By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

NEW ORLEANS — St. Charles Catholic won a tough matchup against Walker Tuesday, but couldn’t overcome a tough Lusher team on the road Wednesday as the Comets fell 25-10, 25-19 and 25-19. 

“We did a good job today,” Lusher coach Kiersten Thompson said. “Hassani Salaam really gave us some strong play today. She’s been strong for us all year. We made some serving errors and unforced mistakes, and I felt like we were losing a little momentum at times (in the third game) but when we were on, we were definitely on.”

Grace Mohon had four kills and seven assists for the Comets. Maddie Murphy had two kills and two assists and Kaitlyn Lowry had two kills.

For Lusher (9-4), Salaam led the way with 11 kills and seven blocks.

Madeleine Ruiz took over early for the Lions to set the tone of the third and final game. She served two aces and made a kill for a personal run of three points in one stretch, putting Lusher ahead of St. Charles 11-7.

SCC (5-5) fought back to tie the game at 12, but a 4-0 Lusher run capped by a Salaam kill made it a 16-12 lead. Lexi Tran served an ace to cut it to 16-14. Lusher scored the next three points, with a Ruiz kill making it 19-14. SCC did not draw closer than four from there. Ruiz took over down the stretch, making two kills and serving an ace to generate three of the Lions’ final four points. 

“Our girls just seemed defeated today,” St. Charles coach Meghan Ericksen said. “We didn’t play like we have all season long.”

Ericksen said mental errors were to blame for a lot of the struggle.

“We can’t keep making the same mistakes over and over,” she said. “I let them know after the game we’d better be ready to play next time out, because we can certainly play at a higher level than we did here.”

St. Charles returns to action today at the St. Thomas Aquinas tournament in Hammond. On Tuesday, SCC will travel to Haynes for its District 4-IV opener (4:30 p.m. JV with varsity to follow). Then Thursday, the Comets will host John Curtis in more district action (4:30 JV, varsity to follow). 

 

 

SCC DEF. WALKER IN FIVE — The Comets won an extremely tight match at home Monday over Walker, winning in five games, 25-23, 26-24, 23-25, 24-26 and 17-15.

Maddie Murphy had 12 kills and nine assists. Mohon had four kills and 22 assists. Lowry made 12 kills and had three blocks. Alyssa Arceneaux had 14 digs and three kills while Lela Hill made five kills and two blocks.

Ericksen said the match provided a big confidence lift and exciting viewing for fans.

“Our players played together as one,” she said. “They really played their hearts out and pushed through when we needed it.”