RI Central - A stronger push?

COVENTRY — The Oakers hope that the only déjà vu they sense in their latest trek to a Division I title is their result against their opening round opponent.

For the second-consecutive year, that fans that are expected to pack the Coventry High School gymnasium tonight will see their Oakers face Ponaganset to begin their RIIL Division I girls’ volleyball tournament, hoping for a similar start to the playoffs as last season.

One year ago, Coventry – which finished the 2007 regular season at 10-8 – waltzed through the Chieftains in the Preliminary round 3-0 (25-12, 25-18, 25-21), only to be quickly ousted by eventual-champion La Salle Academy in a convincing sweep in the quarterfinals.

This season, the Oakers are looking for more than just the satisfaction of being in the playoffs, once again. Especially after winning 16 of the 18 regular-season matches to clinch the Division I-South title – the Oakers’ first in four seasons – and having the luxury of not dealing with the possibility of facing La Salle until the championship round which is slated for Nov. 22 at URI’s Keaney Gymnasium.

The other luxury that Coventry has with Ponaganset being step No. 1 is the Oakers have seen plenty of the Chieftains through the course of the season, both in league play and in exhibition.

Back on Sept. 5, Coventry quickly dispatched Ponaganset 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-11) for its second victory in as many matches to begin the season. Then, at the annual Koch Eye Tournament on Columbus Day at CCRI Flanagan Campus in Lincoln, the Oakers took down the Chieftains during the Pool Play session of the tournament.

Establishing the middle is pivotal for the Oakers if they hope to have more success against Ponaganset tonight. The rise in play by setter Hannah Cole as the season progressed has helped Coventry put forth a lethal middle attack with both Alycia Broccoli and former setter Stephanie Carlu, running the quick middles with great efficiency.

Attacking free balls has also been a trademark of both Broccoli and Carlu all season long. In the first match against Ponaganset, Broccoli ended the match in favor of the Oakers with three hard slams at the net on overpasses by the Chieftains.

Carlu, on the other hand, had five kills and eight digs in that match, not a bad number considering she was still making that transition from setter to attacker at the time. Needless to say, those numbers should greatly increase tonight based on the growth of Carlu’s play throughout the year.

“Our strengths at the beginning of the season when we played Ponaganset are still our strengths now,” Coventry head coach Leo Bush said. “The question is what their weaknesses are going to be and if they had fixed them. We really need to establish our middle (attack) so we can open it up on the outside.”

As far as the outside goes, containing Ponaganset outside hitters Courtney Piccirillo and Rebecca Short will be a must in order to prevent any kind of legitimate Chieftain attack tonight. A stoppage there will enable outside hitters Sara Biondo and Jessica Imondi to take some pressure off of Carlu and Broccoli in shouldering the Oaker offense.

But, the best way that the Oakers knew how to disrupt Ponaganset’s offensive momentum was at the service line. In the win on Sept. 5, Sara Biondo served up four aces as part of an 11-0 Coventry run to begin the second set. Then, in the third set, Jaimee Enos’ service performance helped Coventry to a 10-0 run to take firm control of the match.

“We need to try and control the tempo of the match,” Bush said. “I still think that they can play at a fast pace. We slowed down (Ponaganset’s) defense and upset their ball control.”

Controlling the ball, which was a major success for the Oakers on Sept. 5, is also key for Coventry tonight. Just three passing errors and three service errors were the only mistakes that the Oakers made that evening.

“If we have the opportunity to control the ball, we can control the match,” Bush said.

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