By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

West St. John may have missed out on a trip to the state tournament a year ago, but the 2008 Rams look like a team determined to find itself in the Pontchartrain Center in mid-November.

The Rams won three straight matches this past week, including two over district foes, to remain undefeated in District 3-V play.

West St. John toppled Reserve Christian in Edgard last Saturday, 25-16, 25-14, 25-11 in a non-district match. Then the Rams defeated host White Castle on Tuesday in a hard-fought five games, 18-25, 26-24, 10-25, 25-22, 15-8. It capped off its week with a sweep of East Iberville at home Thursday, 25-9, 25-12, 25-13.

 The Rams (6-3, 3-0) looked to be in trouble after falling behind two games to one in the match at White Castle, especially considering the Bulldogs dominated the third game, 25-10.

But the Rams’ Talor Lewis wasn’t about to quit. Neither would the rest of her team.

“She held the team together the entire night,” said West St. John Coach Glenda Rush. “After the third game, she didn’t let anybody get down. I guess you could say she was the ‘Fighting Ram’ out there.”

Rush said that her players read the court well, and took advantage of what the Bulldog defense gave them.

“We preyed on the middle all night,” said Rush. “Kyla (Morris) had a few spikes set up, but instead, she dinked it. We scored a lot on tips and dinks. The girls executed very well.”

Morris led the Rams with seven kills, six blocks, and nine digs. Lewis had five digs. Malana Farnell and Kori Hebert each had four digs.

Against East Iberville, the Rams didn’t have to rally at all. Lewis had 20 digs and five aces to lead West St. John to a decisive win in three.

Farnell had 15 digs. Morris had four kills, five aces, and 12 digs. Shanea Julien had four aces.

Angela Brown led White Castle with seven kills. Shelby Martin had six aces.

“The girls played well. East Iberville’s got almost an entirely new team out there from last season,” said Rush. We served well. Everything ran real smoothly.”

In similar fashion, West St. John won in three last Saturday when it toppled Reserve.

Farnell had nine digs and three aces. Ambria Davis had 14 digs and six kills. Morris added 10 digs and seven blocks.

For Reserve (3-8), Laci Felder had six kills, while Courtney Randle had five. Tiffani Serven added six assists and Amanda Watson had two aces.

“It was a pretty good match. Reserve’s very structured,” said Rush. “Our serves were good, we executed well. And we always enjoy our games against Reserve Christian.”

Reserve Coach Michelle McGee said she felt like her team was missing its energy in the loss.

“I don’t feel like we went 100-percent,” she said. “West St. John played well. But we really hurt ourselves with silly mistakes. The girls didn’t look alert.”