Eagles sweep Falcons for D-II championship

By Jacob Marrocco
Posted 11/25/15

The Cranston West girls’ volleyball team’s impressive playoff run came to an end on Saturday afternoon as the Falcons were defeated in three sets by undefeated Barrington in the Division II state …

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Eagles sweep Falcons for D-II championship

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The Cranston West girls’ volleyball team’s impressive playoff run came to an end on Saturday afternoon as the Falcons were defeated in three sets by undefeated Barrington in the Division II state championship game.

The Eagles, who only lost one set all season long, took the first two sets with relative ease by scores of 25-15 and 25-10 before edging the Falcons in a close third match, 25-23. West had reached the finals after going into Lincoln and sweeping the Lions, before taking down the top seed out of D-II South, East Greenwich, in five sets in the semifinal round.

“Extremely proud,” Cranston West head coach Thomas Ferri said of his team’s postseason run. “We were a three-seed, we went to Lincoln at their home court, beat them 3-0, and then we beat a No. 1 seed in the semis. They [EG] had beaten us twice this year. Somewhere along the line you have to beat the top teams, whether it’s in the quarterfinal, the semi or the final, and you can see why Barrington was undefeated this year.”

Barrington had built a 10-6 lead early on before three errors helped the Falcons even the score up at 10. Freshman outside hitter Maile Somera helped to extend the lead back out to four after she capped off three consecutive kills to make it 14-10.

The Falcons would cut the deficit to one, 14-13, following a kill from junior setter Fallon Plociak, but the Eagles then ripped off a 6-0 run to balloon the lead to 20-13.

“Our No. 1 setter got hurt,” Ferri said. “We had a freshman setter go in and she did a really nice job. She really hasn’t played hardly [any] varsity at all this year. For the future, that’s bright.”

Plociak was taking over duties for sophomore setter Marissa Cushman after she was injured going to the floor trying to save a ball going out of bounds in the second set.

“[Cushman] seemed to be okay,” Ferri said. “If it were a concussion they wouldn’t have allowed her back in the game. She got evaluated by the trainer. She was okay to return, otherwise I wouldn’t have put her in the game.”

West switched into another gear toward the end of the set, outscoring the Eagles 10-5 despite eventually losing the set. The Eagles were forced to call their first timeout of the afternoon after junior outside hitter Keara Pedroso’s service ace made it 23-21.

A kill put Barrington in a match-point scenario, but it had trouble closing it out. An error followed by a shot out of bounds pulled West within one, 24-23. However, a cross-court kill to the left sideline could not be reached by any of the Falcons, and it secured the state championship for the heavy-favorite Eagles.

“Showed a lot of heart,” Ferri said of his team’s third-set comeback bid. “Credit to the girls. They never gave up even though we were down 2-0.”

The first set was close during the opening volleys, but the Eagles were able to go on runs that left the Falcons too far behind. After West opened with a 2-0 lead following a service ace and Cushman’s tip kill, Barrington went on a quick 6-0 run to gain a lead it would not relinquish.

West battled back to within one, 7-6, after a block and kill from junior middle hitter Emilia Vaziri, but then the Eagles scored seven unanswered to build a 14-6 advantage. The Falcons would not get closer than six points for the remainder of the set. Down 24-15, Vaziri’s kill attempt went into the net to give the Eagles the 1-0 lead.

Set No. 2 would provide more trouble for the Falcons, as mistakes plagued them in their comeback efforts. An Eagles’ foul knotted the score at 4 early on, before they pulled off a 4-0 run to go up 8-4, helped by an errant kill and a foul from the West side.

For every point West managed to get, the Eagles would respond with four or five in a row. Barrington’s service error made it 8-5 before it would go on a 5-0 run, aided again by miscommunication on the West side.

Down 13-5, West made its deficit six behind a service error and junior outside hitter Brinley Foley’s block and kill. Again, though, the Eagles went on a run, this time of six unanswered points. The lead grew to 19-7 after three straight West kill attempts went into the net.

“Against a team of this caliber, you can’t make mistakes like that,” Ferri said. “It’s all magnified at this level. You get to the championship, and usually the teams that make the least amount of errors win.”

The Eagles led 22-10 late in the second set, and two West returns out of bounds and one into the net helped Barrington secure the win and the commanding 2-0 lead heading into the close third set.

“They were very fundamentally sound,” Ferri said. “Their passing was very good, and that set up their hitting attack, which they were well balanced. They probably have one of the best hitters in the state [Somera] on their team, D-I or D-II, or D-III. That’s a real asset. She’s only a freshman”

The Falcons should be right back in the playoff mix next year, as they will return 10 of 15 players on their varsity squad in 2016.

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