St. Scholastica Academy’s Doves seemed poised to upset Mount Carmel Thursday night after taking game one 25-22 in the quarterfinals at the Pontchartrain Center, but weren’t able to withstand the Cubs’ comeback.

Mt. Carmel (38-5) turned the tables in the next three games winning 25-14, 25-18, 25-22 to advance against Fontainebleau in the semifinals.

SSA’s Camille Walther delivered 11 kills and two blocks, while Meghan Clark tallied 29 assists. Monique Giarrusso pulled up 13 digs and Christina Wurm contributed two blocks. Mt. Carmel’s Kaylynn Genemaras pounded 17 and delivered 19 assists in a strong outing. Ashley Lala netted 19 assists and Alex Pfefferle spakled with 29 digs and Taylor Vanderwerff came up big at the net for the Cubs with eight blocks. Angele Maumus served four aces.

SSA (25-16), a No. 10 seed, played solid in game one. Trailing 13-12, the Doves’ Meghan Clark tallied three points including an ace. The game was tied 12 times in all with final deadlock coming at 21-21. Walther served two points with Clark getting a dink and Wurm getting a kill.

Vanderwerff got a kill for the Cubs, but following an unforced error, Giarrusso downed an ace to close out game one.

Mt. Carmel controlled game two leading 14-10 when Maumus knocked down three straight aces en route to the game two victory 25-14.

Cubs’ strong serving in game three was the difference. Genemaras served five points and Ashley Nerin had four straight at one stretch to help secure game three 25-18. SSA’s Maggie Helm ran off three straight points with an ace for the Doves at one point and Giarrusso had three consecutive points to cut the Cubs lead to 16-15 before Mt. Carmel came back strong down the stretch to take game three 25-18.

Game four was tightly contested with 10 ties. Trailing 10-8, SSA’s Giarrusso polished off three points to tie give the Doves a 11-10 lead on a dink by Clark and two back to back kills by Kristi Harrison.

Later, Billie Delahoussaye hit for two points to tie things at 16-16.

Mt. Carmel trailed 20-19, but Nerin answered with a string of five straight points for a 24-20 lead. SSA’s Blakely Brennan came up with a block and Walther served a point before Mt. Carmel’s Vanderwerff blocked a Doves’ kill attempt to close out the game and match 25-22.

Clark, the Doves’ senior setter, said she and her teammates gave it their all every time they stepped on the court.

“I truly think that we gave it everything we had. Mt. Carmel was able to get the key points and they got the win,” Clark said. “Their hitters were just on. They were pounding the ball. You have to give them credit. We worked hard to get the balls up, but it just didn’t happen for us.”

Walther said the Doves’ passing broke down.

“Mt. Carmel came out hard and they played a really great game. We could never get the momentum back on our side after winning game one,” Walther said.

Walther said she was going to miss her teammates.

“It was a fun time and enjoyable. I was glad to be a mentor for anyone who looked up to me. I love my teammates,” Walther said.

SSA coach Danny Davis in his sixth-year with the Doves said he was very proud of his team’s performance.

“We went through a lot this season with the ups and downs. They fought and they peaked at the right time. We didn’t roll over against a very good Mt. Carmel team,” Davis said.

Davis said Mt. Carmel was able to disrupt the Doves’ offense.

“We couldn’t block balls to slow things down and it put a lot of pressure on our defense. We picked it up a little bit in the third game, but they just ran away with it. In the fourth game, we fought tooth and nail, but we just made some errors in the end to allow them to take the game and match,” Davis added.

“Our kids gave us an opportunity to be in the Pontchartrain Center and compete against Mt. Carmel and that is all you could ask for,” Davis said.

Davis thanked his six seniors, Gabby Braud, Clark, Giarrusso, Harrison, Helm and Walther for helping to lay the foundation for the underclassmen to be in a position to advance to the Pontchartrain Center.