St. Scholastica Academy’s Doves, the No. 9 seed, is hosting district rival Slidell Lady Tigers, No. 24 seed, this afternoon at 4:30 in the bi-district round of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association volleyball playoffs.

SSA (28-10), the third place team in District 5-I finished with a 10-4 district mark. Slidell (15-12) came in fourth in district play with a 7-6 record. The Doves defeated the Lady Tigers in both district meetings.

Junior Camille Walther is the Doves’ kill leader with 124 and is tops in blocks with 29 in district play. Walther also collected 71 digs, second best on the team. Junior Christina Wurm tallied 105 kills for the Doves followed by junior Kristi Harrison with 93. Senior libero Sam Delahoussaye, the Doves’ defensive spark plug, pulled up 201 digs averaging nearly 15 digs per district match. She also topped SSA with 38 aces. Junior Meghan Clark netted 390 assists with 47 digs and 19 aces.

SSA coach Danny Davis makes a point with his Doves'€™ players during the final district match against Fontainebleau. The Doves host the Slidell Lady Tigers this afternoon at 4:30 in the bi-district round of the playoffs. (File Photo by Mike Pervel)

SSA coach Danny Davis said Clark has really come on, and is doing a good job of moving the ball around.

“She is distributing the ball, and not relying on just one or two hitters to carry the team. A lot of the credit needs to be given to our back row players Sam (Delahoussaye) and our passes who have been able to make the passes to allow her to open up kill opportunities,” Davis added.

Davis said his club has performed well throughout the season. It was expected to be a rebuilding year after the Doves graduated their top kill specialists from last year winning the district title with a 14-0 record.

“I’m extremely proud of the team’s effort this season,” Davis said. “I knew in the back of my mind at the beginning of the year that this team had an opportunity to be really good by the end of the season. I felt good about the team being successful,” Davis added.

Davis said his team has to show up prepared to play.

“Slidell took a game from us in our last district match with them. They are a team that we can’t overlook. It’s the playoffs, and anything can happen.”

Slidell coach Nancy Plaisance said her team has to be on its best game going against a solid SSA club.

“They’re a real good team defensively and they’ve improved,” Plaisance said. “The Delahoussaye girl is incredible. They also improved offensively since the beginning of the season, especially at the net,” Plaisance adde.

“I’d like to also think we’ve improved in our passing. We need to perform all of our skills correctly. If we put it all together, we could be a good team.”

Slidell’s attack is led by senior Kaitlyn Crippin who averaged 10 kills, 10 assists and two aces per district match. Junior Hannah Gambrell

Hannah Gambrell: overall averages: seven kills and two blocks delivered an average of six kills and two blocks in district play. Six-foot four-inch freshman Quinci Hayward averaged six kills and two blocks during district action.