By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

RESERVE – With a back-to-back wins this week, East St. John’s LadyCat volleyball squad found some real consistency for the first time this year since losing several returning starters early in the season for disciplinary reasons.

But the squad may finally have gotten their feet underneath them with the clutch victories, which marked a positive swing for ESJ and evened them in league play after winning only one match before district play opened.

Hosting the Destrehan Lady Wildcats Wednesday afternoon in Reserve, the ESJ LadyCats proved to have the bigger teeth, taking a district win in three straight matches. That, combined with a three-set win over John Ehret yesterday gave ESJ a 4-4 in district record.

In Wednesday’s game, ESJ set the tone early with a quick lead in the opening game. With Emily Hertz of the home squad serving for eight of the game’s first nine points, ESJ took a commanding lead. Eshonte Huntley spurred her team during this run with a kill and a pair of blocks before getting a 10-4 lead.

Trenise Evans added back-to-back kills a few serves later to bring it to 13-6 before Destrehan made a run of nine unanswered points to pull nearly even. But #6 got back to the server’s box and rattled off seven straight points and #4 scored on a tip-over late in the game to help secure the 25-18 final.

Game two began much the same as ESJ jumped out to an 8-2 lead with a pair of blocks and an ace from Mariah Wilder. The DHS squad managed to force enough sideouts to keep things honest, but home team LadyCats got the win by a 25-15 final.

In the final game, Darielle Sanders helped get her team complete the sweep with well-placed shots for several of her team-high eight kills. Destrehan put up a fight, forcing the East St. John team to earn it on defensive effort, which was led on the night by Joleitha Byer’s 18 digs.

In Thursday’s game against Ehret, East St. John made quick work of the Lady Patriots with a clean sweep by scores of 25-10, 25-7 and 25-22.

Sanders led the charge on offense in this one, recording 14 kills. Hertz kept that offense steady with 14 assists.