Girls Volleyball: Cranston East Suffers another Sweep

Cranston East came into Thursday night's game with a 1-10 record, still mathematically alive for a playoff spot, but would need to defeat the second place Townies to extend their season. 

East Providence had some players out of the lineup due to sickness and was playing a new rotation against the Thunderbolts. Due to these factors, the Townies were making a lot of errors in game one, especially serving.

"We've been in a bad rut the last week or two and we've been trying to fight our way out of it. So it took us a little bit to wake up and then we picked it up from there," East Providence Head Coach Alex Butler said.

The struggles of East Providence were coupled with consistent setting from Jincy Phann, and cerebral hitting from Gianna Delgado, leading to a closely contested game one. But towards the end, the Townies got their act together and leaned on their go-to-hitter Kimberly Thomas, who led them to a 25-18 game one victory.

Cranston East allowed two big runs in game two which wold put the game out of reach. The Townies had a five-point run early on, and then had an eight-point run that pushed their lead to game point at 24-10. The second run was highlighted by three aces from Alexandria Amaral, two kills from Kimberly Thomas, and two kills from Lindsee Allienello. Thomas finished off the game a few plays later, capturing game two for East Providence, 25-13.

Coach Ronald Lee made some substitutions in game three for Cranston East, in effort to try to give some younger players some playing time. And the inexperience showed as Thomas propelled the Townies to an eight point lead at the service line, as she had four aces in the ten-point run. The Townies finished off game three with relative ease while playing against the Lady Bolts' second string. 25-11 was the final.

The win moves East Providence to 9-3 on the season, and with Mount St. Charles narrowly defeating Ponaganset in a five-game match, the Townies regain sole possession of second place in Division I North.

With the loss and a Cranston West victory last night, the Thunderbolts have now been eliminated from playoff contention. But the team is excited for their senior night rivalry game on Monday against Cranston West.

"It doesn't matter what record they have it's always a big thing," said Coach Lee.