Mount positive in defeat to NK
WOONSOCKET — The final two games of the Mount St. Charles girls volleyball team’s season opener against reigning state champion North Kingstown went the way Mount coach Josh D’Abate had a feeling they would.
Fielding an inexperienced team that didn’t get a chance to practice Thursday, the Mounties were going up against a bigger NK team which featured a number of talented returning players, including All-Staters Chloe Khoer and Jamie Harrington.
What D’Abate didn’t expect – and what shocked everyone in attendance Friday night – was what happened in the first two games. Led by senior libero Katherine Champagne, senior setter Emma Picard and senior outside hitter Isa Miller, the Mounties took the opening game and were up 23-20 in the second game.
“I knew that level of play is there with this group of girls because we have good hitters, good passers and a setter, but I was surprised to see us fire out and play like we did tonight,” said D’Abate, who said prior to the match he wouldn’t be surprised if NK didn’t drop a game all season. “It’s good to know that we have that level in us, now it’s just about being consistent.”
Picard had 23 assists and seven digs, Miller delivered a team-high 14 kills to go along with five digs and sophomore Ally Melnychuk had four kills and four digs in a 24-26, 25-23, 25-16, 25-13 North Kingstown Division I victory.
The turning point in the match came after Miller delivered an ace to put the Mounties up 23-20 in the second game. The Mount could’ve won the next point after a Skipper free ball, but the visitors won point. D’Abate called a timeout after another NK point, but the Skippers scored the next three points after the timeout to even the match.
“It’s early in the season, so the fact that we had that opportunity, I like that,” D’Abate said. “It’s about learning how to win games like that with this group of girls. You have Ally, Paige [McCreight] and Bella [Gioffre] who haven’t played at this level. Bella is a brand new to the program, so it’s going to take a few opportunities and time to learn how to win those games.”
North Kingstown (1-0), which received a match-high 17 kills Koehr and eight kills and four blocks from junior middle Meaghan Corkey, started to pass better and take away Mount’s top hitters early in the third game. The Mounties trailed 16-12 in the third game when the Skippers took complete control of the match.
Led by Koehr and Harrington, the Skippers scored 34 of the match’s final 51 points to avoid an upset to the upstart Mounties.
“North Kingstown started to pick up their level of defense and started to adjust to the things that we scored on early in the match,” D’Abate said. “I think we ran out of some options because we weren’t scoring. I don’t think we ran out of steam, it was just we ran out of options on offense. I was very excited to see how we played tonight.”
The Skippers overcame a fourpoint deficit early in the opening game to take a 22-19 advantage thanks to superb hitting and blocking. Just when it seemed the Skippers took Mount’s best punch, Miller, Marissa Tessier and the Mounties went on a 7-2 run to claim the game.
North jumped out to an 11-5 lead in the second game, but, again, the Mounties rallied. Mount went on a 14-6 run to take a 19-17 lead. The Mounties led 23-20 after a Miller ace, but then the road side scored the final five points of the game and never looked back.
“Katie did a great job tonight in serve-receive,” D’Abate said. “We’re not a big offensive team, so we need Katie, Ally and Issa to pass the ball well. They were in serve-receive all six rotations in all four games – no one else was in serve-receive. Emma was awesome. We’re on her a lot to pass the ball with her hands and get in position to do it, she did that great tonight.”
WARRIORS FALL IN 4
CENTRAL FALLS — Senior outside hitter Liliana Perez had 13 aces and seven kills, while junior outside hitter Jackie Morales had 12 aces and four kills in Central Falls’ 24-26, 25-20, 25-23, 25-11 defeat to Pilgrim in its Division II opener Friday night.
The Warriors (0-1 D-II) are back in action Monday night when Woonsocket crosses the Valley for a 6 o’clock contest.