MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / September 13, 1999

LUTCHER – The Lutcher Lady Bulldogs helped head coach Denise Riley celebrate her birthday with a 15-5, 15-4 sweep of East St. JohnWednesday afternoon in the Lutcher gym.

The Lady Bulldogs evened their record at 1-1 while East St. John fell to 0-3 on the season.

Breeze Vicknair led the Lady Bulldogs with five aces. Holly Hymel had ninekills while Candace Keller had seven digs.

Lutcher struggled early as the Lady Cats broke four serves to open the match before Toni Riley tied it at 1 with a kill. A kill by Vicknair and atwo East St. John errors made it 4-1.East St. John came back with Sandy Shields serving to make it 4-3 on twoLutcher errors. An ace by Lindsey E. Louque built the lead to 6-4 twoserves later. After an exchange of kills by Danielle Washington and Hymel,Tiffany Griffin tipped one over to make it 7-4.

The Lady Cat defense continued to keep the game close. But the LadyBulldogs began pulling away after Keondra Robertson got the serve back with a kill.

Robertson served three aces and had a kill of a free ball at the net to make it 13-4 before the Lady Cats called a timeout. Another ace after the breakbrought the Lady Bulldogs to game point.

Jennie Debowes served an ace to make it 14-5 but after Robertson got the serve back with a cross-court kill, Riley dropped an ace over the net for the game winner.

Lutcher jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second game on kills by Riley and Robertson and an ace by Vicknair. East St. John pulled to within 4-3 onthree Lutcher errors with Takiyah Joseph serving before the Lady Bulldogs regrouped after a kill down the line by Hymel.

Louque had a downball fall in and Griffin delivered consecutive aces to make it 7-3. Vicknair then bounced a spike off the top of the net that fellin to make it a five-pint game.

After an exchange of service breaks, Hymel tipped a shot over and Keller served two aces to build the lead to 12-3. Another ace and a Lady Caterror brought the Lady Bulldogs to within match point. East St. John brokeconsecutive serves before Vicknair served another ace for the match winner.

“The serves were there,” Denise Riley, whom the players sang “Happy Birthday” to after the game, said. “We had problems finishing gamesbefore. We talked about it and we didn’t let up this time. I was veryimpressed with East St. John. They have picked it up a lot. Their defensewas pretty good.”East St. John coach Sandy Stein said defense was one of the things that isbeing stressed for a team that consists mainly of freshmen and sophomores and is bringing back only three players from its playoff team of last year.

“One of our goals is that no ball will hit the floor before our bodies,” Stein said. “We have to be faster than the other team and be able toanticipate. We should not let a ball drop on our side.”We’re very young and we’re going to take our lumps but we have to learn to win and that means working harder than our opponents.”

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