The Mandeville Lady Skippers opened their season Wednesday hosting the defending Division I state champion St. Joseph’s Academy Redstickers (43-3), which defeated the Fontainebleau Lady Bulldogs in last season’s finals.

St. Joseph’s swept the Lady Skippers, 25-22, 25-17, 25-21 behind the hitting of senior Cori Martone who polished off 15 kills. Martone, who is a verbal commitment to Tulane, also delivered seven digs, six blocks and an assist in the Redstickers victory.

Martone said she was very proud her team was able to pull out the victory in the end.

Mandeville's Nichole Freeman (27) goes up for a kill attempt against the tandem block of Sabrina Stansberry (20) and Caroline May (11) of St. Joseph's Academy during Tuesday’s match played at MHS. (Staff Photo by Mike Pervel)

“We have a lot of things to work on. I’m ready to step up to get a kill when my team needs me. I enjoy being a leader on the court,” Martone said.

“The first game was a little shaky, but I’m glad we all got it together to pull out the win,” Martone added.

Martone said Mandeville has a lot of potential and is looking forward to seeing them later on in the playoffs.

Game one was the most competitive of the match with neither team on their “A” game. Game one was tied seven times with the final deadlock coming at 22-22, MHS held an early 9-3 advantage.

St. Joe’s Lindsey Fourroux put down a dink and then served three straight points to cut the margin to 9-7. Fourroux netted 13 assists with two kills and two digs.

St. Joseph’s Caroline May, who finished with 10 kills, 8 digs, 2 blocks and 2 aces, served three consecutive points to tie things at 11.

With Mandeville trailing 17-15, freshman Jess Himel ran off three straight points to give the Lady Skippers a point lead. St. Joe’s tied the game at 19-19 on a net serve and Fourroux followed with three points. After the game was tied at 22, St. Joseph’s netted the next three points to secure the victory on an ace by May.

St. Joseph’s head coach Sivi Miller said her team came out slow in the first match regular season match of the year.

“We got a win out of this one, but we surely didn’t come with our ‘A’ game. We played with a lot of errors. We had a number of unforced errors,” Miller said.

Miller said the hitting of Martone and May helped make the difference.

“We have an experienced group of eight seniors. They love the game, but for whatever reason we committed a lot of errors on our end. I thought Mandeville played an excellent match. They picked up a lot defensively and they have a big front row,” Miller added.

“It was a good match to start the season, but unfortunately we played a ‘C’ or ‘D’ game. I give a lot of credit to Mandeville. Katie Lindelow is a very good, strong hitter, and I was impressed with them defensively. They picked up a lot of attacks that came their way. It was a good way for us to start the season going against a very good program,” Miller said.

In game two, St. Joseph’s jumped out to a 4-0 lead with Ashley Legendre recording three service points. Legendre finished with 16 assists, eight digs, three kills and two digs.

After Mandeville fell behind 6-2, Himel ran off four straight to tie it at 6-6.

St. Joseph’s regained some momentum building a 12-9 lead at which point May reeled off four consecutive serves for a seven-point margin en-route to a 25-17 victory in game two.

As in game two, St. Joe’s jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in game three with Sabrina Stansberry registering four straight points.

Trailing 7-5, MHS sophomore Katie Lindelow tallied a point on a kill by Nichole Freeman, who finished with a team-high eight kills. Freeman also contributed six assists and one block.

Holding an 11-9 advantage, St. Joseph’s Kristen Armstrong tallied three straight points to put the Redsticker up 15-9.

Mandeville senior Kelsey Sparks rejected a kill attempt for a block. Sparks than came through serving five consecutive points to make it a 16-15, but that is as close as the Lady Skippers would come. St, Joseph’s regained its focus and took game three 25-21.

Lindelow contributed seven kills and topped the Lady Skippers with eight digs, while Hannah Campbell registered seven digs. Himel finished with seven digs and six assists.

MHS coach Christy Sanantonio said she likes opening the season against really tough competition.

“St. Joe’s is a solid team all around and have had a strong team for a number of years. I feel our girls felt they could have played better. St. Joe’s is solid on the front row with Cori Martone, who is a dynamic hitter. She kept throwing off our defense,” Sanantonio said.

She said her club had a nice run during game one, but both teams made too many unforced errors.

“I want to build on the good things that we did. You have to build on the positives and try not to dwell on the negatives,” Sanantonio added.