By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — Riverside secured a second-straight district championship Thursday at St. Charles Catholic, sweeping the Comets 25-10, 25-21 and 25-6 in the final District 4-IV match this season for the Rebels.
Riverside splits the 4-IV crown with John Curtis, whom the Rebels swept in three games last week.
Kendra Turner slammed 16 kills and made three blocks to help lead the way against St. Charles in a match that represented the Rebels’ ninth win in the last 10 games. That run began after a loss to John Curtis on Oct. 1; since then, Riverside has played dominant volleyball, losing only to Chapelle in that span.
“We didn’t play with the same kind of intensity (in the Curtis loss),” said Turner. “We came out to fix that. It’s better now. We’re making a point of it in practice that nobody can stop us if we’re playing together.”
The Rebels (31-10) capped the win over the Comets in the same fashion it did a week ago against John Curtis, with a dominating final game. Riverside allowed just six points in the third game on Thursday, and just eight against the Patriots.
“I’ve told them that there’s a lot of people who believe we can start a game but not finish,” said Lucas-Nicholas. “You’ve gotta be able to close it out. If you want to be a top-ranked team, you’ve gotta win the whole game and play like a top-team is expected to throughout.”
Dani Hebert had 35 assists for Riverside. Hailee Eldridge had 12 kills. Maya Bolden had six kills and Hailey Tassin had five. Briley Becker had four aces and three kills. Jordan Duhon served three aces.
For St. Charles, Brooke Tregre made five assists. Allison Savoie had four aces and six digs. Alyssa Arceneaux also had six digs.
Riverside led 1-0 in the match after controlling the first game throughout, but the Comets gave the Rebels a run for their money in the second.
After a back-and-forth battle early, a Turner kill got Riverside rolling. An ace by Cameron Hymel made it 15-11. Kills by Eldridge and Tassin extended Riverside’s lead to 19-12 and capped a 6-1 run.
St. Charles stormed back with a run of its on, a 6-0 burst fueled by Allison Savoie’s four consecutive aces. A Anglie Matar block cut Riverside’s lead to 19-18.
“We fought. In that second game we showed up,” said St. Charles coach Kristin Sullivan. “They made some mistakes to help us out a bit.”
Eldridge broke up the win with a kill, followed by another by Tassin. Another Eldridge kill made it 23-20, and a Turner spike made it 24-21. A Comets return out of bounds clinched things for Riverside.
In the third game, Riverside jumped out to a 9-1 lead and never looked back. Turner made kills on three of her team’s final six kills.
“We made too many errors in the second game,” said Turner. “We knew we needed to do a better job to finish it.”
The Rebels clinched game one by finishing on an 8-0 run, after the Comets’ Erin Tuircuit made a kill to make it 17-10.
“It’s tough competition. Specifically Kendra, we just don’t have an answer for her,” said Sullivan.
Said Lucas-Nicholas, “We’ve been playing well. Running the offense and playing defensively. We’ve got underclassmen stepping up big. My eighth and ninth graders have been stepping in and giving us a boost.”
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REBELS TOP O.P. WALKER, ST. JAMES – Riverside defeated O. Perry Walker Wednesday in three games, 25-7, 25-10 and 25-17.
Turner had nine kills, two blocks and five digs. Toni Hebert had 15 assists, three digs and an ace. Dani Hebert made 13 assists and served five aces and Jordan Duhon made 10 digs and served five aces.
The Rebels defeated St. James in district action Tuesday, winning 25-5, 25-8 and 25-8.
Turner had 10 kills, two blocks and eight aces. Toni Hebert had seven assists and four aces. Duhon had five digs and 10 aces. Tyjah Greenup had seven aces.