By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

LAPLACE – St. Charles volleyball started off a four game home stand on the right foot, despite missing starter Taylor Duhe, as the Lady Comets dispatched St. Thomas Aquinas for the second time this season to bring their record to 8-8. SCC will be playing host to Lutcher, Archbishop Hannan and John Curtis to round out their upcoming home schedule.

Against St. Thomas Aquinas Thursday, the Lady Comets took an early lead to start out as Gina Monica served SCC to a 7-0 lead that included three aces. Lauren Coniglio got St. Charles to a 10-4 lead with a kill and an ace before STA got their feet underneath them and rallied to a 21-19 deficit. But SCC forced a sideout and got the win after an Aquinas player made contact with the net on a tip-over.

In the second game the teams traded volleys throughout including a pair of kills by Brooke Becker to keep SCC a step ahead with a 12-11 score. She had another kill with a pair of blockers in her face that made it 19-21, but STA would go on to the 21-25 win.

So going into the third game tied with one apiece, St. Charles took an advantage when they went ahead 22-16. St. Thomas Aquinas managed to score six unanswered points to tie it up at 22-22, but a pair of offensive errors and a net serve set the stage for a 25-24

game point for the Lady Comets. Becker finished it off in SCC’s favor with a well-placed kill for a 26-24 win and a two-games-to-one lead.

In the final game, SCC had to earn the victory with a 25-22 final to sweep STA in the two meetings between the teams this season.

Monica led St. Charles in statistics with three aces, 13 digs and 25 assists. Coniglio led the squad in kills with 13.

The Lady Comets were also in a tournament last weekend in Morgan City where they took two wins over Vandebilt and St. Martinville, but fell in matches against Dutchtown and Morgan City.

Coniglio had 17 kills and four aces in the tournament while Monica had seven kills, 11 aces and 32 assists. Becker led in the defensive numbers with nine digs.

Following the tournament, SCC fit in a match with Hannan where the Lady Comets fell 24-26 in the first game, but steadied themselves to finish with consecutive wins by scores of 25-12, 25-15 and 25-18. In this one, Tregre recorded 14 kills while Coniglio had 13 to go with her three aces. Gina Monica helped on both sides with nine aces and 24 assists in addition to seven digs. Becker had ten digs and six aces.

SCC now has two games remaining on their schedule before starting district play against Curtis on Oct. 5.