By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

The West St. John Rams are raising their game as district play begins.

The Rams garnered two district victories this week after defeating East Iberville in three games, on Monday 25-18, 25-4, and 25-8, and White Castle in four on Wednesday, 25-22, 25-22, 20-25, 25-22.

&#8220This is very important for us,” said West St. John Coach Glenda Rush on the team’s fast start. &#8220White Castle always gives us difficulty. The girls played very hard.”

The victory at White Castle saw Destani Comminie lead the Rams in kills with five and added three digs. Tranell Mitchell led the way in blocks with three, and added six digs.

Kyla Morris led the team with eight digs. Alisha Batiste also had three digs. Shaontrea Antonio and Batiste had three aces each.

White Castle has a size advantage on most teams, but West St. John (4-5, 2-0) was able to negate that by attacking weaknesses in the opposing defense.

&#8220We focused on that in practice,” Rush said. &#8220They have some tall girls there. We had to attack them where they were weak.”

White Castle tried to focus particularly on Mitchell and Comminie, who had to adjust.

&#8220Teams know they are our impact players, and they tried to double block whenever they went up for a kill,” Rush said. &#8220We told them to go over the blocks. They were able to.”

In the East Iberville game, Mitchell led the way in kills with six. Morris had six digs and eight aces to lead the team in each category. Antonio had four aces and Comminie had three kills and three digs.

In this game, Rush attributed the win to the team’s consistency overall, with strong serves and opportune spikes.

Moving forward, Rush wants more of the same from her Rams.

&#8220I’m looking for us to play just as well as we did against White Castle,” Rush said. &#8220I want to see the same determination, the same team unity and strength.”