Coventry Captures Division I Volleyball Championship

KINGSTON – The Coventry High girls’ volleyball team captured its first state championship in dramatic fashion Saturday afternoon, defeating Ponaganset, 3-2, at URI’s Keaney Gymnasium.

The 24-26, 28-26, 25-17, 21-25, 15-11 win was especially satisfying for Coventry’s eight seniors, who lost to The Prout School in the finals a year ago.

“When you’ve felt what it’s like to lose, you appreciate winning so much more,” said outside hitter Quincie Varin.

While last year’s runner-up finish was disappointing, the Knotty Oakers learned from that experience and used it as motivation.

“Last year prepared us for this year,” explained Lyndsey Sweeney. “We’ve been dreaming about this moment since our sophomore year.”

“I have respect and admiration for the four-year commitment that these seniors made,” said head coach Leo Bush. “They certainly didn’t want their legacy to be that they made it to back-to-back finals and didn’t win it.”

Bush also expressed his respect for Coventry’s opponent. Ponaganset finished third during the regular season in Division I-North, but defeated South Kingstown and Mount St. Charles to make it to the finals.

“It wasn’t by chance that Ponaganset was in the championship match; they were playing the best volleyball headed into the playoffs,” said Bush. “They’re well-coached and have an unbelievable setter. This was two great teams pushing each other to the limit. In the end, I think our experienced helped.”

The first game set the tone for the rest of the match, as there were eight ties and five lead changes.

With the score 23-22 in favor of the Chieftains, Alexis Ruest scored on consecutive off-speed shots to give the Oakers game point. On the next play, Coventry thought it won the game when Sam Clark blocked Ponaganset’s attack, but the middle hitter was called for a net violation. Errant passes by Coventry on the next two points gave Ponaganset the win in Game 1.

Amazingly, the second game was just as close as the first. Neither team held more than a four-point advantage and once again, there were eight ties and five lead changes.  

Following a 20-20 tie, the Oakers scored four of the next five points, punctuated by a Jenna Swanholm kill. But just as they did in the opening set, the Chieftains managed to survive game point and extend the game. In fact, Ponaganset reached game point twice, 25-24 and 26-25.

On the brink of being down 0-2 in the match, Ruest and Vanessa Equitani came up with clutch kills to pull Coventry ahead 27-26. Ponaganset was then whistled for an illegal contact, evening the match at 1-1.

“Being down 0-2 versus being tied 1-1 was huge,” admitted Bush. “I have to give my players credit, they didn’t quit in that situation.”

The third and fourth games didn’t possess nearly as much drama as the first two. After being tied 14-14 in the third game, Coventry scored 11 of the final 14 points to win 25-17. Ponaganset led wire-to-wire in the fourth set, en route to a 25-21 victory.

The two teams exchanged points early in the fifth game, before the Oakers went on an 8-2 run. Equitani collected three kills during the spurt.

Ponaganset pulled within two, 12-10, following three consecutive kills by Melissa Previte and one by setter Taylor Stevens. Coventry regained control and Equitani put the match away on a hit that deflected out of bounds off the Ponaganset block.

“That was the first time we went five games all year,” said Bush. “In a fifth game, it takes a little luck to walk away the winner.”

It also took some huge performances by Coventry’s seniors. Setter Alyssa Nahigian had 43 assists, 9 digs and 3 kills. Ruest had 18 digs, 9 kills and 2 aces. Clark had 10 kills, 5 digs, 4 aces and 2 blocks. Sweeney, who played perhaps her best match of the year, collected 22 digs.