West edges East in five-game thriller

Matt Metcalf
Posted 4/22/15

The Division II playoffs for boys’ volleyball don’t start for over a month, but I guess Cranston East and Cranston West didn’t get the memo.

The two rivals went the distance on Friday night …

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West edges East in five-game thriller

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The Division II playoffs for boys’ volleyball don’t start for over a month, but I guess Cranston East and Cranston West didn’t get the memo.

The two rivals went the distance on Friday night in front of an invested crowd, as the Falcons prevailed in a five-game affair, 3-2.

West took the first two games, 25-23 and 25-22, before East rattled off the next two games, 25-21 and 25-23.

East had all of the momentum heading into a winner-take-all game five, but West battled back behind some big points from senior David Anthony to take the fifth game, 15-10.

The two teams came into the match as the only undefeated teams in Division-II-South, and they played that way, with neither team showing any significant edge over the other.

Despite the comeback from two games down, it was evident that some mistakes early and late cost the ’Bolts in a match where every weakness was exposed. However, East feels that it will learn from the match on Friday night and get better from it.

“We can’t go home and beat ourselves up over the mistakes that we made tonight,” East head coach Tom Paquette said. “We have to think about how we’re not going to make those same mistakes next time.”

Nick Biagioni and Isaiah Monteiro were dominant on the front line for the ’Bolts, notching 27 kills apiece, many of which came in games three and four.

With Biagioni and Monteiro hitting like they were, it’s tough for a team to turn the momentum and win points, but the Falcons stuck with it through the peaks and valleys of the match.

“Obviously they have great athleticism and their hitting is unbelievable,” West head coach Roger Tow said. “This was a big night for David Anthony. He was pumped up tonight and he backed it. He played a fantastic all-around game.”

The first game foreshadowed that the two teams may go the distance, trading points back-and-forth.

But with West leading, 24-23, Anthony came up with a huge kill to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead.

That put the ’Bolts on their heels – and it carried over into game two, with West taking the first six points of the second game.

East would eventually battle back, but another Anthony kill capped a 25-22 game-two win for the Falcons.

It seemed as if the Falcons were on their way to a comfortable win, but the ’Bolts weren’t ready to get back on the bus just yet.

The team of setter, Eric Halvarson, and Biagioni carried the ‘Bolts to a 25-21 win in game three, before Monteiro starred in game-four, putting the finishing touches on the game with a kill that gave the ’Bolts a close, 25-23, win to force a game five.

In game five, West setter, Ryan Murphy, assisted on some key kills by Anthony.

The Falcons were able to build a cushion in the fifth game en route to a 15-10 win. The five-point gap in game five was the largest margin of victory over the course of the five games.

West was looking to remain unbeaten on Wednesday night, as it hosted East Greenwich, but results were unavailable at press time.

East, on the other hand, was looking to bounce back after its first loss of the season when it hosted West Warwick on Tuesday.

The loss to West was certainly disappointing, but East was encouraged with the way that it came back and didn’t quit after being down 2-0.

“The one thing that they should be proud of is that they were down 2-0 and battled really, really hard,” Paquette said. “Everyone could see that. We were down and could’ve given up and they didn’t. The fact that it was so close in the end leaves them optimistic in the future. We just have to play consistently.”

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