Mt. Carmel Academy swept the St. Scholastica Academy Doves, 25-5, 25-21, 25-17, in Thursday’s quarterfinal match of the Division 1 state volleyball playoffs at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner.

Mt. Carmel (31-4) played Fontainebleau in the semifinals Friday. SSA ended the year with a 31-11 record.

SSA had a young team and loses just three seniors. Coach Danny Davis said it was a good year.

SSA'€™s Kristi Harrison (12) pounds the ball for a kill attempt against Mt. Carmel'€™s Taylor Vanderwerff (24) and Emily Wells (11) during Thursday'€™s Division I quarterfinal match at the Pontchartrain Center. (Staff Photo by Mike Pervel)

“It was a successful year considering this was supposed to be our rebuilding year,” Davis said. “Our youth stepped up the majority of the time to give us 31 wins and 11 losses. We’re looking forward to next season to see what we can put on the court next year.”

Thursday’s first game was controlled by the Cubs, who scored the match’s first four points.

The teams split the next four points and it was 6-2, but the Cubs went on an 8-1 run to up the lead to 14-3. The Doves’ point during the spurt came on a kill by Camille Walther, who tallied five on the day.

From there the Cubs cruised to the 25-5 victory, but the next two games were a lot more competitive.

SSA got down 4-1 in the second game but came back to tie it at 5-5.

The teams exchanged points until the Cubs tallied two in a row with the game tied 8-8, but the Doves came back with two consecutive points to tie the game, 10-10.

After a Mt. Carmel point St. Scholastica scored two in a row and held a 12-11 lead, but the Cubs went on a 7-0 run to take control of the contest with an 18-12 advantage.

SSA was able to trim the lead to 21-18. Mt. Carmel got three of the next four points to make it 24-19. The Doves held off game point twice, but Mt. Carmel’s Victoria Boraski put her team up by two games with a kill in a 25-21 win.

The third game was nearly a carbon copy of game two.

Mt. Carmel got out to a 4-1 lead, but SSA came back with five in a row and went ahead 6-4. The Cubs rallied back with four straight and led 8-6, but Walther ended the run with a kill.

Mt. Carmel upped the advantage to 9-7, but Sarah Bagley’s kill pulled her team to within one and SSA caught the Cubs at 10-10. Boraski’s kill put Mt. Carmel up 11-10, then Blakely Brennan re-tied the contest at 11-11 with a kill.

But in nearly the same spot as game two, Mt. Carmel went on a run, this time 4-0 and led 15-11.

St. Scholastica never gave up and fought back to make it 15-13, but Mt. Carmel continued to distance itself from the Doves with three more in a row, upping the score to 18-13.

From there the Cubs went on to the 25-17 victory.

Despite the loss, SSA senior Sam Delahoussaye, who pulled up 14 digs and served two aces in her final high school match, said it was good to get a win in the Pontchartrain Center.

“It was really great to get past first round because we didn’t get past first round last year,” Delahoussaye said. “I’m not upset. It feels great that we at least beat Terrebonne (in the regionals).”

Meghan Clark dished out 17 assists for the Doves.

Mt. Carmel’s Paige Gantar finished with 12 kills.

Taylor Vanderweff posted eight blocks, while Brittany Fields handed out 17 assists. Emily Pepperman tallied 31 digs.

“SSA’s a tough team,” Cubs’ coach April Hagdone said. “We’ve seen them twice this year (Mt. Carmel won both). We knew they were going to be tough coming in. They were coming in as underdogs, I guess. I knew they were going to come out with their guns.”

Hagdone added that she was happy with the quick start.

“We really controlled the first game, and we really took them out in the first game. I was really please that we didn’t make many errors. The second game, they changed odds and they got their game together,” Hagdone said.