By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

The third time was the charm for St. Charles.

After falling twice in matches to Destrehan this season, the Comets came up big on Tuesday to sweep the Wildcats, 26-24, 25-21, 25-20 in a non-district game in LaPlace.

“We were excited to play at home,” said Comets senior Kadie Levatino. “We’ve had our ups and downs, but we stayed strong and came together. This boosts our confidence level.”

St. Charles kept the momentum going on Thursday, toppling Destrehan’s division rival East St. John for the second time this year, posting a decision of 25-12, 25-21, 25-18.

SCC coach Kelly Cupit says that it was especially important to start building momentum, with tough games with Lutcher and Vandebilt Catholic on the horizon next week.

“We’ve got a big week ahead,” said Cupit. “Coming off of a big win (against Destrehan), it was important to keep it going today.”

SCC (6-8) rallied from an early deficit to close the gap on Destrehan (10-3) in the first game. With DHS leading 23-19, SCC scored six of the next seven points to take the lead in the match.

From there, the Comets were able to win two competitive games to earn a sweep.

Levatino racked up 30 digs to lead the Comets. Jaymie Remondet had 10 kills. Remondet and Meg Gustafson each had eight blocks.

Robin Sill led the way for Destrehan with 13 kills. Alexis Keller led the Wildcats in assists with 25. Nicole Haydel made 25 digs.

“It was what we needed,” said Cupit. “I think the girls are settling into their roles. And we were able to make adjustments (from the previous two matches against DHS).”

Cupit said that the match showed the characteristics that she’d like to see her squad display consistently.

“I’m very proud of them,” Cupit said. “I wish we’d play like that all the time.”

Against East St. John, fast starts were the story for SCC.

The Comets got out to quick leads in all three games, including a 13-0 lead in the clinching game.

Courtney Western led the Comets in kills with six and assists with seven. Levatino had five digs. Western and Rachael McNulty each had two aces and Gustafson had one block.

A pair of McNulty kills powered a 6-0 SCC run that brought a two point Comet lead to nine, 16-7. SCC would coast from there, a pair of Gustafson spikes finishing the game with a 13-point margin of victory.

The Wildcats took an early lead 5-3 in the second game after a Deznee Wilson spike and a return error. SCC would score the next six points to pull ahead. A scoring hit by ESJ’s Laquana Gardner pulled her team within three, 12-9. But SCC’s Emily Picciola responded with a scoring hit of her own, and the Comets surged from there to a 22-14 lead.

The Wildcats clawed their way back to make it interesting late though. After exchanging scores, ESJ went on a 6-0 run capped by a Dynekia Sanders ace and a Terynek Grover kill. All of a sudden, SCC led only 23-21. But a Levatino kill and an over the net violation on ESJ gave SCC the win.

The third match saw Western step to the serving line, and she wouldn’t leave until the Comets were comfortably ahead, 13-0. ESJ never fully recovered, and despite another late-match push, fell 25-18.

“We showed moments of heart,” said ESJ coach Vivian Aubert. “The girls worked hard in spurts. But it’s a matter of playing the whole game, not just deciding to play late.”

She said that while she saw some individual improvement in some players, she’d have liked to see a better effort in comparison to the Wildcats’ early season loss to St. Charles.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” said Aubert.

“The girls need to learn to trust each other and communicate. We don’t have the chemistry we need to have yet.”

It was the second loss of the week for ESJ, which fell to O. Perry Walker in Reserve on Tuesday, 25-8, 25-10, 25-10.

Individual statistics for ESJ were not available at presstime.