Destrehan opened District 6-I play with a sweep of H.L. Bourgeois on the road, 25-23, 25-23, 25-12 on Tuesday night.
The Fighting Wildcats went down to the wire with the Braves in each of the first two sets before pulling out wins in the end. The third set was all Ladycats as they doubled up the home team.
It was the second straight victory for Destrehan after a non-district win over St. Martin, 25-19, 25-23, 25-21 last week.
The two matches were a return to form after a tough stretch of four losses in five matches, including a three-game losing streak against Riverside, Lutcher and Prairieville.
“We had a tough two weeks, but I’ve felt we’re turning in the right direction,” said Destrehan head volleyball coach Jody Martin. “Everybody’s healthy and their dedication has been clear … we knew we had a difficult stretch of teams with Riverside, who has a very fast offense, Lutcher, who’s got some extremely talented girls under a fantastic coach in Coach Ricky (LeBlanc), and Prairieville has a ton of talent and is very well-coached as well. We played the best ball we could play but we just fell short.”
But the Ladycats appear to have shaken that off and are in top form – and at the right time of year. DHS moved to 12-10 with Tuesday night’s win.
And against St. Martin before that, Destrehan found some footing on the road.
“That win was huge for us going into district,” Martin said.
Sophomore outside hitter Keviana White, Martin said, stepped up in a big way to give the Wildcats a lift.
“As a sophomore, she’s taken on such a big role, and she’s been phenomenal for us,” said Martin. “When we need consistency, when we need a kill, we do look to our senior middles. But we also rely very heavily on Keviana. I rely on her, the team relies on her. And when we know we need a point, we know we can go to her.”
Destrehan recently had a strong performance at the Kenner Discovery tournament, winning three of four matches – wins over Patrick Taylor, Booker T. Washington and Hammond, with a loss against Pearl River.
The Pearl River and Hammond games saw a number of young backups and JV players take the floor as Destrehan was missing a number of players from its regular rotation. Among those making a big impact was freshman Leilani Wilson.
“I think that gave everybody a level of confidence that day that, OK, they trust me too,” said Martin of the younger players seeing action. “We had a lot of underclassmen step up that weekend who maybe didn’t know what to expect from themselves in that setting, and since then you can see a big difference.”
