LAPLACE — There’s always a lot of emotions when Riverside Academy and St. Charles Catholic play against each other in any sport.

Thursday’s District 6-IV volleyball match was no exception.

It was the first meeting of the season between the St. John the Baptist Parish rivals — the Lady Rebels, who have been riding an unprecedented wave of success, and the Lady Comets, who have struggled to find their identity.

Add in pink jerseys for breast cancer awareness, a full house of fans and a pre-game ceremony to honor local survivors, and Thursday’s meeting had all the makings for a classic.

But this seems to just be Riverside’s year.

The Lady Rebels were denied a sweep of St. Charles, but still powered through a 3-1 victory to remain atop the district standings and improve to 28-3 on the year.

St. Charles Catholic is 11-16 and 1-4 in district play.

Riverside jumped to quick leads in the first two games and never let the Lady Comets get close on the way to wins of 25-20 and 25-15.

Then the Comets found some fire.

In the third game, St. Charles Catholic took the early lead and held off the Rebels. The Comets held the lead throughout the game, never even letting Riverside pull even as they won 25-15.

The Rebels returned to form in the fourth game, however, jumping to a 5-0 lead and never letting up on the way to a 25-14 win.

“It still counts as a win,” said Riverside Academy coach Margot Frederick. “Our record is still the same, our amount of wins is still the same. I think we just lost our composure for that one game.”

A lot of the Rebels’ success this season has come from power hitters Sydney Joseph and Briley Becker, who were on point Thursday.

Joseph led Riverside with 24 kills and four blocks.

Becker finished with 12 kills and 15 digs. Setter Abby Bourgeois had 37 assists, 12 digs and four aces. Libero Maddie Duhon served four aces and had 10 digs.

St. Charles was led by Grace Mohon with six kills, Robbie Duhe finished with five. St. Pierre had 13 assists and three aces.  Caroline Julian had 24 digs.

Riverside’s players acknowledged the high emotions in Thursday’s match. Prior to the fourth and deciding game, Duhon gathered her teammates, urged them to close their eyes and visualize the win.

“It’s just one of the motivation things we’ve learned,” Duhon said. “I think we just lost our focus (in the third game).”

Becker said the strong play of Joseph raises the level of the entire team.

“It helps us to know we have a stud like that on our team,” she said.

Comets coach Meg Ericksen was pleased to see her team fight back during the fourth game.

Throughout that game, Jade Brady, Pilar Zeringue and Julian played stellar defense and seemed able to handle nearly everything the Rebels threw their way.

“We had some good points,” Ericksen said, bemoaning the lack of energy in her players. “We were just coming off of exams. That’s not an excuse, but I just didn’t see  lot of energy”