By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — St. Charles Catholic split a pair of District 4-IV contests this week as it enters the final stretch of regular season play.
Alyssa Arceneaux served 13 aces and made 11 digs to lead the Comets past St. James in three at home Tuesday, 25-7, 25-5 and 25-11, netting SCC a season sweep of the Wildcats.
Brooke Tregre had 13 assists. Maddie Murphy, Anglie Matar and Kaitlyn Lowry each made three kills.
Wednesday saw the Comets go on the road and fall for the second time this season to Haynes, the Yellow Jackets coming up with a 25-7, 25-15 and 25-20 victory.
Allison Savoie made five kills. Maddie Murphy added eight assists. Victoria Mohon and Savoie each served two aces. Arceneaux had 13 digs to lead defensively.
The Comets (8-20, 2-4) faced Northlake Christian in non-district action Thursday, falling in three games, 25-5, 25-16 and 25-20.
Brooke Tregre had five assists. Lexi Tran and Murphy each made two kills. Savoie had nine digs and Brittany Tregre served three aces.
St. Charles will make the playoffs this season, but its play down the stretch will be important in determining how high the Comets will be seeded.
SCC coach Kristin Sullivan said the team’s play has been “too up and down,” with inconsistency and injuries leading to much lineup shuffling over recent games.
“We’ll start off slow and then pick it up, but you dig a hole you often can’t get out of,” said Sullivan. “We won’t know which version of which player is going to show up on a game-to-game basis. We’ll have a group out there that plays well in a 25-20 type of game, then it’ll be 25-7 the next time out with the same group.”
Sullivan attributed that to youth, but also said that she wants to see increased intensity over the final two weeks of the season.
St. Charles will host St. Catherine of Drexel Tuesday and then rival Riverside Thursday, the latter a district contest.
“We have to see more of it (intensity),” said Sullivan.
“The first match with Riverside wasn’t our best day, but I think we’ll be better this time around.”