St. Charles’ Brooke Becker smiled, calling it a huge, pivotal moment. And while she spoke in terms of one game, that statement may well hold true for an entire seasonwhen the Comets look back at 2008 .
Because when St. Charles finished its 26-24 come from behind victory in the third game of its district match at Lutcher Thursday, the Comets took a 2-1 lead on their archrivals and the wind out of the Bulldogs’ sails. They rode a wave of momentum to a victory in four games, 15-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-20 – and they may ride that same wave all the way to a second straight District 6-III championship.
 St. Charles’ Meg Gustafson (above, 11) attempts a kill as Lutcher’s Maci Matherne (9) looks to block. Gustafson and the Comets would leave Lutcher with a win Thursday, and move to 5-0 in District 6-III. (Photo by Ryan Arena) |
St. Charles (9-8, 5-0) has district home matches remaining with Plaquemine and Brusly and a road game at Port Allen. The Comets have defeated each team in three games through the first round of district play.
The win means St. Charles has now swept Lutcher, after beating the Bulldogs in three games on Sept. 30.
Courtney Western tallied 37 assists and four aces for the Comets. Jaymie Remondet had 15 digs.
After Lutcher (19-7, 2-2) won the first game 25-15, the second and third games were nip and tuck, each team having a chance to close out a win.
But on both occasions, the Comets made the necessary plays, a fact not lost on SCC Coach Brandy Ryan.
“I just told the team to finish the game,” she said. “And we finally did that. We finished in the most important game for us to finish, and we did it as a team. That’s what I’m most proud of.”
Michelle Duhe’s kill ended the first game, netting Lutcher a 1-0 lead in the match. But St. Charles regrouped, and scored seven of the first ten points in game two behind strong hitting at the net by Becker and Taylor Duhe.
“We didn’t start well at all in the second game,” said Lutcher Coach Ricky LeBlanc. “We had some early serving errors, some mental mistakes. We lost the momentum after that.”
But while the Bulldogs couldn’t seem to catch St. Charles, they wouldn’t go away, hanging within four points or less for most of the game. After Taylor Duhe notched a kill for the Comets to make it 19-16, Lutcher made its move. The Bulldogs scored the next four points and tied the game at 19 after a SCC return error.
With the score tied at 21, Lutcher sent a serve too long and did the same on a return. Western served an ace to make it 24-21. Maci Matherne laid down a kill, and then cut the lead to one with a block at the net. But Lauren Bourgeois’s attempted cross-court kill went out of bounds, and St. Charles held on for the win.
But like the Comets in the second game, Lutcher started off hot in the third game. The Bulldogs were out to an 11-4 lead.
But the Comets chipped away, and found themselves down 16-12. This time, the Comets came up with perhaps their most important scoring surge of the season to date. Lutcher had another serving error, and St. Charles took the next point to make it 16-14.
From there, Meg Gustafson and Taylor Duhe recorded four of the Comets’ next six points on kills and powered an 8-0 SCC run that ended with St. Charles ahead 20-17.
The Comets were ahead 23-19 when Lutcher looked as if they may take the game back. Michelle Duhe, Bourgeois, and Matherne each made scoring plays for the Bulldogs as LHS took a 24-23 lead.
But after a long volley, the Comets denied Lutcher’s attempt to put things away when Taylor Duhe stuck a kill past Lutcher’s blocking. Matherne then tipped a ball out of bounds, and the Comets clinched after Lutcher couldn’t return a Taylor Duhe serve.
St. Charles never trailed after another hot start in the fourth game, but Lutcher kept the pressure on. SCC led 24-19 when the Comets saved what looked to be a surefire ace by Lutcher’s Hannah Naquin. Becker put the win away with a kill that fell to the floor off of a Bulldogs’ defender.
“Courtney set me up, and I tried to cut the ball and hit it into their block so it would bounce off – and it did,” said Becker.
Said LeBlanc: “We fought back, and had our chances in the second and third game. Credit St. Charles, they played awfully well.”
St. Charles defeated host Plaquemine in a district game on Tuesday, 25-5, 25-8, 25-13.
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