By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

EDGARD — It didn’t take long for West St. John to show how far they’ve come on the volleyball court this season.

West St. John finished the 2010 season with two victories, a number the 2011 version of the Lady Rams can already boast after notching two victories in the opening week of the season.

West St. John coach Brandon Dumas expressed optimism before the season that his team could take big strides this season, after what he felt was a summer of very quality work. The victories, he said, made that kind of optimism tangible to his players.

“The girls recognize it and they’re all very excited,” he said. “We’re ready to try to improve this year. But as I’ve told them, just as it was after a good jamboree, don’t get complacent. We’re showing progress, but we have to keep working and looking at the bigger picture if we’re going to keep our goals within our reach.”

The Rams opened their season Tuesday with a come from behind road victory at Capitol in five games, 21-25, 23-25, 25-9, 25-22 and 15-9.

Breion Sorapuru led the way with six kills, five digs and two aces for WSJ (1-0).

Dumas said that after the second game, he huddled with his players and looked to settle them down.

“We came out sluggish and (Capitol) took advantage. We weren’t getting it to our setter (Tre’Shaun Trench) and that threw us off of our game. But in the third game, we started to do that, and our offense got going.

“We knew we were better than we were playing to begin the match. I’m not happy with the way we won, but I am proud of the girls to come out and win the last three games. That’s not an easy thing to do.”

On Thursday, West St. John captured their home opener in four games, felling Helen Cox 25-22, 21-25, 25-22 and 25-18.

Taj Howard had 10 digs, three blocks and two kills for WSJ (2-0). Teammate Deja Feist added three blocks and two kills as well.

Dumas said that court awareness and a more potent offensive attack have been the areas where he’s seen the biggest leap out of his players.

“Last year there was a lot of, three hits, bump it back over,” he said. “We’re setting it up for the spike now. Every play, we’re in attack mode. And that’s a big difference, once that we’re already seeing pay off.”

West St. John returns to action next week with a pair of home matches against Ascension Christian Tuesday and South Plaquemines Thursday. Both matches will begin at 4:30 with the junior varsity in action, the varsity following after the conclusion.