Falcons outlast Avengers in five-set thriller

By Matt Metcalf
Posted 11/25/15

The Cranston West girls’ volleyball team earned a berth in the Division II finals with a 3-2 victory over the No. 1 seed out of the South, East Greenwich, in the semifinals last Wednesday night at …

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Falcons outlast Avengers in five-set thriller

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The Cranston West girls’ volleyball team earned a berth in the Division II finals with a 3-2 victory over the No. 1 seed out of the South, East Greenwich, in the semifinals last Wednesday night at Rhode Island College.

The Falcons showed a great deal of fight after dropping the first set 25-13, battling back to win the next set 25-20. The two teams traded the next two sets as well, setting up a decisive fifth set, which West would take 15-12.

“It’s great, there’s no better feeling than that,” West head coach Thomas Ferri said of his squad earning a trip to the finals. “The girls really stepped up. I think the girls had some jitters in the first game, to be expected. But to win three out of four, credit to the team.”

West didn’t get the start that it had hoped for, though, with East Greenwich running away with the first set from the opening serve.

The Avengers doubled up West, 14-7, midway through the set when senior captain Kristin Carosotto rose above the net and crushed a shot that found open space on West’s side. Fellow senior Spencer Taylor then helped to put the finishing touches on that opening set when she recorded the Avengers’ final three points with a trio of kills.

But in front of a big student section, the Falcons rallied in set two. The Falcons held a slight advantage throughout the set, but East Greenwich continued to battle late, with Carosotto recording a kill to cut the Avengers’ deficit to 22-20. West’s Kimberly Kluglein would put an end to the Avengers’ late run, however, as she put the set away with an ace to give West the 25-20 victory.

The response after a rough first set was just what Ferri was looking for.

“I just told them that they were nervous and not to worry about it,” Ferri said of his message to the team after the first set. “Play hard and go after every ball. I think we played smarter as the match went on, and defensively, we covered a lot.”

The third set turned out to be the closest in the match, with little room for error.

West took an early lead, with Emilia Vaziri notching an ace and a kill on back-to-back points to give the Falcons a 7-4 advantage. Vaziri’s strong play would continue later in the set when she posted two aces, a kill and a block on four consecutive West points. Unfortunately, East Greenwich was too sound down the stretch, as Taylor once again used her big hitting to clinch the set for the Avengers, 25-23.

Facing potential elimination, West put together its best effort in set No. 4. East Greenwich raced out to a 3-1 lead, before West rattled off a 12-0 run behind the serving of sophomore Marissa Cushman to take a 13-3 lead.

The run completely switched the momentum in favor of the Falcons.

“Marissa was in the serving box and she has a hard floater,” Ferri said. “It really set the tone for that game. They got down and it’s tough to come back from that deficit.”

West would go on to take the fourth set, 25-17, to force a first-to-15 fifth set.

West carried its momentum into the final set, as it opened play with a block from Eden Anthony at the net to take a 1-0 lead.

“The front row, I really think that was the difference,” Ferri said. “We blocked them and I don’t think they had seen that type of blocking this year.”

East Greenwich wasn’t ready to go down without a fight, though. Carosotto and Taylor recorded back-to-back kills to get the Avengers on the board, before Tara Watters posted a block and a kill of her own to give East Greenwich a 4-1 lead.

But West would battle back. An Alexis Tella ace gave West a 12-9 lead, and a kill by Vaziri a couple of points later would set up match point at 14-10. It took West a few tries, but it ultimately got that coveted match point, emerging victorious 15-12 in the set and 3-2 in the match.

The win was West’s first against East Greenwich this season, with the Avengers winning both regular season matchups.

“I knew coming in that it would be tough to beat them, but they had beaten us twice during the season and I said that it’s hard to beat a team three times,” Ferri said. “They were a one-seed, we were a three, but I think we were pretty evenly-matched. We just played better tonight.”

West’s win propelled it into the finals, which took place on Saturday. The Falcons took on undefeated Barrington and fell to the Eagles, 3-0.

Ferri knew going into the finals that, no matter who his team played, it was going to be a tough match.

“When you get this far, these are the best teams,” Ferri said.

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