Girls Volleyball: Coventry Defeats East Greenwich, 3-0

Undefeated Coventry swept all three games - 25-8, 25-14 and 25-22 - to post its fifth straight win in Division One South, over host East Greenwich on Wednesday.

Despite gaining its 15^th win overall in 17 games, Oakers head coach Leo Bush praised the Avengers, now 2-3. “I tip my hat to them,” he said. “They played with us and we struggled at times. Our serving was not as strong, but we did a good job of receiving. That forced us to work harder to put the ball away and we needed to work harder in rallies."

Without its usual service game to dictate action, the first-place Oakers threw their entire offensive arsenal against the hosts in the first game triumph. Samantha Clark delivered a few booming hits, Alexis Ruest made a few winning hits and Alyssa Nahigian made a quick shot that fell in. The Oakers also capitalized on Avenger errors and inconsistent serving for more points.

In game two, the Avengers struck back with a balanced attack and kept pace with the Oakers early. Featuring an ace by Rachel Basso, two kills by Elise Farnun, and a set by Phoebe Wong to outside hitter Julia Pelosi, East Greenwich was tied, 5-5.

Then the Oakers tall 6-foot plus hitters took command. Samantha Clark won a joust at the net despite efforts by Pelosi and next made a decisive block on a hard hit. Lefty Quincie Varin made a strong hit and Jenna Swanholm took a set pass from Nahigian to increase the lead to 11-6. With Vanessa Equitani on the service line for seven successive points, the Oakers led, 23-12, and won on a Varin kill to the back row.

In the final game, Rachel Basso made four straight serves to stake the Avengers to a 7-2 lead service game. The Oakers eased their way back into the match, but still trailed, 21-18, following more effective Basso serves.  

But the Oakers stormed back and closed out the third game and match on a 7-1 run. Clark made two more points, but the Avengers also made three errors. Then Clark, who’d smashed the ball throughout, fooled everyone on a dink shot instead, lofting the ball to the floor in a gap over Avenger frontline defenders.

“We are usually speedier and can pass and serve the ball better than we did tonight,” said Avengers head coach Terri Jones of her young squad with just three seniors. “Elise Farnun had a nice night and Rachel Basso was the only one who served consistently well for us.”

But Jones also pointed to another factor that might have forced them into so many errors. “Their height hurt us the most because they could get whatever they wanted over our blockers and we could not hit over them.”

Clark had 1 ace, 14 kills, 4 blocks and 1 dig. Equitani finished with 4 aces, 3 kills and 4 digs while Ruest had 2 aces, 4 kills and 6 digs. “I’m happy to see our other players step up and finish the game,” said Bush of Jennna Swanholm and McKenzie Mitchell. "For some of them it was their first match play of the season.”

Basso had five aces while Farnun had five kills and two digs for the Avengers.

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