WESTLAKE — There was no letdown for the Westlake Rams this time.

With their loss to St. Louis Catholic in a five-set thriller in 2023 still on their minds, the Rams won the rematch in four sets after dropping the first set on Thursday in the Division III, District 1 showdown.

Westlake (18-8, 4-0) won 17-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-21 to secure at least a share of the district title. They can win the district title outright with a win at Jennings on Tuesday.

“This was a big one,” Westlake head coach Gloria Fontenot said. “We needed this for the district, obviously, especially coming off of last year’s (game).

“It came down to the wire with us too. We took the first two sets and then they took the next three from us. So we’ve been feeling this since last year because we felt like we should have had it last year. “

The win gives the Rams a needed boost in the power rankings with the end of the regular season a week away. Westlake started the week at No. 7 in the Division III power rankings.

“So it’s good coming off of that and securing that district champ title, but also for power rankings. That’s going to help us tremendously,” Fontenot said. “We were sitting teetering at five, so we really needed this win for that. So I’m excited about that.”

After losing the first set, Westlake used the powerful combo of middle hitters Gabby Guillory and Shamira Guillory to turn the match around. Gabby Guillory had a match-high 19 kills with three aces, 10 digs, and two blocks, while Shamira Guillory had 12 kills and three blocks. Setter Maddy Guillory kept the offense flowing with 41 assists, plus a pair of aces and 13 digs.

Gabby Guillory and Shamira Guillory combined for nine kills in the second set and eight in the third set as the Rams swung the momentum. The Rams closed the third set to take the lead on a 7-1 run.

“They did well,” Fontenot said. “They came out well in the middle.

“And I thought Maddy (Guillory) did a really good job of feeding the middles. She knew who to give the ball to and when. We could have mixed a little bit more to the pins, especially the right pin, but when it’s working, you go with it. And I thought she did a really good job and the middles did a good job mixing up where they were hitting as well.

“They did a good job moving it. If you look at our spray chart hitting-wise, we hit across that court, so that’s a good thing.”

St. Louis’ (21-10, 3-1) 10-game win streak ended with their first loss since Oct. 3 after winning the first set. They are ranked No. 11 in Division III.

“We’ve been struggling with this all season long,” St. Louis Catholic head coach Elizabeth Thompson said. “We just sort of let off the gas and get a little complacent, stopped being disciplined, stopped doing all the little things and it ends up racking up and we lose a little bit of control.”

“This is a great group of girls. We just talked about it in the huddle. With every game we’ve played, we’ve learned from it. We’ve gotten better from it. The plan is just to learn from this, and keep moving forward. We have bigger things on the horizon now than the district championship looking at the state championship coming up.”

Katie Builledeau and Emma Broussard led the Saints with 13 and eight kills respectively.