MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / October 26, 1998

DESTREHAN – East St. John coach Toni Robinette was concerned that herLady Cats would fall into the domino effect during its game at Destrehan Tuesday afternoon, making a mistake and then watching the points pile up against them.

It appeared Robinette might have a reason to be concerned in the second game as Destrehan rallied from a 5-1 deficit to tie the game. But East St.John quickly recovered, scoring nine unanswered points on its way to a 15-10, 15-6 victory in its District 8-I opener.

The victory extended the Lady Cats’ district winning streak to five dating back to last season and improved their overall record in 1998 to 15-10.

Destrehan fell to 5-16 overall and 0-2 in district play.

East St. John jumped out to the four-point lead in the second game on akill by Kayatanna Brown, an ace by Theresa Cambre and three Destrehan errors. But Destrehan quickly answered with Angele Chauvin serving.Chauvin delivered an ace an forced East St. John into two other errors.Allison Bourgeois then tied the score with a spike that was knocked out of bounds.

East St. John broke Destrehan’s serve and came back with six points withLaura Tregre serving. A lift against Destrehan, a dink by Tiffany McDonaldand an ace by Tregre gave the Lady Cats an 8-5 lead. Danielle Washingtonthen tipped a shot over the Destrehan defenders at the net to increase the lead to 11-5 before Destrehan used a timeout.

After Washington broke Destrehan’s following serve with a dink, three Destrehan errors brought the Lady cats to match point. Destrehan held offthe point on a dink by Ashley Nelson and a kill by Susan Baudier. But EastSt. John was able to end the match on its ensuing serve as Tammy Gunterdelivered a kill inside the right baseline.

“We have been working all season to not get into the domino effect,” Robinette said. “We would make a mistake, get down on ourselves and onemistake would create another. We had spurts like that today. But we gotcomposed and realized we could do it. I am proud that they hung in and didit.”Robinette said the team that makes the fewest mistakes will come out on top in a competitive district and that winning the first district game was a confidence booster for the team.

“We are not on pins and needles,” Robinette said. “There is still a lot ofdistrict to be played. We still have to peak as a team. It is a relief havingthis one under our belts.

Destrehan coach Calvin Ike said his team was hurt by its physical mistakes.

“We played well and did a good job getting back into the game,” Ike said.

“We hit the ball okay and hit it the way we wanted to. But we could notstop the mistakes. We would do something good and then make a mistakeand that would hurt us. East St. John played well but if not for that run,we would still have been in there. We could not break their serve.”Points were harder to come by in the first game. Two blocks by MariaLainez and a lift by Destrehan gave East St. John a 3-1 lead.That lead would grow to 5-1 before Destrehan pulled to within one on an error by East St. John and consecutive aces by Leslie Hall. East St. John again tried to pull away on two Destrehan errors and a dinkby Washington. But again Destrehan rallied, closing to 9-7 on a kill byNelson down the left baseline and two East St. John errors.East St. John increased its lead to 13-9 on kills by Gunter and Washington.A kill by Nelson forced East St. John to call a timeout with the score 13-10 but the Lady Cats held off three straight Destrehan serves and got the final two points on a block by Gunter and a Destrehan error.

Brown led East St. John with six kills while Washington was the topdefender. For Destrehan, Hall had two aces and Nelson provided six killsand was the top defender.

Destrehan celebrated Senior Day before the match. Honored were SusanBaudier, Allison Bourgeois, Angele Chauvin, Angela Garrett, Leslie Hall and Michelle LeRouge.

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