BY CHARLIE ADAMS, TSM HEAD SPORTSWRITER
CRANSTON, RI - The Cranston East girls volleyball team has scuffled early in their season, following a 1-1 start to the season, they’d dropped two back-to-back matches heading into tonight’s contest. They had a favorable matchup against their cross-town rival as they looked to steer their season back on track with lots of the season left. The ‘Bolts jolted the Falcons, taking them down in straight sets, 3-0.
Entering the contest, the Thunderbolts were coming off consecutive close defeats, each taking five sets to decide. While still losses, the ‘Bolts have kept it very competitive as of late, Cranston West has not. The Falcons came in winning only one set across three games. It showed as East rolled through their rivals in dominating fashion.
The Thunderbolts ultimately did what they were supposed to do against struggling competition in this contest. However, they made it harder on themselves at times, making mistakes that gave West some hope. Great play from Taylor Simoneau (16 digs, 4 aces), Anika Poshkus (8 kills) and Sarina Marines (7 kills) propelled the ‘Bolts to a clean sweep.
East started the first set off strong, getting out to a 15-9 lead before West called their first time-out. A few subs and a few Falcon points brought them back into the set, forcing a ‘Bolt timeout. The set never felt in real trouble past the 10-point mark, until a set point where net faults and other mistakes brought the Falcons back to a tie at 24. The Thunderbolts responded with a point and an ace by Jaylanie Rosado, as they held on to win the set 26-24.
Cranston East started the second set similarly to the first and used their first time out while trailing 8-4. The ‘Bolts came back well and tied the second set at 9, taking their first lead at 12-11. It was a back-and-forth affair throughout the rest of the set, but it was East who pulled away, 25-19, to go up two sets.
The Falcons looked done for in the third set, as the ‘Bolts dominated the final set throughout. West used a timeout down 15-7, despite the spark seemingly already extinguished. Out of the timeout, the Falcons clawed all the way back to tie at 16. Forced to respond, the ‘Bolts fought back and forth until they were up 23-20, when West used their final timeout. On game point, Jessica Tran’s serve was returned out of bounds, finishing off the clean sweep.
The Thunderbolts were in control of the match all throughout, continuing West’s early season woes. East will look to use this sweep to ignite a season turnaround and set the ‘Bolts for a deep playoff run. They are back in action next Monday where they face Portsmouth at home.
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