Scarlet Knights Defeat Oakers

The Coventry Oakers boys volleyball team matched up against the Scarlet Knights from Exeter West Greenwich in a non-league contest on Monday night. The Knights compete in Division II and the Oakers are in Division I, which meant the game would not count towards the regular season standings. The Knights won the match 3 games to 1.

Towards the beginning of the first set, both teams were fighting hard and the game remained close. EWG took a 10-9 lead and then scored six points consecutively. Kyle Johnson was the server during this 6-0 run.

After the Scarlet Knights led 20-12, Coventry went on a 9-1 run, to even the first game at 21. The Oakers momentum continued, as they scored the final three points, winning the game 25-23.

For virtually the entire second game, EWG held the lead. However, it was close as Coventry kept battling. They tied the score at 17, but the Knights ended the game with eight points in a row, evening the match at 1-1.

The third game mirrored the previous one, as the Knights had control from start to finish, but did not dominate. They had leads of 11-10, 14-11, 15-13, and 17-14 during the game. Ultimately, a spike by Stephen McMahon ended the game, with EWG winning it 25-18.

Coventry displayed outstanding hustle and effort for the entire match, but they fell short. Their effort was highly evident towards the end of the fourth and final game of the match.

They battled hard and came back, after trailing most of the game, to tie the score at 17. It was highly competitive down the stretch, as the game was tied at 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 24. The Knights finally put away the Oakers winning the final set 26-24, giving them a 3-1 win.

Coventry junior Kyle Carpenter had 3 aces, 2 kills, 4 digs, and 27 assists. Junior Brandon Tordoff notched 4 aces, 11 kills, and 6 blocks.

Jan McMahon, EWG's coach, was pleased with her team's performance. "They were covering all of their positions and passing well," she said. "I liked the communication," the coach added. 

"Matt Sevegny was amazing, he had 16 kills. He was smart with his hits."

Jonathan Bartlett, the Oakers head coach, saw improvement in his team. 

"We improved in quite a few aspects," he said, "We improved substantially since our match."

However, there is still room to grow and improve. "Serve-receive and serving are two key areas we need to improve," he added.

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