SPORTS

East sweeps West

Bolts cruise to 3-0 win over rival Falcons

By ALEX SPONSELLER
Posted 9/27/22

The Cranston East girls volleyball team swept visiting Cranston West 3-0 (26-24/ 25-19/25-20) last week to beat its city rival.

The Bolts entered the game with a 1-4 record and in need of a …

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SPORTS

East sweeps West

Bolts cruise to 3-0 win over rival Falcons

Posted

The Cranston East girls volleyball team swept visiting Cranston West 3-0 (26-24/ 25-19/25-20) last week to beat its city rival.

The Bolts entered the game with a 1-4 record and in need of a statement win. Taylor Simoneau had a big performance for East, finishing with four aces and 16 digs. Sarina Marines finished with seven kills and nine digs, while Anika Poshkus added eight kills in the win.

“It’s super important. We have been a little bit back and forth which I think is normal for the beginning of the season. To get a 3-0 sweep against the other team in the city, it’s a nice momentum shift for us and I think that we really needed that. It’s going to help their confidence heading into the middle section of the schedule,” said East coach McKenzie Richards.

This fall is Richards’ first year at the helm. She inherits an experienced roster made up of almost entirely upperclassmen, including seven seniors.

Establishing a connection with the players has been key in the early going for Richards as she gets settled in.

“I feel like we are starting to get into a groove and they’re starting to learn my expectations and they’re open with me on certain things that they need to work on. In my first year, I need to have that openness and earn that trust. I think that we have done that and it is heading in the right direction,” said Richards.

The focus of the team on game day has also been to play at its own pace and to not get pulled into shootouts with the opposition.

“What has worked for us in any game that we have done well in is playing our game. Whenever we fell behind in a close match or things got shaky, we always had to match the other team’s vibe. If they’re a team that is fast paced and tries to get the ball right back over, that is not us. We are a team that needs to slow things down, set up our hitters. We’re not going to run crazy plays. When we play our game at our tempo, we’re a pretty hard team to beat,” said Richards.

The Bolts improved to 2-4 on the year while West fell to 0-4. Richards hopes that the win will help the team gain some traction moving forward.

“Getting the win will help us show that that is the type of team that we can be. We can come into our home gym and sweep a team, then get ready for the next game,” Richards said. “My biggest thing with them is that we all know what is expected. We have been here for three years, we are experienced.”

East, West, volleyball

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