Northlake Christian School’s Lady Wolverines earned themselves an opportunity to defend their state title Friday by defeating Metairie Park Country Day, 25-22, 25-22, 25-12, in the semifinal round of the Division V state volleyball tournament at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner.

NCS (29-12) took on Episcopal School of Acadiana yesterday in the championship game. Look for game coverage in Wednesday’s edition of the St. Tammany News.

Junior Monica Raymond, who finished with 18 kills and two aces in the semifinal match, talked about getting back to the finals.

Brittany Scearce (13) attempts to get a kill past a pair of Metairie Park Country Day players during Friday'€™s semifinal match at the Pontchartrain Center. (Staff Photo by Chris Kinkaid)

“It was definitely our goal the whole season, and we worked really hard,” Raymond said.

She added the Lady Wolverines came out with a lot of intensity.

Country Day concluded the year at 35-8.

The first game went back-and-forth. Like all of the Lady Wolverines’ matches this year in the Pontchartrain Center, Lady Wolverines’ coach Michelle Anderson let senior Mallory Horridge take NCS’ first serve and play one person short for the point. Horridge tore her ACL during the finals of the St. Tammany Parish Tournament.

With the NCS student section chanting her name, Horridge put the ball over the net, and NCS won the point on a Country Day kill attempt that went out of bounds.

Horridge, who said she found out this would happen about week ago, talked about Friday’s experience.

“It’s pretty cool,” Horridge said. “It’s kind of a bummer that I can’t actually serve and then go in, but it’s an awesome opportunity for me to just serve, knowing I can’t play. And for the other team to actually let me serve, I think that’s pretty cool.”

Anderson talked about the decision.

“Mallory just brought that edge to us last year that put us over the top to get us to the championship and win it,” she said. “That’s kind of what this team’s missing without her being around and playing. As a team, we decided the least we could do for what she’s given to us, is to let her participate in the game.”

NCS began the opening game with a 2-0 advantage, but the Lady Cajuns fought back and knotted things at 8-8, then went ahead 9-8.

NCS then tallied four in a row to go up 12-9. The Lady Cajuns responded with three points in a row to tie it at 12-12.

Then the Lady Wolverines went on a 4-0 run, making it 16-12. The Lady Cajuns battled back and got it to 18-17, but no closer. NCS led 24-20, and Country Day held off game point twice, but it wasn’t enough in a 25-22 win.

The second game was another seesaw contest. One of the bigger momentum swings came with the Lady Cajuns holding a 12-9 lead. NCS’ Brittany Scearce, who posted 22 kills and two aces, came up with a dink followed by a pair of kills to knot the game at 12-12.

Country Day responded by getting the next three points, but Northlake Christian worked itself back into the match and caught the Lady Cajuns at 16-16.

NCS had trouble taking the lead. But finally, the Lady Wolverines did cross that hurdle and took an 18-17 advantage, prompting the Lady Cajuns to call timeout.

It didn’t help as Raymond finished a long rally with a dink and then a short one with a kill to make it 20-17. The Lady Cajuns took another timeout but only got the lead down to 22-20. NCS won the game, 25-22.

The third game belonged to Northlake Christian. With NCS leading 5-4, the Lady Wolverines made a push, going on a 7-0 run and taking a commanding 12-4 advantage.

Eventually NCS led 20-9, and later, 24-10. The Lady Cajuns made Northlake wait a couple points before celebrating their visit back to the finals, but NCS took the final contest, 25-12.

NCS’ Hannah Miranda tallied 43 assists and Hannah Miller pulled up 18 digs.

Katherine Broussard led Country Day with 13 digs and 13 kills. Becca Lapeyre finished with 16 assists.