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Local Sports
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Exeter boys tennis fall to Coventry in potential playoff preview |
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Thursday, 13 May 2010 |
By JAMES BESSETTE
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COVENTRY — If there was any point during the regular season that Coventry tennis coach Tiffany Risch wanted to see if her Oakers are battle tested for the Division IV playoffs, it will certainly be this week in more ways than one.
Along with this week being the final week of the regular season for the now 7-2 Oakers after they defeated Exeter-West Greenwich on Monday, 5-2, they will also have a week that will test both their skill and also their stamina.
Monday was the first of five matches in as many days this week for Coventry, with four of those five matches at home and the only road contest being Thursday against cross town-rival and one-win West Warwick on Thursday at Kent County YMCA in Warwick.
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Knights frustrated with loss |
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Thursday, 13 May 2010 |
By PAUL J. SPETRINI
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WEST GREENWICH—Friday evening’s Division II boys volleyball match between 12-1 Cranston East and 11-1 Exeter-West Greenwich had all the makings of a championship game preview.
And that’s what concerns the Scarlet Knights.
Despite a strong game by setter Michael McDonough, who had a game-high 11 assists, and solid numbers from outside hitter Christopher Wright, who had a game-high six kills to go along with a pair of blocks and a pair of assists, Exeter-West Greenwich simply couldn’t match the firepower of the Thunderbolts and what could have been a gigantic win for a program looking to make a statement in D-II turned into a head-scratching 25-16, 21-25, 25-22, 25-18 defeat that leaves the Knights feeling more than just slightly concerned about their championship aspirations.
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NK softball slide continues |
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Thursday, 13 May 2010 |
By DAVID PEPIN
Special to the Standard
NORTH KINGSTOWN – Even with a division title nearly in hand, a three-game losing streak is not recommended with the playoffs lurking around the corner.
North Kingstown remains atop Division 1 South at 7-5, but continued its tumble Tuesday in a battle of division leaders as Cranston West stepped closer to a Division 1 West title with a 5-2 victory at Ryan Park.
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NK boys lax falls in overtime |
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Thursday, 13 May 2010 |
By PAUL J. SPETRINI
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BARRINGTON—If there was one, all-encompassing book for sports cliché’s, the phrase “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish” might rank up there with “We’re taking this one game at a time” and “There is no ‘I’ in team” in terms of overuse by athletes and coaches with nothing better to say.
Funny thing is, though, sometimes it’s true.
For the North Kingstown boys lacrosse team, that one phrase perfectly sums up Monday’s game against Barrington.
Down four goals heading into the fourth quarter Monday, NK unleashed one of its biggest flurries of offense all season and while the Skippers were hard-luck losers to the Eagles on this day, falling 14-13 on a goal by Barrington’s Ian Thomas 1:57 into an overtime session that didn’t even seem possible early on, North coach Chris Callahan left the contest feeling optimistic both about his team’s willingness to play to the final whistle and the direction they’re heading in as the regular season winds down.
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Chargers volleyball sweep Townies |
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Thursday, 13 May 2010 |
By BRANDEN MELLO
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WOOD RIVER JCT. — While the varsity members of the Chariho volleyball team were stretching and milling around the gym following Friday night’s 3-0 win over East Providence, the JV players were putting away all the equipment.
One younger player came up to Chariho coach Wayne Holly and asked Holly where he wanted the team’s whiteboard stored for the weekend.
Prior to telling the Charger where to put it, Holly pointed to the board and began to show how the Chargers dismantled an East Providence team which had already beaten the Chargers and came into the match as the top dog in Division I.
On the whiteboard Holly had diagramed all six East Providence rotations and underneath each rotations Holly had the percentage the Townies went outside, middle and right side.
Clearly, the Chargers were prepared for what Aaron Spivey, Ted Hurley and the Townies were going to do.
“I just felt like our boys executed our game plan very well,” Holly said. “We always go into the match with a plan. Since this was the second time around, we had a lot more information to deal with and we gave that information to our guys and we practiced around that information.”
It doesn’t take a detailed statistical analysis of the Townies to know that Spivey, Hurley and Matt Rendine are East Providence’s best hitters.
But what the stats did tell Holly and the Chargers was where those hitters liked to hit in certain rotations.
