Rally sparks Vets

William Geoghegan
Posted 9/23/14

Winners of two consecutive matches, the Warwick Vets volleyball team started its quest for three in a big hole.

And the streak lived anyway.

Cross-town rival Toll Gate jumped ahead of Vets …

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Rally sparks Vets

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Winners of two consecutive matches, the Warwick Vets volleyball team started its quest for three in a big hole.

And the streak lived anyway.

Cross-town rival Toll Gate jumped ahead of Vets 15-4 in game one of Thursday’s match, but the Hurricanes worked their way back into the game and executed down the stretch to win 26-24. They went on to 25-21 and 25-16 victories, securing the sweep and their third win in a row.

“I’m pretty pleased with it,” said Vets head coach Jean McGarry. “It was a little grueling in the beginning. The fact that they pulled it out tells me a lot.”

Vets is now 3-1, behind only unbeaten East Greenwich and Cranston West at the top of Division II-South. Vets lost its season opener to Cranston West and will play East Greenwich for the first time today.

Toll Gate fell to 0-5. It had pushed West Warwick to five games in its previous match but lost the decisive game 15-10.

Thursday’s fast start against a Warwick rival was nothing new for the Titans. A week earlier, they beat Pilgrim 25-13 in game one but dropped the next three games.

This time, despite playing without standouts Brooke Casacalenda and Jamie Hopgood, the Titans used a run of eight straight points to jump ahead 13-3. Ashley Chin had two aces and Katelyn Stamps had a kill in the run. A service error stopped the tide, but the Titans won the next two points on a free ball that landed in an open spot and an ace by Lauren Stamps to go up 15-4.

“The first game was a little hairy,” McGarry said. “We really didn’t play our game of volleyball. I feel like Toll Gate plays at a little slower pace right now, and we sort of got sucked into that. Not that we play a quick pace, but we play a very moving pace. And we weren’t moving. It looked like we were stuck to the floor.”

But the game turned immediately. Out of a timeout, a service error by the Titans made it 15-5. Toll Gate then committed four hitting errors, failed to return the ball after a hit by Liz Iadevaia and let a free ball find an opening. When Samantha Beaufort capped all that with a kill, Vets trailed by just three.

Toll Gate managed to stay in front for the next 14 points, and even regained the lead after Vets tied the score at 21-21. But on game point at 24-22, the Titans committed a service error. A hitting error allowed the ’Canes to tie it before a push by Jessica Tyree gave them game point. Rhianna Bellows delivered with an ace, capping a run of four straight points and giving Vets a 26-24 win.

“Mentally, I think we just gave in,” said Toll Gate assistant coach Patrick Chin. “We were missing two key players today. I had girls filling in, but it’s tough to step in.”

Vets ran with the momentum swing. A dig by Iadevaia set up an Emily Walason kill on the first point of game two. Beaufort followed with an ace, before consecutive kills by Walason made it 4-0.

“It was something that had to happen,” McGarry said. “We had taken the momentum away from them in game one. If they didn’t manage to retain that and keep going with it in game two, they could have gone in a very different direction. That’s what I told them. They pulled themselves out of a hole and now they needed to keep going.”

The Titans fought back and even took a lead at 13-10 after a run of five straight. Courtney Marsh had an ace, while Alyssa Mathews and Taylor Payton had kills to power the surge.

But Vets roared back, getting kills from Walason and Shannon McCarthy and an ace from Beaufort to jump back in front 15-14. The Titans managed to tie the game three separate times after that, but Vets pulled away on two Toll Gate errors and an ace by Iadevaia. A kill by Walason gave the ’Canes game point, and they won it on a hitting error.

“Overall, they managed to fix some of the mistakes and minimized a lot of the things that were happening in the first game and cut down on them in the second and third games,” McGarry said. “Our serving got better and just our overall play together improved.”

It was at its best in the third game. Toll Gate just once and Vets pulled away with a run of six straight points, capped by two Arianna Pafume aces. The lead never shrunk below four as Vets coasted to its largest margin of victory in the match.

Walson’s 11 kills led the charge for Vets. Iadevaia added eight kills and Beaufort had four aces, to go with 15 service points.

“It’s a good group of girls,” McGarry said. “I couldn’t really ask for a better group. We’ll keep working.”

Both teams will return to action tonight against unbeaten teams. Vets travels to East Greenwich for a 6:30 p.m. game. Toll Gate visits Cranston West, also at 6:30.

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