The Woodlawn High volleyball team learned its next opponent Monday as the LHSAA released its playoff brackets.
Coach Maria Gonzalez and the Panthers (23-13) earned the No. 24 seed in the Division-I tournament and will travel Wednesday to No. 9 Archbishop Chapelle (21-15) for a first-round matchup at 5:30 p.m. at the Metairie school.
“They’re good,” Gonzalez said. “Everybody’s going to have to be on. Nobody can have a bad game if we want to compete with them. That’s the bottom line. We can compete with them. But everybody’s got to be on. So hopefully that happens.”
Woodlawn and Chapelle haven’t played in at least a decade, but the Chipmunks participated in the Panthers’ early-season tournament Labor Day weekend.
“We didn’t play them, but they were here,” Gonzalez said. “So I got to watch them play, and I have film on them. They’re just a good, fundamental New Orleans all-girls school team. So we can’t make mistakes.”
Chapelle finished fourth in a loaded District 7-I that features four of the top 13 seeds in the division along with No. 1 Dominican, No. 2 Mount Carmel and No. 13 Chalmette.
Woodlawn finished third in a District 4-I led by No. 6 St. Joseph’s Academy and No. 11 Central (Baton Rouge).
The Panthers’ 23-13 record marked the program’s best record in more than a decade.
“I wanted to get to 20 wins,” Gonzalez said. “That was our first goal, and we did and exceeded that and got three more wins. We should’ve one a little more, but that’s part of it. But we usually lose in the first round, so our second goal is to get past the first round. So hopefully we can do that.”
The winner will advance to face the winner between No. 8 Natchitoches Central and No. 25 H.L. Bourgeois.
