Westminster Christian Has Built One of State’s Upper Echelon Volleyball Programs

by: William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

Two straight appearances for Westminster Christian Academy-Opelousas in the Division V state championship match against the same opponent has done plenty to fuel their fire. 

The Lady Crusaders have positioned themselves for another opportunity to win their first state title when the LHSAA’s state tournament begins Thursday at the Lafayette Cajundome. They’re making their fifth consecutive appearance in the event to face Central Catholic of Morgan City at 10:50 a.m.

“Our seniors are very motivated,” WCA’s sixth-year coach Keith Leon. “Two of the seniors (Bethany Stoute and Anna Ware) have been with me since the eighth grade and started varsity as freshmen. Their motivation is they want a ring, and they know how close we were last year with the team we had.”

Second-seeded WCA (33-8) has won 15 of its last 18 matches and easily swept past No. 31 Downsville and No. 15 Central Private in the postseason. Seventh-seeded Central Catholic (17-15) swept away its postseason competition to reach the state tournament, defeating No. 26 First Baptist Christian and No. 10 Ascension Catholic.

“I tell the girls it’s one game at a time,” said Leon, who has led WCA to the regional round or better in each of his six seasons at the school. “We can look forward to (eight-time reigning state champion and No. 1) Country Day, but we have to look at Central Catholic which is a quality team. They should not be a seven seed, probably a three or four, because they’re one of the better teams in Division V. We’ll have to stick to our game plan and if we lose that part, we could lose against them. We have to stay focused.”

Country Day has gotten on WCA’s radar the past two years with wins over the Lady Crusaders in the state championship match 3-2 and 3-0 in 2022 and ’23, respectively.

“We’ve had a good run here,” Leon said. “We’ve had some good girls that have bought into what we’re doing, and they work hard every day. We don’t have the best athletes across the board, but we have girls that are going to work hard every day. We can knock on the door again.”

Leon challenged his team throughout the season.

WCA went 9-4 in matches against teams from Division I and II, falling in a five-set match to Division II power St. Thomas More in the second match of the season. The Lady Crusaders led 2-1 until the Lady Cougars came with to win the final two sets, 25-17 and 25-12.

“From the start when we played STM,” Leon said, “I saw our team being a totally different team than we had last year. Defensively we were solid across the board. We started with that game and kept building. We do this on a yearly basis.”

WCA picked up wins over Division III’s University High, Division IV’s Lafayette Christian Academy, Archbishop Chapelle (twice), Dutchtown of Division I, Sam Houston of Division II, and Parkview Baptist of Division III. 

The win over Sam Houston was part of WCA’s recent stretch that included a 25-15, 25-20, and 25-14 win at home on Oct. 29. 

The team’s three losses were to LCA, Dominican, and E.D White – all of whom have advanced to the state tournament in their respective classifications.

“We tell them this is a challenge and if you want to win a championship you’ve got to beat the best, so you’ve got to play the best,” Leon said. “We were really in every game we played this year. You’ve got to play those teams to better compete with a Country Day. If you don’t, you’re not going to be competitive with them.”

WCA has the majority of its pieces back from last year’s state runner-up team. 

Senior all-state middle blocker Bethany Stoute, the 2023 district MVP, headlines a team with a pair of other senior standouts in libero Kristian Thomas and setter Anna Ware.

Stoute has been a mainstay during the Lady Crusaders’ back-to-back runs to the state finals and has recorded 1,003 kills and 341 blocks during her career. She leads the team this season with 326 kills, and 77 blocks to go along with 38 digs and 15 assists. 

Thomas, who transferred and sat out her sophomore season, has piled up 1,122 digs in the past two seasons. She’s registered 461 digs, 72 assists, and 30 aces in 2024, while Ware, who has 3,047 career assists, has 1,043 assists, 53 aces, 51 kills, and 25 blocks.

“She makes our offense run,” Leon said of Ware. “She puts the ball where it needs to be and makes our offense run. When she and Bethany are on, we’re hard to beat. She’s (Thomas) the leader of our defense. She helps the younger ones position-wise, helps the whole back row, and is a big-time leader there.”

Junior Laila Gautreaux has been a force at outside hitter with more than 300 kills, and the team – which has nine sophomores – counts on production from outside hitter Ana-Camille Melancon (close to 300 kills), defensive specialist Izzy Guy, right-side hitter Sophia Wiltz and defensive specialist Kennedi Richard.

“I think we had a lot of nerves because we had a lot of freshmen,” Leon said of last year’s team. “Now they’re sophomores. I think we’re becoming a veteran team this year. They’ve matured and grown up. It’s been a good ride for us this year.”