The Cranston East volleyball team lost two of its first three matches this season. The ’Bolts had a feeling they lost to good teams and that they were pretty good, too.

They were right.

The losses were to East Greenwich and Cranston West, who sit atop Division II-South. Otherwise, East hasn’t lost. The ’Bolts won their third straight match on Thursday with a sweep of West Warwick to move 4-2. As of Monday, they were in third place, just behind the Avengers and Falcons.

“We lost to West and we lost to East Greenwich. Those were two of our early games, so it was tough, but we played them pretty well,” said East head coach Meg McGonagle. “The middle of the race – it’s kind of anybody’s game. We’ve had a couple of teams pull ahead and then everybody else is fighting it out.”

The ’Bolts have risen to the top of that heap with victories over their chief competition. They opened the season with a 3-1 win over Toll Gate, before the losses to Cranston West and East Greenwich. They got back on track with a 3-0 win over Narragansett, then beat Pilgrim 3-1.

On Thursday, they visited West Warwick, who came into the match with the same 3-2 record as East. But the ’Bolts had the upper hand throughout, winning 25-17 and 25-13 before a late comeback in the third game gave them a 25-23 match-clinching victory.

“This is a good win,” McGonagle said. “I didn’t know what to expect. They have some very good hitters.”

East trailed 11-10 in the first game but won 15 of the next 21 points to get the victory. A service error by the Wizards started the surge and Genna Companatico followed with an ace. After an East service error tied it, the ’Bolts reeled off four points in a row. Jaime Struminsky tipped to an open spot for a point, the Wizards committed a hitting error and Paula Frost landed a pair of aces. The Wizards got back within three but East won five points in a row, keyed by an Amanda Rosa kill, to go up 22-14. The lead never dipped below six from there, and Frost gave East the game with a kill on a long, back-and-forth point.

In game two, East never trailed and used another late burst to grab control. Leading 12-10, East won 13 of the next 16 points to win 25-13. Rosa and McKenzie Richards had kills, while Emma Jutras delivered a pair of aces.

The first two games represented a pretty good blueprint for how East needs to win – defense, timely offense and strong serves.

“We had no game on Tuesday so we went to a lot of basics,” McGonagle said. “Our offense has been our biggest struggle, but we’re really doing great on defense. We’re digging every ball in the back row. What we’re talking about now is putting the offense in. Even though we don’t have the height, even though we’re not hitting down on the ball, we’re working on spots, recognizing where the defense is and how we can get our points.”

Game three did not fit the blueprint, but East found a way to win it anyway. The Wizards raced to an 11-4 lead as they ramped up their offense and took advantage of some East miscues. The ’Bolts chipped away and got within four, but the Wizards pushed it back up and led by seven as late as 20-13.

It looked like East might get caught in the kind of tight match that has marked matches between middle-of-the-pack teams.

“It looks like everybody is going back-and-forth,” McGonagle said. “A lot of four and five game matches.”

But East didn’t end up in one. A tip by Moua led to an error by the Wizards, making it 20-14. Mary Prum followed with an ace.

The Wizards won the next point on a net violation, but East’s momentum was building. Struminsky and Richards had kills around an ace by Frost to make it 21-18. After a kill by West Warwick’s Emily Langlais put the Wizards three points away, East won the next four points to tie the game. Richards had a kill, the Wizards committed two errors and Moua dug a hit by Langlais, and the Wizards couldn’t return the ball.

A service error put the Wizards up 23-22, but East won the next three points on a tip and a kill by Richards and a West Warwick hitting error on match point.

“There are a lot of emotions in volleyball, so we’ve been working with the girls on shaking things off,” McGonagle said. “A couple of games ago against East Greenwich, we came back from a deficit like that and we talked about how you just have to dig it out. You have to keep working and see if you can win it. We just had to clean things up and play our game of volleyball.”

Moua had eight kills, five aces and 11 digs in a strong all-around effort, while Richards had seven kills. Jutras had four aces and Frost had three.

“The girls are responding well,” McGonagle said. “We’re doing a lot of teaching this year, and the girls are really learning the game of volleyball, rather than just the skill.”

The ’Bolts will see where that takes them as they close out the first half of the season this week. They were set to play Westerly on Tuesday, with results unavailable at press time. On Thursday, they’ll visit Warwick Vets. After that, they’ll begin the second half of the season, with rematches against all the same teams they played the first time through.

“We’re still in the first half of the season, so we don’t know what to expect from some of the teams,” McGonagle said. “That’s a tough thing, but we’re playing our game. Our focus is still going to be defense, hard work and pushing forward. Right now, we’re in third place. It’s not a bad spot to be in. I’m excited for the girls.”