LHSAA volleyball: Catholic school dominance halted

by Ron Brocato

By Ron Brocato, Sports
Clarion Herald

If my memory serves me correctly, the last time a Jefferson Parish public school won a state volleyball championship was in 1982, when Bonnabel capped a 41-0 season by defeating parish neighbor Riverdale in two sets.

Haynes Academy ended that long drought on Nov. 16  by ending the reign of defending champion Archbishop Hannan, 3-2, for the Division III crown in Lafayette.

Another long dry spell came to an end when Slidell High defeated Dominican in four sets, ending an 11-year state title streak by local Catholic schools.

Coached by former Pope John Paul II coach Danny Tulis, Slidell proved why it was the No. 1 seed in Division I  by outlasting four-time champ Dominican.

Prior to Dominican’s streak, Mount Carmel had won seven consecutive Division I titles. Slidell last reigned in 1997.

Dominican and Hannan were considered the creme de la creme of the area Catholic schools, having swept their divisions in recent years.

But the archdiocese, as usual, helped fill playoff brackets in four of the state’s five divisions.

After splitting two matches, Dominican ended Mount Carmel’s hopes by eliminating the  Cubs in the Division I semifinal round, 3-0. Archbishop Chapelle also lost to Dominican in the quarterfinal round.

Three more local Catholic teams made it to the quarterfinals: Academy of Our Lady and St. Scholastica in Division II and Academy of the Sacred Heart in Division IV.

Of the 12 schools from the Archdiocese of New Orleans to qualify for the post-season, Pope John Paul II, St. Charles Catholic, Ursuline, Cabrini and De La Salle were eliminated in preliminary rounds.

In defeating Hannan, Haynes wrote an important chapter in its history.

Before the school took over the former Grace King campus at the start of the 2023-24 school year, Haynes was located in Metairie Ridge on a site where it had sat since it opened in 1909.

Named Metairie High in 1929 when it was one of six Jefferson Parish schools that housed grades 1-12, it became the dominant school among parish sports programs because it was the only school of the six classified as 1A by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association. The other small parish schools – Jefferson and Kenner on the East Bank and Westwego, Marrero and Gretna on the West Bank – were classified as B.

Metairie was the most successful of the six in what was known as the Riverside League because of its larger enrollment. But Kenner became the only one to win a state football championship in 1952.

Three years later, the parish opened East and West Jefferson and relegated the six to lower-school status.

Metairie Middle School was renamed for former principal Vernon Haynes and became a magnet school for advanced studies.

Today, it has the additional distinction of being a state champion in volleyball.
It’s interesting to note that in 1982 when Bonnabel was the state power, the only local Catholic school competing for an LHSAA volleyball title was Academy of the Sacred Heart.

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