Rams so happy together, lineup intact for consecutive wins

Published 7:00 am Wednesday, September 27, 2023

WESTLAKE — Westlake has waited patiently all season to get its entire lineup on the court at the same time.

They were able to do that a week ago and have turned it into back-to-back wins for the first time in more than three weeks.

The Rams swept Sulphur 25-19, 25-23, 25-15 Tuesday in a nondistrict match to get back above .500.

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“We haven’t had a consistent lineup,” Westlake head coach Gloria Fontenot said. “We had our first practice last Tuesday with everybody. That was the first one of the season that we had everybody. We are either missing kids in every practice or even games.

“Last week we were able to get a few practices in to get a consistent lineup, and that has made the difference. We have to keep working on it. Normally at this point you have a set lineup. We just got ours together last week. We are going to keep rolling with that one and try to clean things up, and I think we are going to get better results down the road.”

There were some bumps in the Rams’ sweep. Early in the first set, Sulphur raced out to a 12-4 lead after back-to-back aces by Kierstyn Gremillion. The Rams climbed out of the hole with a 7-0 run powered by consecutive kills by Margaret Jordan, Lady Fradieu and Saniah Captain.

“I am proud that they did climb out because they could have rolled over,” Fontenot said. “We have seen that from them where they get behind and dig out.

“For the most part, they are going to dig, but sometimes it is too late. That could have been the case in that set, it just wasn’t the case. It is a good thing when we can dig out when we get down and things are off, maybe chemistry or things aren’t going our way at the time. But you can’t dig those big holes. It is good, but sometimes it costs us. We have to get more consistent. They have a lot of fight.”

With the set in limbo, Westlake used its improved serving to take the lead for good on two of ReAuna Johnson’s four aces. Westlake finished with 21 aces, including five by Fradieu and four from Cat Jones.

“That was one thing, too, early on,” Fontenot said. “We weren’t getting much out of our serves. We have been talking about it in practice and working on it. We need more out of our serves, more consistency, harder serves, and hitting spots. The kids have bought into that and it is paying off.”

Sulphur owned a brief 2-1 lead early in the second set on a Claire Weidner kill. Another big hit by Weidner tied it at 18, but the Tors couldn’t regain the lead.

Westlake led wire to wire in the third set.

Captain led Westlake with eight kills, Gabby Guillory made six and Shamira Guillory added five. Maddy Guillory was credited with 21 assists.

Weidner (6) and Andie Petross (5) combined for 11 kills for the Tors (8- 11), and Kendall Judge had 20 assists.