The Cranston West boys volleyball team improved to 11-0 and remained in first place last week when it swept second-place East Providence in three sets (25-18/ 25-12/ 25-22).

The Falcons were sharp from the opening serve and were in control from start to finish. Christian Mak finished with 13 kills, four aces, three blocks and five digs. Chris Harvey racked up 10 kills and Ashton Mak recorded 25 assists.

The two clubs entered the matchup as the division’s hottest teams, as the Townies carried a six-match win streak into the night. The Falcons were dominant and felt they sent a message to the rest of the league.

“Every practice we’re trying to take it seriously, trying to get better. Every game we are getting better and not slowing down. Now we have the best record, we’re undefeated, and this win just sent a message to the whole league,” said Harvey.

Fellow senior captain Logan Reed added: “If we play as a team and play the volleyball we know we can play, then no one can take us down. If we play to our full potential, I think we can be the best team in Division II.”

The Falcons fell to Lincoln in the championship match last season and have viewed 2024 as a revenge tour. The captains feel that they got complacent in the playoffs last season, which led to the down performance on the big stage.

“I’ve lost a lot of sleep over it. Since day one, I told everyone that it was inexcusable, shouldn’t have happened and can’t happen again. We deserved that trophy last year, we were the best team in Division II, but we took our foot off the gas,” Reed said. “I like to say, ‘all gas, no brake.’ We can’t let up, we can’t take our foot off the gas. We’ve got to keep pounding, we can’t get bored and we have to grind.”

Coming up big for West have also been the underclassmen, most notably Ashton Mak, who has already carved out a significant role in the rotation this spring.

“It’s great and we already had the chemistry playing family volleyball, it’s good to have him,” said Christian Mak of his younger brother.

West has penciled itself in as the front runner for Division II but has its sights set even higher. After reluctantly moving down last spring, the Falcons hope that a big finish this spring will help elevate the program back to the Division I ranks.

“That’s huge in my mind. We’re playing East later this month and we’re going into that game full steam,” said Harvey. “We want to show the state that we can compete with these top teams. We want to show what we have.”

The Falcons went on to drop its first match of the season on Monday when Westerly pulled off the big 3-0 upset. Christian Mak finished with 11 kills, two blocks and 11 digs while Harvey added 14 kills.