Pats advance all the way to title match, finally fall to EG

Kevin Pomeroy, Sports Editor
Posted 11/11/14

It was already the Pilgrim girls’ volleyball team’s best showing this century, and one of the best seasons in program history. Nothing that happened on Sunday could change that.

Pilgrim fell …

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Pats advance all the way to title match, finally fall to EG

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It was already the Pilgrim girls’ volleyball team’s best showing this century, and one of the best seasons in program history. Nothing that happened on Sunday could change that.

Pilgrim fell 3-0 to undefeated East Greenwich in the Division II championship match at URI’s Keaney Gymnasium, dropping a tough first game 27-25 and then losing 25-10 and 25-20 in the next two games.

The defeat to the top-seeded Avengers wasn’t unexpected, as East Greenwich had dominated the Division II landscape all season long. Reaching the championship match, though, was plenty unexpected for a Pilgrim team that started the season off 1-3 before getting hot and earning the No. 2 seed out of D-II-South.

“At the beginning of the season, I don’t even feel like the finals were on our radar,” said Pilgrim head coach Kelly Harrington. “As we came to the middle of the season and towards the end, we realized that this was a possibility.”

Pilgrim hasn’t won a championship since winning its third in school history in 1978. It hadn’t been to a final in any division in the 21st century.

That’s what made the whole season so special. The Pats jelled after a rocky start, caught fire and then continued their solid play through the postseason until they simply ran into the best team around.

The title was East Greenwich’s second in school history and first since 2004.

“There’s nothing bad to say here,” Harrington said. “I told all the girls that we need to walk out of here holding our heads high and be proud that we made it this far.”

Pilgrim reached the final after a gutty 3-1 semifinal victory over No. 3 Cranston East on Thursday. Colleen Conti had 15 kills and two aces to pace the Pats, as they won 25-20, 26-24, 19-25 and 25-12. Alexa Annotti added nine kills, Deveny Dionne had seven, Meaghan Woodbury had two kills and two blocks and setter Nancy Alvarez had 35 assists and 17 digs.

“I’m impressed with the way that we don’t get rattled easily,” Harrington said after the win over East. “No matter what the score is, we try to keep the ball in play and give 100-percent effort. There were tons of rallies back and forth tonight, and I feel like we pursued the ball 100 percent.”

That effort carried over into the finals on Sunday, particularly in the first game. Pilgrim had two game points – at 24-23 and 25-24 – but couldn’t win that one more point to clinch the game. Eventually, East Greenwich got a pair of hits from senior captain Jenna Pelosi and a net violation on the Pats to pull out the win.

“Game one was exactly what we were looking for,” Harrington said. “We stayed right with them the whole time, we were competitive, we played with intensity. I couldn’t be more proud of the girls to have this experience and to come out here and show everyone how good we can play.”

Unfortunately, that was Pilgrim’s best chance at a game victory. East Greenwich dominated the second game, breaking open a 3-3 game with seven of the next eight points. After a Pilgrim timeout, East Greenwich held play thanks to its height on the front line, taking a 21-9 lead. Pelosi and Kristin Carosotto had kills during that stretch. Joya Pelosi led the charge down the stretch, winning a point at the net and ending the game with a block.

Down 2-0, the Pats still didn’t quit. They led early 3-2 and then again at 12-11 following a block by Annotti. Once the Avengers took a four-point lead at 17-13, Pilgrim battled back to get within one at 18-17.

Out of a timeout, East Greenwich won the next two points and never led by fewer than two points the rest of the way. Pilgrim was within 23-20 on a Dionne kill, but EG won the last two points to finish the game and the match.

“We needed some things to fall our way,” Harrington said. “We needed to attack, of course. Putting a free ball over isn’t going to do it against a team like this. We needed a lot of things to go our way.”

One thing that was lacking some in the final match for Pilgrim was its standard attack, which was unquestionably the team’s strength all season long.

“One of our themes is to attack, which is what I think got us here to the finals,” Harrington said. “EG is a tough serving team, so when we don’t have a great pass, then Nancy is going to struggle setting up a good set.”

Still, that didn’t matter at the end of the day. Pilgrim had made its school proud, and it had overachieved to a level that it never thought possible once the season began.

The Pats will lose seniors Annotti, Conti, Dionne, Megan St. Jacques and Olivia Marcello.

“My goal at the beginning of the season was to give them a positive experience and make them better volleyball players,” Harrington said. “I think we’ve done that.”

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