The Cranston West boys volleyball team earned its first win of the season when it swept Pilgrim 3-0 on Monday night.

The Falcons are coming off a Division II finals appearance and were bumped up to DI this spring. West lost some key performers from last year’s team, including guys like Chris Harvey, Logan Reed and Christan Mak. 

Despite losing the talented trio, West will be bringing back a deep roster as it looks to have a breakout year in the state’s top division.

“I really wanted for them to get a good win and to play their game. It was a good chance to give new players a little more experience,” said West coach Jennifer Ferencko of the team’s win on Monday. “They want to make it to the playoffs. We moved up to Division 1 so the competition is a lot steeper. That’s a tougher challenge, but they want to beat those teams.”

The team will be led by junior Ashton Mak, who became a key starter for the Falcons last season. He, among others, will carry a big load as the team looks to jump off to a strong start.

“Ashton is the leader on the team. He’s our setter, he’s going to set our hot hitter and the guy that he thinks is ready to go. I’m asking him to move the ball around a lot more and to get all three hitters going,” said Ferencko. “Marcus (Pinheiro) is coming back, Lionel (Alvarez) will be back and got experience last year, Kevin (Dilone) is back and has been blocking tremendously. I have some big pieces back.”

West spent many years in the DI ranks but was moved down for the past two seasons. The players were determined to jump back into the DI mix and are looking forward to making a statement now that they’ve done just that.

“They’re accomplished a lot. They wanted to get back to Division I and they got back there. We have enough people to be here and to keep going,” said Ferencko, who believes the team will need to work hard not only on gameday.

“A big part of it is going to be practice. I have a few new kids that came out this year, kids like Eli Lopez and Alex Arroyo. If I can get them hitting like I know they can hit; we will put a scare into some of those top teams. They play other sports and are competitive, so that will help,” said Ferencko. “Those teams don’t know what we’ll bring, but we’ll be competitive.”