By GEORGE MAHL

LUTCHER – The Lutcher High School Lady Bulldogs team evened its record at 10-10 and 1-1 in district with a recent 15-11, 16-14 victory over St. James High School in Lutcher. Cary Roussel led the Lady Bulldogs’ attack with seven kills.

“They (St. James) are a very athletic team with good players. We just had a lot of momentum on our side,” said Lady Bulldogs head coach Rickey Leblanc.

Trailing 14-13 in the second game, Lutcher reeled off three consecutive points to win 16-14. Thanks to an ace from Brandi Keller and two kills from Roussel, the Lady Bulldogs were able to get the sweep.

“Overall our serving has been very consistent. I think it was about 92 percent today,” Leblanc commented.

The first game saw the St. James Lady Wildcats jump out and take a quick 2-0 lead thanks to aces from server Lenaire Barnes. Both teams traded points back and forth for several minutes until Barnes hit the ball right in between several Lady Bulldogs to pull St. James within a point, 10-9.

A 5-2 run was enough for the Lady Bulldogs to earn a victory in the first game. Thanks in large part to the serving of Roussel and Lauri Martin.

“We played good tonight, but we can play better. We did better against Lutcher than we did against St. Charles Catholic,” said Lady Wildcats coach Joe Gauthreaux.

The second game saw Lutcher jump out to a quick 6-1 lead thanks to excellent net play by their front court players. Ciji Leblanc, Lyndi Martin, and Ryshelle Lemar each had kills in the early part of the contest.

However, the Lady Wildcats went on a 4-0 run to cut the lead to 6-5.

Roussel’s kill, however, broke the serve and momentum of St. James.

Late in game, with Lutcher leading 12-10, St. James got back to back aces from server Lyndi Martin to tie the game at twelve.

“As a whole, I think our serving has room for improvement. I think our passing definitely got better in the second game,” Gauthreaux said.

Because of no football practice on Thursdays, a few members of the LHS Bulldogs football team were there rooting the Lady Bulldogs to victory.

“We got pumped up with the (football) players around us today. I think that gave the girls a little boast to perform well,” said Leblanc.