For example, normally Borsay blocks on the right side and the middle when he’s in the front row. But to try and slow down Hurley and Spivey, Holly switched the blocking assignments for Borsay and setter Jared Hammond. Instead of blocking right side, Borsay blocked outside and the move worked brilliantly.
The Chariho All-State outside hitter had 20 kills and 16 digs to lead the victors. Right-side hitter Dylan Rondeau had nine kills, Greg Dowdell and middle hitter Joe Olean had eight kills. Hammond, who was an attacker in a few serving rotations, had five kills to go along with his 39 assists.
“The difference between last time and this time was we made a lot of adjustments,” Borsay. “The last time we played them it was at the beginning of the season, we didn’t know what they were all about. Once we got a feel for them, it was a little too late. We were more prepared this time.”
Chariho won the match 25-23, 25-17 and 25-21, but the scores truly gloss over how well the Chargers played against a team that has reached the last three Division I semifinals and was the 2008 state champions.
The Chargers were only up 16-13 in the first game after a Hurley kill, but then the Chargers played some of their most impressive volleyball of the season to pull away.
Borsay, acting as a left-side blocker and setter, created a kill for Hammond and the then Sacred Heart-bound senior terminated numerous points to put the Chargers up 23-14.
Spivey, a second-team All-Stater as a junior last season, did his best to help his team back into the game. The senior attacked from all different parts of the court to lead the Townies on an 8-0 run. Chariho, behind a Borsay kill on the right side, eked out a two-point win after dominating most of the game.
“I thought we played better in this match than we did (in a 3-0 sweep of North Kingstown) last week because our opponent played better today,” Holly said. “I thought that East Providence could play as well as they could play and we still won.”
The only way to describe the second game is pure domination. The Chargers, behind two kills in the middle from Olean, jumped out to a 6-1 lead and never looked back. The Chargers never led by few than six points once they hit double digits.
Chariho was up 22-10 when Hurley and Rendine began finding holes in Chariho’s defense.
EP went on a 6-1 timeout and forced Chariho to call a timeout, but the Chargers quickly regrouped and closed out the game, 25-17.
Both teams played really good volleyball in the third game and fans at Rhode Island College in early June will be lucky to see the standard of volleyball played by the two teams in the final game. Chariho never fell behind, but the game was tied at 12, 13, 16 and 18.
Chariho managed to pull away for two-point leads on a few occasions before the Townies would reel them back in. With the score\ tied at 18, the Chargers turned to the best player on the court to bring them home and Borsay delivered.
Thanks to great passing by libero Mitesh Suthar (12 digs) and Dowdell, Hammond put up perfect sets for Borsay to terminate. Borsay gave his team the lead, 19-18 and then he increased it to three with a kill on the right side. Both kills were from the back court.
“I always the ball in any situation and when it comes to me I always do my best to put it down,” Borsay said. “If it goes to any other guy, I know they can do the job, as well. It’s pretty tough to kill out of the back row.
“I really just swing hard and try to get the ball somewhere on the court to get them out of system.”
Spivey traded kills with Borsay down the stretch, but the Chargers were just happy to side out to victory and that’s what happened.
The win means the Chargers are well positioned to earn the top seed in the playoffs and that would likely mean avoiding East Providence and North Kingstown until the state final.
But Holly knows Division I is as deep as it’s been in years with five teams logistically in the conversation for the state title.
“Hendricken and South Kingstown appear to have gotten stronger in the second half,” Holly said. “There’s nothing wrong with good competition.
“Whatever team happens to win this year, they can look back and say ‘Geez, we earned it.’ Last year and the year before the league wasn’t as deep”
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Loss to Scituate was tough to take for Chariho lax |
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Thursday, 13 May 2010 |
By ERIC RUEB
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NORTH SCITUATE – Friday was supposed to be a day of celebration for the Chariho girls lacrosse team, the day the Chargers won their first game in program history, getting the monkey off their back that’s been sitting there for the previous 29 games.
Instead it turned into one of the more frustrating days Chariho’s had, as a red-hot start cooled off in a hurry and the Chargers couldn’t find a way to come up with a big stop or get a big goal in a 12-10 loss to winless Scituate, Chariho’s 30th loss in a row.
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The Realm: Win a relief for lax coach |
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Thursday, 13 May 2010 |
Johannah LaFountain was pretty sure she was done with girls lacrosse, especially after the way the 2009 season ended.
