Girls Volleyball: Falcons Play Their Best, but Come Up Short at Prout

The Cranston High School West girls’ volleyball team gave their best effort of the season on Tuesday night at The Prout School, but it wasn’t quite enough to knock off the two-time Division I defending champions in the preliminary round of the playoffs.

The Crusaders, who have won six state titles in a row overall (including three in DII and one in DIII), kept their title streak alive with the 25-18, 25-27, 25-16, 25-23 victory.

A couple of weeks ago, the Falcons expected to finish the season as the fifth seed in DI-North, which would have paired them up with North Kingstown in the playoffs. However, a surprising loss to cross-city rival Cranston High School East (3-1) dropped the Falcons to the sixth slot, resulting in a matchup with the young, but always talented Prout squad.

Following the disappointing loss, the Falcons bounced back with a strong performance against second place East Providence.

“Although we lost to East Providence, things started to click for us in that match,” said Cranston West head coach Tom Ferri. “We felt like we could play with Prout, especially since we matched up well with them earlier in the season at the Koch Eye Tournament.”

In the opening game, Prout raced out to a 21-10 lead. West finished the game with an 8-4 run, but committed too many unforced errors to give itself a chance to win.

“We came out a little nervous,” admitted Ferri. “We probably made 10-12 unforced errors.”

In the second game, the Falcons looked much more comfortable, jumping out to a 19-12 lead. However, following a Prout timeout, the Crusaders scored eight of the next nine points to tie the game at 20-20. The two teams exchanged points the rest of the way, until an ace by sophomore Courtney Lambrese and a net violation by Prout sealed the 27-25 win for the Falcons.

Strategy played a significant role in the pivotal third game. Noticing that the West backrow defenders were positioned deep in the court, the Crusaders repeatedly tipped the ball short, out of their reach. Prout won the game 25-16.

“We told our players to move up, but by the time we made that adjustment it was too late,” said Ferri. “We started to pick up a lot of those balls, but we had already allowed at least 7 or 8 to drop. That stretch was a turning point in the match.”

The fourth game was close throughout, with the score being tied on seven occasions. Both teams hit well and defended well, resulting in several long volleys.

Unfortunately for the Falcons, the match ended with a bit of controversy. Up 23-22 and on the verge of forcing a fifth game, a tip by West that appeared to at least touch the sideline was called out. On the next play, the Falcons were whistled for a double contact, setting up match point for Prout. The Crusaders finished things off when a hit deflected off West’s block and landed out of bounds.

“I thought the shot in question caught the line, but it was hard for me to see it from my angle,” said Ferri. “It was tough to lose that game the way we did. I felt that if we had won the fourth game, we would have won the match.”

Prout head coach Dan Greene was impressed with the Falcons’ effort.

“Cranston West gave us a run for our money, which forced us to play so hard,” stated Greene. “I liked how they kept attacking and stayed aggressive.

Following the match, Ferri and Greene recalled that four years ago the two teams faced each other in a DII playoff match in the same gym. The game scores of that matchup were nearly identical to the most recent one. The 3-1 match outcome in Prout’s favor was also the same.

The nucleus of West’s lineup is young, with a lot of potential. Courtney Salisbury, who is a junior, had seven kills and two blocks in the playoff match. Junior Ailis Hanley collected five kills and four blocks and Lambrese finished with three kills, five blocks and three aces. Both of West’s setters will return next year as well.