By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LUTCHER — Seven River Parishes volleyball teams were in action on Wednesday night at Lutcher’s volleyball jamboree, including all four St. John Parish squads.

Riverside and East St. John paced local squads, each going a perfect 3-0 at the event.

Each contest consisted of a single game to 25.

The Rebels started their night off with a clash with rival St. Charles in the teams’ first meeting since the Rebels’ bi-district playoff victory at SCC last season.

Shea LaFountain scored four kills and three aces and Toni Hebert had 10 assists to lead the Rebels to a 25-11 victory over their district foe.

Riverside scored seven of the last eight points, finally clinching on a Comet return error.

“I was pleased. We ran our offense well and were able to work in some different sets. Our serving game was good, we only had one into the net.”

Taylor Terrio had eight assists. Shelby Deslatte added nine digs.

“We were able to control things pretty well. We ran our plays and did a nice job passing, and now we just have to keep doing the same things going forward,” said Deslatte.

Nicole Doming and Cori Millet each had two kills to lead St. Charles. Chelsea Loupe added an ace.

“We started off slow, and sometimes it takes a little time to get rolling. I think after a couple of weeks, we’ll look like a whole different team,” said SCC coach Kelly Cupit.

Riverside went on to score a win over a strong East Ascension team, 25-19, and finished with a 25-19 win over St. James, another district opponent.

After East St. John built a big lead in its game with St. James, SJH made a push and cut into ESJ’s lead. But ESJ regrouped and pushed a 17-15 lead to a 24-16 advantage and held on for a 25-19 win.

Kills by Deznee Wilson and Taja McGee helped ESJ close St. James out.

“Hitting’s been our strongest point so far,” said ESJ coach Monica Hebert. “We’re just working on our defense right now.”

Said Wilson: “We’ve been putting in the work at some long practices. We deserved that win. At the end, we just came together.”

Chental Noble had three blocks. McGee logged two kills and Jessica Sanford had two assists.

ESJ went on to defeat Hahnville, 27-25, and West St. John, 25-16.

But a short-handed West St. John team would not come away winless. Despite a number of varsity starters missing in action, the Rams notched a come-from-behind victory over St. James, 25-21.

After St. James’ Reneasha Binning’s scored to make it 16-11, the Rams scored six of the next seven points to tie the game. Chasity Everson scored on a hit, logged an ace, and Jennika Jones scored on another hit to help make the push.

The Wildcats pushed back to take a 20-17 lead, but West St. John went on scoring runs of four and five points to end the game, including a clinching ace from Danae Lumar.

“We didn’t have our whole group together. We had some varsity, some JV, some freshman. But we have a pretty good group,” said Everson. “We worked together and came out with the win. It’s a rivalry, so we were real happy to get this one.”

Said coach Brandon Dumas: “We definitely have an eye on some of these JV players that can help on the varsity. We came out with some butterflies, but once they saw we could compete, we played like we were capable.”