Why should she stay? Her background in lacrosse was as old as Chariho’s varsity program – which turned three this year – and all she wanted was for her players to do the one thing they couldn’t do until Monday.
Win.
LaFountain is as passionate as she is proud. She knows the Chargers weren’t world-beaters heading into the season, but she knew they had great work ethic and a ton of talent, which is why she was ready to hand the team over to someone who knew lacrosse, someone who could lead them to one win.
She wasn’t quitting; she just couldn’t stomach the pain of seeing her girls give so much to the game and get back so little.
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The wait is over: Chargers win |
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Thursday, 13 May 2010 |
By ERIC RUEB
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WOONSOCKET – Things are now different for the Chariho girls lacrosse team.
And all it took was one game.
After suffering maybe the worst loss – more so mentally than on the scoreboard – Friday afternoon, the Chargers took to the field with a new attitude and played its best game of the season, dominating both sides of the field against a struggling Mount St. Charles team.
This time there was no comeback, no let down, no frustrated looks on the sidelines.
Because on May 10, 2010, the Chariho girls lacrosse team put one in the win column.
“We finally broke the streak,” senior Michaela Allen said after the Chargers’ 16-7 win over Mount Monday. “All the bad memories, it’s finally changed.”
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“Other” Chargers key in beating SK |
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Thursday, 13 May 2010 |
By ERIC RUEB
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SOUTH KINGSTOWN – The Chariho boys volleyball team wasn’t going to be fooled by South Kingstown’s mediocre record. The Chargers have first-hand experience to tell them how good the Rebels actually are.
“They took all the really hard teams to five,” Chariho’s Brad Borsay said. “NK, Hendricken, us both times. They keep fighting ‘til the end and you have to give credit to them for that. If any team underestimates them, they’ll end up taking the win.”
South nearly took the win Tuesday night, but the Chargers came back after losing Games 2 and 3 with a dominating win in Game 4 before holding on to take Game 5 in a 25-19, 20-25, 21-25, 25-16, 15-12 win Tuesday night.
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EG spikers can’t hang with Skippers |
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Thursday, 13 May 2010 |
By PAUL J. SPETRINI
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EAST GREENWICH—Twenty-four hours removed from an awe-inspiring, come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Division I title contender Bishop Hendricken, in a game in which they trailed 2-0, the North Kingstown boys volleyball team had every reason to mentally check out prior to Tuesday night’s road match against East Greenwich.
For one thing, the Avs are one of D-I’s weaker teams. At just 1-10 on the season, even a subpar Skipper effort likely would have been enough for a victory.
But that’s not North Kingstown coach Joanne Fitts’ style.
No, at this point in the season, with just a week left before the start of the postseason, the last thing the Skippers wanted to have was a letdown.
And if you don’t believe it, check the final score.
Thanks in large part to the 17-assist night from senior setter Robert Longtin, as well as the 10 kills and three service aces of captain Nicholas Gallant, North Kingstown made short work of East Greenwich Tuesday night, rolling nearly uncontested to a 25-10, 25-18, 25-20 victory to improve to 10-2 on the season, a mark good enough for a share of first place in Division I with Chariho and East Providence.
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Early lead does no good for Avenger boys vs. SK lax |
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Thursday, 13 May 2010 |
By PAUL J. SPETRINI
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EAST GREENWICH—Nobody likes to lose, especially in competitive sports, but there are certain types of defeats that are tougher to swallow than others.
With that in mind, it’s be hard to blame the East Greenwich boys lacrosse team if they felt like throwing up at the conclusion of Tuesday afternoon’s key Division III-South battle with South Kingstown.
Up 6-0 just 7:26 into the first quarter Tuesday, the Avengers seemed on track to not only blow the Rebels out of the water in a crucial divisional matchup but, in the process, to stake their claim as a legitimate contender in D-III.
Problem is, South Kingstown forgot to give up.
It took 40 minutes overall but South Kingstown, led by the 1-2 offensive punch of juniors Cameron Creamer and Cam Ormiston, eventually rallied back and tied EG at 10-10 and that rally gave the visiting Rebels all the momentum they would need as, with just 13.6 seconds to go in regulation, Creamer beat EG goalie John Trutza with a low shot to put the finishing touches on an impressive Rebel comeback or a heartbreaking Avenger collapse, depending on which team you talked to.
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