Photograph: Westminister Christian Academy girls Volleyball team celebrating 100th win. (Photograph by Bobby Ardoin)
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
It took not much more than a minute to celebrate a program milestone.
Then it was back to business for the Westminster Christian Academy volleyball team.
The focus all year for WCA volleyball has been has been reaching the Division V championship round and with four steps remaining in that process, the Crusaders apparently aren’t letting up.
It took merely an hour to defeat first-round opponent First Baptist Christian School Tuesday night and after acknowledging a 100-victory string dating back four years, the Crusaders detached from that moment and readjusted their thoughts to obtaining a title.
“We have five seniors on this team and our goal is to bring back a championship. It’s been our goal all season and we are getting help from the underclassmen doing that,” said WCA outside hitter Abigail Cunningham, who has set a school record for her number of kills.
Cunningham, who has previously made a verbal commitment to play volleyball at UL-Lafayette, said she and the four other seniors have been getting help from players like Bethany Stoute and Anna Ware.
“We’ve needed them to help us through this season and they have stepped up and provided a lot of what we have accomplished,” said Cunningham.
The second-seeded Crusaders are 32-7 and scheduled Thursday night to meet No. 15 Covenant Christian, which took five sets to beat 16-th-seeeded Catholic High-Pointe Coupee on Tuesday night.
Cunningham said it’s been easier to focus on handling the playoffs this year. Cunningham and seniors Ada Horton, Aahiyah Arvie, Carlie Horton and Caroline Lalonde are hoping to meet top-seeded Metairie Park Country Day for the Division V title at the end of next week.
Head coach Keith Leon said his players have operated with more confidence all year.
“They have worked hard and they have been efficient at keeping everything at a level plateau. We’ve been able to do a lot of things with our lineup. We’re not just a power hitting team although Abigail and Carlie have nearly 900 kills,” Leon said.
WCA captured the first set against No. 31 FBCS (25-14).
The Eagles kept within six points of taking the lead several times, but the Crusaders won seven of the last eight points as Carlie Horton delivered three kills , Stoute contributed a block and a kill while Ware and Cunningham successfully served down the stretch.
“Throughout the whole match, we were concentrating on working on some things that we hadn’t shown earlier this season. I thought we accomplished what we wanted,” said Leon.
The Crusaders captured the final two sets of the match 25-6 and 25-4.
In the second set Carlie Horton provided an ace and served seven straight points, as Ware and Cunningham provided most of the power hitting. The Crusaders captured 12 points during a run which helped WCA establish a 19-4 lead.
Cunningham served three aces in the final set. Earlier in the same set, Carlie Horton and Ada Horton served the Crusaders to an 11-1 advantage.
