Eagles Volley Past Huskies, 3-1

A rocky start, but a smooth finish.

After struggling through and losing the opening game, the Barrington High girls’ volleyball team regrouped Friday night and methodically beat back a stiff challenge from host Mount Hope High of Bristol, vanquishing the Huskies by a 3-1 margin in a Division II contest played before a large crowd.

After bowing in the opener, 25-16, the Eagles roared back to record victories by tallies of 25-20, 25-15 and 25-10, to improve to 4-1 in league play this fall. Mount Hope dropped to 1-4.

Julia Aspelund and Holly Gildea both racked up 6 kills and Carolyn Fales notched a perfect service effort with 11 points (including 4 aces) as Barrington rebounded from its first loss of the season earlier this week against Narragansett High with a solid performance Friday.

“The first game was ugly, but we were able to come back, which is tough here because they (Mount Hope) always play us tough and there’s a lot of crowd noise here,” said Barrington Coach Ron Enos. “After losing the first game, we just tried to slow them down a little and make substitutions, but overall, our techniques got better and we read the ball better. Everyone contributed.”

The Huskies were sparked by the dynamic senior duo of Nicole Delekta (12 service points, 7 aces, 7 kills and 6 blocks) and Crystal Leitao (15 points and 5 aces) but committed an abundance of unforced mistakes which doomed their comeback attempts.

“It was a little hot in here tonight and I think we ran out of gas,” said Mount Hope Coach Warren Rensehausen. “We’ve been fighting with service-receive and service errors the last couple of matches and we cut them down immensely tonight, but in the last three games, they crept back in.”

Behind Delekta, Leitao and setter Olivia DaCosta (“She was all over the floor tonight, making plays for us,” Rensehausen said), the Huskies snapped a 2-2 deadlock in the opening game with a 9-1 blitz propelled by three Delekta aces. The Eagles twice closed to within three points until Leitao tallied nine unanswered points (including four aces and kills by Delekta and DaCosta) to widen the gap to 23-10 and the hosts ran out the string from there.

Barrington led from start to finish in the second game, using three straight aces by Gildea to open up a 10-2 bulge. Two aces by Briana Stegall later expanded the cushion to 18-8 before a late binge by Delekta (four points, including three aces) reduced the deficit to 22-19.

Kills by Aspelund and Lauren Friedland along with an ace from Gabrielle Arig closed out the game for the Eagles.

The teams stayed close early in the third contest until back-to-back kills by Gildea along with two Stegall aces fueled a 12-3 burst that gave Barrington a 21-11 edge. The Huskies battled back to within seven points before a pair of Fales’ aces concluded the game.

Mount Hope twice enjoyed one-point advantages in the fourth game until Alex Portugal ran off a string of six successive points (highlighted by a couple of aces) that put the Eagles ahead to stay. Gildea climaxed the match with a five-point spree featuring three aces.

Also for Barrington, Arig was credited with 11 digs and Portugal totaled 2 kills, 1 block and two assists. Nadia Rudman, Katherine Butterfield, Abbie DeRiso, Alexis Drucker and Avery Trim likewise played well for the winners.

For Mount Hope, Rensehausen praised the contributions of Marissa Maciel and Jessica Maciel (“Both played better than they had in past matches,” he said), while Courtney Bragantin, Kelly Coccio and Lauren Morra also make key contributions.

Both squads will be home Tuesday against Division II rivals. Barrington will host Middletown High, while Mount Hope will entertain Our Lady of Fatima High of Warren.

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