Girls Volleyball: East Rallies to Defeat West in City Rivalry

Cranston East hosted Cranston West Monday on the Lady Bolts' senior night. The Falcons took game one, but Cranston East played stout defense, forcing the West hitters to take big swings and make errors. East takes three straight for a 3-1 victory, splitting the season series with West.

Both teams were adorned in pink t-shirts which read "Dig Out," raising money towards breast cancer awareness.

Game one was tight throughout, with the Thunderbolts playing scrappy defense and making West take extra swings on nearly every play. Gianna Delgado had back to back kills early to give East their largest lead at 7-4. Captain Samantha Wheeler had back to back kills a little later in the game to help West regain the lead at 13-11.

The Falcons held a two-point lead at 21-19 when Junior Alexa Jillson stepped up to the service line. Jillson promptly stretched the Falcon lead to four with two aces, and Courtney Lambrese capped off the five-point run and game one with two kills, and West lead 1-0.

Cranston East trailed 7-8 in game two but went on a six-point run to give the Lady 'Bolts a 13-8 lead. Theda Tann and Carly Rotenberg had several kills in the run and Tann had an ace as well. West Captain and Outside Hitter Gianna Delgado came alive late in the game when the lead shrank and carried her team to a  25-19 victory, evening the match at one game apiece.

Cranston East was dominant in game three, as they never trailed on their way to a 25-15 game three win. Setter Jincy Phannn did a great job spreading the ball around and her hitters responded, creating a balanced attack for the Thunderbolts in the third game.

West made a multitude of errors in game four, which prevented them from evening the match at 2-2. East created a five-point lead at 13-8, but due to some errors of their own, the lead shrank to three at 22-19. But the Falcons were their own worst enemy, as the ensuing serve from Courtney Lambrese found the net, wasting the opportunity for a comeback. Kyra Symonds had an ace to close it out for the Lady Bolts', who went out on top for senior night with a 3-1 win.

The Cranston East gym was packed for senior night and the players really seemed to feed off the home crowd. 

"They had so much energy so that's why we had so much energy. So i think they really helped out a lot," Captain Gianna Delgado said.

After the game one loss, Cranston East Coach Ronald Lee told his players that this was their night and they needed to step it up. And the Thunderbolts responded with three consecutive wins.

"They outplayed us tonight. They wanted to win more than we did," Cranston West Coach Tom Ferri said.

The strong defense and consistent passing of the Thunderbolts, enabled them to have a balanced hitting attack which lead them to victory.

The Lady Bolts will finish their season on Wednesday against Classical, while West will try to improve their playoff seeding on Thursday.