MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / November 16, 1998

KENNER – For the second straight season, Newman eliminated St. CharlesCatholic from the state volleyball tournament in the semifinals with a 15-6, 15-3 victory Friday morning in the Pontchartrain Center.

Newman (26-6), which has won three straight state titles in Division IV, advanced to play St. Martin’s in the state championship game today at 1:30p.m. St. Charles Catholic, the District 5-IV champions, finished its seasonat 29-8.

St. Charles Catholic came out fired up in the first game, jumping out to a4-2 lead on a spike by Nicole Scontrino, an ace by Marci Martin, a block by Shannon Dolive and a Newman error.

Julie Wood broke the next two Lady Comet serves with kills, allowing Newman to tie the score on two errors. One serve later, a cross court killby Meagan LeBlanc gave the Greenie Gators the lead for good. LeBlancfollowed with another kill, Meg Henican came back with still another and Jessica Rice delivered an ace to make it 8-4.

A block by Nicole Rome brought the Lady Comets to within 9-5, but Newman used three errors to build its lead up to 12-6. Henican followedwith a kill and a block to bring Newman to game point which it got when a lift was called on St. Charles Catholic.Newman’s momentum continued into the second game. The Greenie Gatorsscored five straight points with Ashley Thompson serving on a dunk by Wood, an ace by Thompson and three Lady Comet errors to take a 6-0 lead.

St. Charles Catholic would pull to within 7-3 on a dink by Sarah Weber, anace by Dolive and a lift on Newman. But Newman answered on its nextserving, using four Lady Comet errors to extend its advantage to 11-3. Aserve later, an ace by Jessica Rice and a kill by Henican brought Newman to match point which it got on a net violation by the Lady Comets.

Newman was led by Wood with 11 kills and five digs. Henican added twoblocks while Rice contributed three aces and Thompson 21 assists.

Martin led the Lady Comet offense with an ace and five assists. Dolive hadtwo blocks while Scontrino contributed two kills. Cristin Clement addedfour digs.

“We came out really fired up and scored a couple of points,” St. CharlesCatholic coach Michelle Dearmitt said. “But they made a few points and wegot our guard down and didn’t maintain our intensity like we should have.”But Dearmitt said it was still a successful season with the Lady Comets winning their second straight district title and advancing to the semifinals for the second straight season.

“I knew when we first started it would be a long road,” Dearmitt said. “Irealized how big the shoes the girls had to step into and they stepped up and filled them. They accepted their roles and accepted the challenge. Theystepped up to the challenge, accepted it and exceeded it. Coming back tothe semifinals says a lot for these girls.”St. Charles Catholic advanced to the semifinals with a 15-13, 15-3 winover St. Thomas Aquinas in the quarterfinals Thursday and a 15-7, 15-9victory over Sacred Heart (Grand Coteau) Wednesday in bi-district.

Against St. Thomas Aquinas, the Lady Comets rallied from deficits of 9-5and 10-7 to take the first game. St. Charles Catholic used that momentumin the second game to jump out to an 11-0 lead and never looked back.

Martin had three aces and 18 assists to lead the offense while Dolive contributed two blocks and five kills. Scontrino also had five blocks whileClement added eight digs.

St. Charles Catholic opened up the tournament by jumping out to a 9-0 leadin the first game against Sacred Heart and holding off a late rally. Thesame was true for the second game as the Lady Comets scored six straight points to open the game and holding on at the end.

Martin had three aces and 15 assists while Clement added six digs. Dolivecontributed two blocks and 11 kills.

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