The Barrington girls’ volleyball team’s dominance of Division II continued last Thursday night, as the undefeated Eagles put an end to Cranston East’s season with a 3-0 sweep of the ’Bolts.

Barrington cruised to 25-8 and 25-12 wins in the first two sets, respectively, before East battled to the end in what would be the final set. However, the top-seeded Eagles squashed East’s comeback hopes with some clutch points late to come away with a 25-21 victory to secure the sweep.

“We knew coming in that Barrington was a fantastic team and we practiced a lot, but one of my main concerns was the speed of the game,” East head coach Meaghan McGonagle said. “I think in game one that was really obvious, we just weren’t used to the speed of the game. In game two, they kind of picked it up a bit, and by game three they really adjusted and knew what to do. The girls did a great job and played amazing tonight.”

Barrington standout Maile Somera led her squad to an easy win in the first set, as she posted four kills and two aces to pace the Eagles early.

In the second set, East got off to a significantly better start, causing Barrington head coach Rob Enos to call a timeout following a hitting error from his team that allowed the ’Bolts to cut their deficit to 13-9.

However, Barrington would pull away down the stretch. Amanda Hay registered a kill to pull East within seven at 18-11, but the Eagles would rattle off seven of the next eight points to cruise to a 25-12 victory and a commanding 2-0 lead.

East hadn’t played Barrington coming into the match, but knew that the Eagles had dropped just one set up to that point.

“We just looked at their record and what we had heard from other teams that they played,” McGonagle said. “We knew that they were fast and that they were a great team.”

In the third set, East came out with confidence, and it showed on the court. The ’Bolts and Eagles traded points back-and-forth for the majority of an emotional third set. Barrington ultimately held a 23-19 advantage late, but East continued to fight. Maia Caito notched a kill, before Samantha Levy’s serve found open space on the Eagle’s side for an ace to trim East’s deficit to 23-21.

Unfortunately, that’s where the ’Bolts’ run would end. Barrington came back to win the next point and Somera closed the match with a kill.

Somera led the Eagles with nine digs, seven kills and four aces, while East was paced by Levy’s 13 digs and Caito added five blocks and three kills.

After a 12-4 regular season, East was eyeing a deep playoff run, and felt that it could’ve made it deeper if it didn’t have to play the best team in the division in the quarterfinals.

“I think we could’ve made it a lot further if we had gotten a different seed,” McGonagle said. “But the girls played their hearts out, so I don’t have anything bad to say.”

Although the playoff run was cut down sooner than it had hoped, East had nothing to hang its head over following the loss.

“They had an excellent season and they’ve done everything that I’ve every asked,” McGonagle said. “My team motto is that I have unrealistic expectations and they have to meet them. I think they did tonight.”

Barrington advanced to the D-II semifinals with the victory. It was set to face Tolman on Wednesday night at Rhode Island College, but results from that match were unavailable at press time. The winner will play the winner of East Greenwich and Cranston West on Saturday at RIC at 2 p.m. for the division title.