ST. AMANT The St. Amant volleyball team hasnt been hitting on all cylinders this season, but the Gators found a groove Wednesday night as they started off district play with a 3-1 win over East Ascension.

The Spartans won the first set by a score of 25-19, but the Gators were too tough the rest of the way. St. Amant (7-6) swept the next three sets by scores of 25-21, 25-16 and 25-23. The contest was similar to last seasons district opener, when St. Amant dropped the first two sets at East Ascension before rallying for a five-set win.

We have been struggling a lot in the past couple of weeks with individual play, St. Amant coach Allison Leake said. Its not so much team play, but we have some young girls we are trying to fill spots with.

St. Amant got strong play from three seniors Aubrey Dwane (10 kills, 16 digs), Elaine Anderson (five kills, three blocks) and Lacey Harvey (six kills, three blocks). Also coming up big were juniors Gracie Duplechein and Olivia Rome, who each had 15 assists.

The youngsters who helped round out the effort were freshman libero Maggie Ladner and freshman hitter JaLynn Davenport.

It all added up to a key district win over for St. Amant over one of its biggest rivals.

(East Ascension) is a great team, Leake said. We have one of the toughest districts in the state because of the three (Ascension) Parish teams. We have great athletes in this parish.

East Ascension (12-4) was paced by Truli Josephs 17 kills and nine digs, and Daisha Mosleys 14 kills and six digs. Londyn Brown (21 assists, 14 digs) and Abby Lebourgeois (10 digs) were also key contributors.

If we cant pick up our mental game were going to struggle, East Ascension coach Jamie Gilmore said. It was a mental breakdown. We fought hard and we played well, but at the end we didnt do our job.

After winning the first set, the Spartans trailed 21-20 in the second set before falling 25-21. In the fourth set, East Ascension led 23-19 and was poised to force a deciding fifth set. Instead, the Gators scored on kills by Harvey and Julia Kramer, and then let the Spartans self destruct.

East Ascension was unable to return the next two St. Amant serves to tie the game 23-23. The Spartans had hitting errors on the following two points as St. Amant finished off the match with a 25-23 win.

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Senior trio leads St. Amant to win over East Ascension in district opener - The Advocate