Fontainebleau celebrated the school’s first ever volleyball district championship Thursday, defeating the St. Scholastica Academy Doves, 25-21, 25-22, 23-25, 25-17, at the Kennel.

FHS (31-5) capped off its unblemished district campaign with a 14-0 mark. SSA (28-9), which won last year’s district championship, also with a 14-0 record, took third place behind the Mandeville Lady Skippers with a 10-4 district slate.

FHS third-year coach Danny Tullis said he was ecstatic with his team’s performance in finishing off an undefeated district season against a quality SSA team.

FHS'€™ Haley Bonneval (4) prepares to blast the ball for a kill against the tandem block of SSA'€™s Shelby Fritscher and Kristi Harrison in Thursday'€™s district finale at the Kennel. FHS'€™ Michelle Cabeceiras (5) positions herself at the net. (Staff Photo by Mike Pervel)

FHS senior Lindsey Barron, the Lady Dawgs’ dynamic outside hitter, powered down a match-high 23 kills along with a team-high 17 digs to help propel her club to victory.

Barron said her teammates do a good job of moving the ball around. “The passes were great, and the sets were great. My teammates doing their jobs, helped me be on my game,” Barron added.

Barron along with her other two senior teammates, Amanda Schneck and Brittany Dupaquier, were recognized with their parents at the start of Thursday’s match.

Game one proved to be a challenge for both teams as neither was able to establish too big a lead in a game that was tied 12 times with the final stalemate coming at 20-20. The largest lead was four points, and it was only a one- or two-point difference for most of the game.

Barron tallied four kills in game one. FHS freshman Haley Bonneval downed a kill to tie game one, 20-20. Barron stepped in and served two straight points with Taylor Anderson knocking down a kill. Following an SSA time out, Barron ripped an ace for a 22-20 lead.

SSA’s Camille Walther regained serve for the Doves on a kill to cut the margin to one. FHS tallied on an unforced error to take a 23-21 advantage. Lady Dawgs’ sophomore Caitlyn Auxilien served out game one with Jessica Guttierrez delivering a key block, and Anderson spanked a kill to take game one, 25-21.

Game two featured seven ties with the last one coming at 21 all.

With SSA leading 8-5, the Doves’ Meghan Clark contributed three points for a six-point lead. Later, FHS’ Guttierrez came through in the clutch with four straight points to tie things at 13-13. Barron came up big at the net with three kills. Fontainebleau later regained serve, trailing 21-20. Shelby Sharfenstein, who was playing for Schneck, who was held out with an illness, came up strong with four consecutive points to give FHS a 24-21 advantage.

SSA got on the board with an unforced error to make it a two-point game, but Barron closed the door with an authoritative kill off an assist from McCrea Barney for the 25-22 win.

Game three, just like the first two, was close for most of the contest, which featured 10 ties.

SSA was down 16-14 when Walther ran off six straight points to put the Doves in the driver’s seat at 20-16. With FHS behind 22-18, Barney returned the favor by rattling off four consecutive points to force the final tie at 22-22.

Audrey Gitz delivered a kill for the Doves, and Analise Brown served a point for a two-point lead en route to the 25-23 victory for SSA to force game four.

SSA did its best to hang in during game four, and it was tied 9-9. FHS’ Guttierrez registered a kill followed by Sharfenstein’s three service points, including an ace. The Lady Dawgs took a 14-10 lead on a Barron kill. Guttierrez knocked two serves with Barron and Bonneval getting kills. Bonneval added a later kill to give FHS a 19-13 advantage setting up two serves by Barron to push to a 21-13 lead.

SSA’s Kristi Harrison came up with a couple kills along with one from Gitz, but it wasn’t enough as Barney put in a perfectly placed dink in the middle of the Doves’ defense to close out game four, 25-17.

FHS had a balanced attack. Besides Barron’s 23 kills, Anderson netted 10, followed by Bonneval with five. The Lady Dawgs had a nice passing match with Barney generating 23 assists and Michelle Cabeceiras 22. Auxilien collected 16 digs for FHS.

Guttierrez contributed 16 digs and four blocks, while Bonneval had two blocks.

Delahoussaye, the Doves’ senior libero, who is known for her diving hustle and acrobatic digs, recorded a match-high 24 digs.

Walther, a junior, also rose to the occasion, contributing 13 digs, 11 kills and four blocks. Gitz and Harrison finished with nine kills, while Christina Wurm had eight. Clark, the Doves junior setter netted 32 assists.

SSA coach Danny Davis said he was proud of his players’ effort.

“This was suppose to be a rebuilding year for us. I knew what we had at the beginning of the year, but I didn’t want to put a lot of pressure on them,” Davis said.