By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

RESERVE – East St. John played host Tuesday to East Jefferson where the LadyCat squad looked to take their first victory of the season after an opening 25-22 win. The ESJ squad put the pressure on in each of the next three games, but would fall short in each one as East Jeff took three in a row by scores of 28-26, 25-18 and 25-22.

The ESJ loss avenged last year’s meeting between the two teams where the LadyCats went on to reach the quarterfinals in the playoffs. But on Tuesday, it was East Jefferson who advanced with a win.

It looked good early for the ESJ squad as they pounced in the opener. But tight games in the second, third and fourth sets all ended up in favor of East Jefferson. The second match was a squeaker as ESJ had scored one win and nearly had a second when they got it to within two scores of a game point. But an ESJ attack error put the Lady Warriors ahead and a second hit sneak put the ball right in the middle of several LadyCat defenders to wrap it up 28-26.

After that, it was hard for LadyCats to get back on track and they stumbled into their fifth loss of the season to make them 0-5.

Darielle Sanders led the ESJ squad with nine kills while Brielle Williams had seven more and Ashley Givens posted five.