By ALEX SPONSELLER
The visiting No. 5 Cranston East boys volleyball team erased an early deficit to beat No. 4 Bishop Hendricken 3-1 last week in the Division I Quarterfinals.
The Hawks would …
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By ALEX SPONSELLER
The visiting No. 5 Cranston East boys volleyball team erased an early deficit to beat No. 4 Bishop Hendricken 3-1 last week in the Division I Quarterfinals.
The Hawks would take the first set 25-16 to jumped ahead 1-0, but the Bolts would roll for three straight sets to get the win.
The turning point for the Bolts came in the second set after Hendricken scored five-straight points to even things at 23-23. East would respond to take the next two points to even things at 1-1 overall.
The Bolts wrapped up a 25-21 win in the third set to jump ahead 2-1, and would finish the job in the fourth set, winning 25-16.
“We just made adjustments (after the first set). We came out slow and sluggish, but after we made those adjustments the boys get locked in and gained some momentum. In the game of volleyball, it’s all about momentum, so we just gathered momentum. We hustled for every single ball and just outworked them. They’re a good team and are well-coached,” said East coach Jhamal Diggs after the win.
Vincent Yin recorded a whopping 50 assists for the Bolts while First Team All-Division standout Jordan Bou racked up 18 kills. Jethro Vargas also chipped in 10 kills on the day for East.
The two teams played twice during the regular season, with East winning 3-2 in the first meeting and the Hawks winning 3-1 in the second. That familiarity, as well as getting healthy, was important for the Bolts to win the rubber match.
“It was a lot of preparation. We beat them once and they beat us on our senior night. We just had to game plan and move some pieces around. One key piece is that we have everyone healthy, we have all of our guys healthy at the right time,” said Diggs.
Bou added to his impressive campaign in the win and has emerged as one of the league’s best players this spring.
“It only gets harder from here, but he really stepped up. I believe that Jordan is the best player in the state and in this game he really stepped up. He put the team on his back and led them to victory,” said Diggs.
The Bolts moved on to face top-seeded North Kingstown in the semifinals on Tuesday, but the results were not available at press time.
“They’re a really good team and we just have to get back to work, watch some film on them and game plan for them,” Diggs said.
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