After two tough seasons, the Cranston East boys’ volleyball team finally started to settle into the Division I ranks last year. The ’Bolts went 8-8 and made the playoffs for their best campaign since moving up from Division II in 2011.

They’re hoping the trend continues this season.

East has a few personnel losses to deal with but also has a solid core returning that’s ready to be competitive in the state’s top division once again.

“Things have been going pretty well,” said head coach Tom Ferri. “We have a lot of returning players. I think we’ll be in a similar situation this year.”

East had its success last year despite having a young team, with only one senior contributing. Not everybody is back – third-team All-Stater Jimmy Saab decided not to play – but there’s enough of a nucleus to keep East on the same track.

And that nucleus is confident.

“I had two sophomores playing varsity last year, a couple of juniors,” Ferri said. “Those guys have confidence now that they can compete in Division I. It’s a tough league. Every time you play, you’re going to play someone good. But they know they can play with those teams now, and that’s going to help.”

The core group is led by senior Tim Kue. He’ll play all-around and will be the biggest key to a strong defense.

“He’s an excellent defensive player,” Ferri said.

Junior Max Bloom was a key piece to the puzzle last year and will take on an even bigger role this season as the team’s top middle and its best option on the attack. Junior Eric Halvarson, who saw a good amount of varsity action late last season, is set to slide into the setter’s spot.

Another junior, Nick Biagioni, is also ready for a bigger role as the No. 2 middle. He missed part of last year with an injury.

With just a week of practice in the books, the rest of the lineup is up in the air, but Ferri likes what he sees from the players who are competing. East has several players up from the junior varsity squad, plus some upperclassmen who are new to the team this season.

They’re all eager to get onto the court.

“We’ll see what a couple of players can do,” Ferri said. “We have a quite a few who are promising. Not everybody has experience but they don’t lack the desire, that’s for sure.”

However the lineup shakes out, Ferri doesn’t expect the team to have a powerful attack. But like last year, he’s looking for the solid defense that will allow the ’Bolts to hang with just about everybody.

“I don’t think we’ll be over-powering but I think we’ll be able to hold our own,” Ferri said. “We need to try to limit our errors, serve the ball well, block well and just play good defense in general. We have enough experience now to play at a consistent level in Division I.”

East’s goal will be to make the playoffs and then see what happens. Ferri would like to see the ’Bolts improve on last year’s 8-8 record, as well, and he believes it’s possible. For as positive as last year was, the ’Bolts faded down the stretch and struggled in their playoff match-up with eventual champion Coventry.

“We had played Coventry pretty tough in the regular season, but we didn’t play well in the playoffs,” Ferri said. “It’s not all about your record. It’s really playing well down the stretch, and we didn’t do that last year. I think we can improve on that.”

East will get its first taste of volleyball with an Injury Fund round robin event on Thursday at Cranston West. The season opener is scheduled for Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., when East will host Barrington.