By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

St. Charles saved perhaps its most dominating performance of the season for just the right occasion.

The Comets hosted Baker in a bi-district playoff match Saturday, and racked up points at a blistering pace. When the smoke cleared, No. 10 seed St. Charles was on its way to the Pontchartrain Center after eliminating No. 23 Baker in three games, 25-16, 25-4, and 25-13.

St. Charles will face No. 7 Cecilia at 1:30 at the Pontchartrain Center’s state tournament Wednesday.

“It feels awesome,” said Comets’ senior Katie Tregre. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. We’ve been on a roller coaster all season, and we’re finally starting to come together as one.”

Lauren Coniglio had eight aces for St. Charles. Meg Gustafson added seven kills and three blocks. Courtney Western notched 10 assists and nine digs.

St. Charles wasted no time in the first game establishing a lead, scoring the first six points of the game.

Baker rallied back to cut the lead to two, 15-13. But The Comets scored eight of the next 10 points to take a 22-15 lead. A Gustafson kill on a block made it 23-15, and St. Charles would score the final two points to finish the game, the last on a Baker return that sailed out of bounds.

St. Charles started the second game much like the first – by scoring seven of the first eight points, the last two of which on aces by Tregre. This time. There would be no Baker push. After baker scored two to make it 7-3, a Brooke Becker kill vaulted SCC on a 13-0 run that made it 20-3. The Comets coasted to a 25-4 win, and a two games to none advantage.

Baker was the team to get out to a fast start in the third game, scoring the first three points, capped by a Kiara Robinson kill. But St. Charles scored the next five to take an advantage that it never relinquished. Leading 21-13 late in the game, a kill by Becker and two Coniglio aces highlighted the last four points, and put a bow on the 25-13 victory for SCC, as well as the match.

“We accomplished another one of our goals,” said St. Charles Coach Brandy Ryan. “As a whole, the team really played well. We’ve been stressing to ‘Beat as one heart’ as a team, and we did that today.”