By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

St. Martin’s spoiled the West St. John’s volleyball season debut Thursday, successfully defending its home court on with a 25-11, 23-25, 25-18, 25-20 victory over the Rams.

First year Rams coach Valerie Gauthier said that the Saints exposed some flaws in the Ram defense, which is still in early season form – but that all issues are highly correctable.

“They killed us playing line to line,” Gauthier said. “St. Martin’s has one really exceptional hitter, and she gave us some trouble. It showed me that we need to work on our court coverage. If we’d have done a better job in that area, we would have won.”

Brittany Tuco led the Rams (0-1) in digs with 12. She and Ormoni Favorite each tallied two aces. Kyla Morris led the way defensively at the net with five blocks, while adding two kills on the offensive side.

Gauthier said that she felt her Rams were a bit jittery in the first game, largely due to the match representing the Rams first official action of the season.

“They were a little nervous,” Gauthier said. “It took a while to push through that.”

But that’s just what WSJ did in the second game, rallying to tie the match at a game apiece via a 25-23 edge.

“That tells me this team is willing to fight,” Gauthier said. “When they see what they want, they get after it. That first game didn’t discourage them from anything.”

St. Martin’s finished West St. John over the next two games. At the same time, Gauthier said the performance against a quality opponent gave her team something to build on.

“I can tell the girls were beginning to feed off of one another as play went on,” said Gauthier, who sees the Rams entire starting lineup return from a season ago. They know one another’s weaknesses and strengths, and they look to compliment one another. I know things will only get better from here.”