Northlake Christian School’s Lady Wolverines advanced to the state finals for the third-consecutive year with a hard-fought 25-19, 23-25, 25-14, 25-22 victory over the John Curtis Lady Patriots Friday at the Pontchartrain Center.

NCS’ Hannah Miranda, who posted 32 assists, 21 digs, 15 kills and three blocks, said they knew Curtis would be tough.

“That’s actually what we said before the game, like regardless if we win or lose this is probably going to be one of the toughest matches we’ll face,” Miranda said. “We came out here with a good plan.”

Northlake Christian School’s Monica Raymond (2) and Hannah Miranda (7) celebrate following their team’s semifinal victory over John Curtis Friday at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner. The Lady Wolverines played Louise McGehee yesterday in the finals. See Wednesday’s edition of St. Tammany News for finals results. (Staff Photo by Chris Kinkaid)

She added they had to shut down Curtis’ Ashley Henderson, who finished with 21 kills and three aces. Miranda said they used something they learned from the quarterfinals.

“Yesterday (Thursday), we played really tense and we learned we can’t win anything (playing like that). We came out here really relaxed and on fire ready to win. We want to three-peat really bad and we weren’t going to lay down and die for it,” Miranda said.

The Lady Wolverines played against Louise McGehee for the Class IV title yesterday.

Look for finals coverage in Wednesday’s edition of the St. Tammany News.

John Curtis, who won its district, finishes at 20-17.

Early on, the first game was close. The Lady Wolverines began to take control. Leading 11-10, Miranda put down a kill, which started a 9-2 run, giving NCS a 20-12 lead. Molly Boyer, who totaled two blocks, capped the spurt with a kill.

The Lady Patriots got to within five at 24-19, but the Lady Wolverines took a one-game lead with a 25-19 victory.

The second game was a contest of runs.

John Curtis took an 8-3 advantage, but the resilient Lady Wolverines battled back to tie things at 10-10 as Miranda had two-straight aces to end the run.

Curtis tallied three in a row, but NCS got eight straight. Mary Wilson had three consecutive aces during the spurt, and finished with five for the match. She also had 20 assists.

The Lady Wolverines grabbed a 22-17 lead, but the Lady Patriots came back to tie the game at 22-22 and got a 23-22 advantage before evening the match at one-game each with a 25-22 win.

In the third game, the Lady Wolverines jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Curtis got back in it with two straight.

Northlake Christian logged seven of the next nine points to go up 11-4.

The Lady Patriots fought back and made a game of it and trailing 14-10 as Henderson had a dink and kill to trim NCS’ lead to four.

But Northlake Christian would not be denied. They scored six in a row, capped by Miranda’s dink, upping the cushion to 20-10.

There was no letdown by the Lady Wolverines, who cruised to the 25-14 win.

The fourth game was a tough battle.

Northlake Christian got out to a 9-5 lead and the finals appeared in sight, but Curtis answered with a 3-0 run to make it 9-8.

NCS continued to keep the pressure on Curtis and never relinquished the advantage.

They had a 22-17 lead, forcing the Lady Patriots to call timeout.

Following the break, Curtis scored three straight to make it 22-20, but Monica Raymond’s kill put the momentum back on NCS’ side. The Lady Wolverines never looked back and earned a trip to the finals with a 25-22 victory.

Raymond logged 21 digs and 17 kills.