Sam Houston and Westlake battled through tough regional-round matches over the weekend to clinch spots in this week’s Louisiana High School Athletic Association state volleyball tournament at the Cajundome in Lafayette.

The tournament starts on Thursday and runs through Saturday.

Both teams will play at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals. Westlake (22-11) will face No. 1 Archbishop Hannan (30-6), while Sam Houston (38-6) plays No. 7 Kenner Discovery Health Science (28-7).

Westlake

Westlake, the ninth-ranked team in Division III, will play at the state tournament for the first time since 2019 after pulling off a five-set upset at No. 8 Iota in the regional round, winning 25-17, 22-25, 25-20, 23-25, 15-12 on Friday.

“It is not easy playing away, so that’s a big deal,” said Westlake head coach Gloria Fontenot. “And it was tough playing there. The gym, it’s smaller and it was super loud, and you’re on the road. So I was proud of them for pulling that out.”

Westlake was led by Maddy Guillory (55 assists, 14 digs), Gabby Guillory (25 kills, 22 digs) and Zalee Prater (11 kills, 10 digs).

“The kids did well,” Fontenot said. “We had an opportunity to put the game away, I think in the fourth set.

“We were up and we just didn’t finish it. But you could see in that fifth set when they went on the floor they were very composed. You could tell that we had experience out there, and the kids showed up and they finished. You could just tell the experience was there that we needed, and they were confident.”

Sam Houston

On Saturday, senior middle hitter set a school single-match record for kills as Division II No. 2 Sam Houston beat No. 15 Assumption 28-26, 24-26, 25-22, 25-12 to advance to the state tournament for a third consecutive season.

“I’m so excited, and I’m so happy for this group of kids because they played this hard schedule as far as the sheer amount of games,” Sam Houston head coach Rene Fontenot said. “But I’ve had to try to keep them from talking about next week and not looking past today, a good thing.

“Now they can. Now we can talk about (this) week. I’m very, very excited for this group of kids.”

Henry had a triple-double with 32 kills, 13 blocks and 11 digs. Outside hitter Aubrey Portie added 19 kills, six blocks and four aces. Setter Bailey Foolkes had 46 assists, 12 digs and 5 blocks and Salem Arceneaux had 42 digs.

“We’ve never had anybody that hit that, so that’s a school record,” Fontenot said. “She did so well.

“We’ve demanded a lot of her this year. So her playing six rotations, she’s just always going instead of just rolling out and going back in fresh on the front row. She has adjusted very well to that. So I’m super proud of how she has evolved as a volleyball player.”

Sam Houston lost the second set despite a five-point lead, but corrected its mistakes to build a seven-point cushion in the third set a seven-point lead in the third set and never trailed in the fourth set.

State Tournament

Louisiana High School Athletic Association state volleyball tournament.

Cajundome

Lafayette

Quarterfinals

Thursday

Division I

No. 1 Slidell vs. No. 9 Southside, 12:40 p.m., Court 2

No. 4 Hahnville vs. No. 12 Northshore, 8 p.m., Court 2

No. 3 Mount Carmel vs. No. 6 Dutchtown, 8 p.m., Court 3

No. 2 Dominican vs. No. 10 Archbishop Chapelle, 8 p.m., Court 3

Division II

No. 1 St. Thomas More vs. No. 9 St. Scholastica, 6:10 p.m., Court 1

No. 4 Lakeshore vs. No. 5 Academy of Our Lady, 2:30 p.m., Court 3

No. 3 Ben Franklin vs. No. 6 Teurlings Catholic, 6:10 p.m., Court 3

No. 2 Sam Houston vs. No. 7 Kenner Discovery Health Science, 2:30 p.m., Court 1

Division III

No. 1 Archbishop Hannan vs. No. 9 Westlake, 2:30 p.m., Court 2

No. 4 St. Michael the Archangel vs. No. 5 Parkview Baptist, 4:20 p.m., Court 3

No. 3 Vandebilt Catholic vs. No. 6 E.D. White, 10:50 a.m., Court 1

No. 2 Haynes Academy vs. No. 7 University Lab, 12:40 p.m., Court 1

Division IV

No. 1 John Curtis Christian vs. No. 8 Dunham, 9 a.m., Court 1

No. 4 Isidore Newman vs. No. 5 Calvary Baptist, 9 a.m., Court 1

No. 3 Northlake Christian vs. No. 6 Catholic-New Iberia, 4:20 p.m., Court 2

No. 2 Lafayette Christian vs. No. 7 Academy of Sacred Heart-New Orleans, 10:50 a.m., Court 2

Division V

No. 1 Metairie Park Country Day vs. No. 9 Episcopal of Acadiana, 4:20 p.m., Court 1

No. 4 Crescent City vs. No. 5 Louise McGehee, 12:40 p.m., Court 3

No. 3 Ascension Catholic vs. No. 6 Riverside Academy, 9 a.m., Court 2

No. 2 Westminster Christian vs. No. 7 Central Catholic, 10:50 a.m., Court 3

Semifinals

Friday

Division I — 3:30 p.m., Court 1

Division I — 3:30 p.m., Court 3

Division II — 1:40 p.m., Court 1

Division II — 1:40 p.m., Court 3

Division III — 11:50 a.m., Court 1

Division III — 11:50 a.m., Court 3

Division IV — 10 a.m., Court 1

Division IV — 10 a.m., Court 3

Division V — 11:50 a.m., Court 2

Division V — 10 a.m., Court 2

Finals

Saturday

Division V — 9 a.m.

Division IV — 11:30 a.m.

Division III — 2 p.m.

Division II — 4:30 p.m.

Division I — 7 p.m.