The top-seeded Cranston West boys volleyball team fell in the Division II championship 3-1 (25-19/ 21-25/ 23-25/ 22-25) to Barrington last Friday night at Rhode Island College. It was the second straight season that the Falcons reached the championship match.

Despite grabbing a decisive win in the first set, the Eagles would jump out to leads in each of the final three sets and found ways time and time again to hold off the West attack. The Falcons fought back to tie the score at times throughout the evening, but could not muster up enough in the final exchanges of each game to get the job done.

Chris Harvey paced the Falcon offense with 17 kills while Christian Mak added 14. Ashton Mak finished with 31 assists and eight digs for West.

“The boys wanted to get to the finals and they proved that they were worthy to get there. They played hard the whole season and I can’t complain about anything, they fought all season,” said West coach Jenn Ferencko.

The Falcons will be graduating one of their best senior cores in program history, which includes Harvey, Christian Mak, Jordan Cunha and Logan Reed. After coming up short last season, the seniors were determined to return to the title game and their efforts were contagious throughout the rest of the roster.

“The seniors were the leaders. Chris and Christian played on varsity for four years and they really wanted it this year. The rest of the seniors took that want and carried it throughout the season,” said Ferencko.

West will be returning some key pieces to fill in the gaps, including Ashton Mak, who was one of the top underclassmen in the state this spring. Also returning to the lineup will be Ziyue Wang, Lionel Alvarez, Kevin DiLone, Marcus Pinheiro, Nick Chin and Henry DeLa Zerda.

Ferencko hopes that the championship run and final game against Barrington will fuel the returners moving forward.

“The biggest thing they can take with them is the not giving up concept. Even though we were down every game, they fought back to get even and it was just a couple of mistakes that made the difference,” said Ferencko. “It’s that fight that they’ll need to keep. They were upset, and they already want it next year.”