By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE—It took West St. John about a half of a game to get warmed up on Thursday. But once the Rams did, it was smooth sailing.
The Lady Rams captured a 25-17, 25-13, 25-7 win at home over South Plaquemines that pushed coach Glenda Rush’s young team to a 3-1 mark this season.
After largely trading scores through the first 25 combined points of the opening game, West St. John made adjustments and dominated the rest of the day, taking sizeable leads early in both the second and third games.
“Coach Rush told us to take notice of the way they were defending us and where they were leaving themselves weak,” said West St. John’s Kaieonne Sorapuru. “Down the middle and off to the sides. We did more tipping than spiking and were able to find the open areas.”
The Rams have no seniors this season, so the fast start is pleasing to Rush, who said that her team is gelling together early.
After a season opening loss at home to East St. John, the Rams have won three straight, besting Capitol and Drexel Prep in earlier  matches.
West St. John led 4-0 early in the first game after two aces by Brittney August. The Hurricanes fought back to take an 8-7 lead, tying and going ahead on consecutive aces by Peyton Parker. Both teams struggled with serving consistency early.
“Coach reminded us that we have four seconds before we’ve got to serve, so we should take our time and just get it over,” said Sorapuru.
Said Rush, “We were losing a lot on serving errors. I just asked them to get it over and that everything would take care of itself.”
The Rams led 13-12 when they started to roll. Alante Gauthier served an ace, then Sorapuru made a kill to make it 16-12. Sydnie Harrison scored on a hit, then Sydnei Young brought home consecutive points on a down ball and a kill. Sorapuru added another kill to make it 20-13. Two Young aces set up game point, where the Rams clinched on a Hurricanes’ return error.
Mychelle Lumar started the next game with a block to give West St. John the initial lead. Dmyriah Herbert made a kill to help launch a 7-0 run that put WSJ ahead 11-3 early. A Parker kill stopped the run, but four Sorapuru aces in a row made it 16-4 and all but put the Hurricanes away.
The Rams controlled the third game from start to finish. Three early Young aces and three Tre’shaun Trench aces mid-game helped fuel runs that gave West St. John all the breathing room it needed.
“For this team, we just need to settle down early,” said Rush. “We come out with nerves or without the kind of confidence we need to have sometimes. That comes with youth. But today, we did that early. Just get the ball to Brittany, she’ll set up our big girls and they’ll put it down.”
Rush said that August has come a long way as the team’s setter even just four games in.
“Dmyriah had two spikes today that probably wouldn’t have happened earlier this season, because Brittany wasn’t sure how to set her up. Now she’s doing a wonderful job.’
“This team has been working extremely hard since June 3 when we started this up. They’ve been dedicated to the conditioning drills. Some of our parents took it upon themselves to send their girls to individual camps, and that’s helped a lot, too. I’m very happy with the start we’ve had.”