By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

EDGARD — West St. John senior setter Brittany August looks up at the banners hanging in the West St. John gym, ones honoring district and state champions of years past across all Ram athletics. “The seniors on this team are determined,” she said. “We want to put another (banner) up there.” 

August and her teammates won their eighth match of the season at home Thursday, and did it convincingly. WSJ bested Family Christian in three games, winning 25-11, 25-22 and 25-10. 

“We’re going into district with a lot of momentum,” West St. John coach Glenda Mattos said. “We made some little mistakes here and there today but for the most part we kept our focus. My girls understand it’s a fight every time out.” 

The Rams (8-2) took early control of the first game, with a pair of kills by Dmyriah Herbert and an ace by Amaya Lumar, pushing them ahead 9-6. A kill by Treasure Anthony tied things up at 10 for Family Christian, but Maya Trench stepped up to the serving line after WSJ’s next point and the Rams went on a 9-0 run that made it 19-10. Treshaun Trench served aces on two of the Rams’ final three points as they clinched a 25-11 win. 

The second game was much tighter, as the Flames attempted to swing the match momentum back in their direction. The Rams led 13-6 early, but a flurry of Family Christian points, highlighted by two kills by Anthony pushed the Flames ahead by one, 16-15. 

“That kind of run would have gotten us down on ourselves before,” said August. “Our confidence is a lot further along now. We fight through that stuff.” 

The Rams indeed regrouped, scoring four straight capped with a Herbert kill to make it 20-16. Taylor Robinson made consecutive kills for the Flames to cut it to a two-point lead, but Maya Trench and Herbert nailed down kills to secure the advantage for good. 

“Coach (Brandon) Dumas made a good call there,” Mattos said. “He made the suggestion to flip Kaieonne and Dmyriah for that last run. It crossed (Family Christian up a little bit and gave us some breathing room.” 

West St. John wasted little time putting things away in the third game. Two straight aces by August and a kill by Sydnie Harrison helped push the Rams out to a quick lead, and things snowballed from there: after Family Christian scored the game’s first two points, the Rams rattled off 13 straight. Family Christian never recovered. Harrison sealed the game with a kill, one of her four in the match. 

“She’s become very consistent for us,” said Mattos. “She attended a camp at LSU awhile back and it helped her tremendously in terms of technique and skill. She’s been very good for us.” 

Tre’Shaun Trench had seven digs. Sorapuru had 10 kills and three digs. Dmyriah Herbert and Maya Trench each had six kills, while Harrison had four. August served two aces. 

 

RAMS BEST ST. JAMES IN THREE — West St. John took a 25-15, 25-17, 25-7 victory at St. James Wednesday. Tre’Shaun Trench had six digs and four aces, while Alante Gauthier had four digs. Sorapuru had five kills and six aces. August served five aces, while Amaya Lumar served three and added four kills.