11-8 lead. Olivia Kohn’s block on St. Michael’s Skyler Towner provided additional momentum, and the Lady Eagles picked up steam on a block from Thymes that resulted in the Lady Warriors’ final timeout.

Eighth-grader Aimee Gawlik picked up a kill off a block, and Kennedy Otwell served out the match, executing a short serve that set up Polk’s set to Thymes for the match-clinching kill.

“Kennedy’s a great server and can hit her spots,” PBS coach Allison Leake said. “My dad (Chip Didier) is my assistant and calls all of the serves. He gave her a game point short serve, and we hadn’t done that all game, and she hit it. It just shows the experience that we have.”

Having Thymes, who had a match-high 19 kills, rotated to the front row in time for Otwell’s serve proved to be a winning combination.

“I just looked at Jana and said, ‘It’s your time, take over’,” Polk said. “I knew if the ball was coming to me, I was going to send it to Jana, and I had faith she would put the ball away.”

“Our whole team knows if we have Jana at the end, we’re probably going to win,” Leake said. “It doesn’t always happen, but the chances are extremely high.”

Polk pulled the trigger on PBS’ offense with 50 assists to go with eight blocks.

“She’s done a fantastic job during her career of learning the game, knowing what she’s got to do in in-game situations,” Leake said. “She’s one that I don’t have to worry about. Her decision-making tonight was fantastic. She moved the ball where we needed her to move. It was a great effort.”

Wise-Jackson was complimentary of PBS’ play, in particular Polk.

“She did a phenomenal job of dispersing the ball to her teammates and running her offense,” she said. “She stayed composed; she stayed together with her team. What you’re looking at in that setter is an all-state player. There are several all-state players on their team, and all I can say is that we’ll see them again in November (state tournament in Lafayette).”

Price added 16 kills and three blocks, while Otwell and Varnado had 23 and 10 digs, respectively. Thymes, who will sign with Liberty University in December, also contributed seven digs and six blocks, Kohn five kills and seven blocks.

St. Michael’s senior leaders Bella Leblanc and Bella Bravata each had 17 kills, and junior Towner added 10 kills and four blocks. Marielle Gary produced 51 assists, Aliza Gary three blocks, with Camille Kinchen and Ava Rodrigue adding two service aces.

“Coach said we had nothing to lose because they were ranked above us,” Polk said. “We’ve had kind of a rocky season and started off rough (8-8), and that’s kind of taught us a lot about ourselves as a team.”

The first set was tied four times when Thymes blocked Towner in the middle for a 13-12 lead. PBS maintained the remainder of the way. That advantage grew to 22-17 behind three service points from Varnado and kills from Price and Thymes, who had four kills in the set.

St. Michael stormed out to a 9-3 lead in the second set, which grew to 16-6 on Kinchen’s ace. Bravata had four kills in the set, helping the Lady Warriors increase their lead to 20-8 and 23-13 when freshman Honor Fontenot served the Lady Eagles to within 23-18 – a stretch that included four kills from Price (2), Thymes, and Kohn.

Thymes’ seven kills fueled a third set in which PBS never trailed. Although the Lady Eagles’ early lead shrank to one point (13-12), they never lost their handle on the lead and closed the set on Polk’s assist to Price.

“That’s the nature of how volleyball goes,” Thymes said. “Walking into this, I knew it would be tough. I knew it probably wasn’t going to be a clean three sets for either side. That defines how competitive both teams are, and even though we’re walking out the winners and they’re walking out as the losers, you can never measure the competitiveness of another team.”

St. Michael battled deep into the fourth set before taking a 22-19 lead on the service of five points from Rodrigue’s. Rodrigue had an assist, and Marielle Gary added two more assists on kills from Leblanc and Towner before clinching the set with a pass to Bravata for a kill.

“I always felt like we were one step behind tonight, and we were playing catch-up,” Wise-Jackson said. “We hadn’t played catch-up all year long. There have been some matches in which we’ve been down and have come back and fought. I knew we were going to do that. 

“When you’re playing against a team with that type of offensive weapon (Thymes), you cannot make errors, you can’t give them free balls because it’s coming back at you,” Wise-Jackson said. “Jana Thymes is phenomenal. We did what we could do to maintain her as best we could. We dug her as best we could. Her supporting cast did a really good job tonight.”

St. Michael opened a 7-5 lead in the final set on back-to-back superlatives from Aliza Gary, who blocked Thymes and finished a pass from Marielle Gary, resulting in a timeout from PBS.

Thymes had five kills during her team’s final set – all on assists from Polk – and Varnado’s service that hit the net and found a home on St. Michael’s side helped propel the Lady Eagles, who finish district play at Glen Oaks on Monday.

“We accomplished basically everything we wanted to get done,” Thymes said. “The most important thing is this gives us a whole new rise of hope and for people to know that Parkview’s coming to compete.”