Wizards too much for Tolman
West Warwick earns trip to Classical in quarters
WEST WARWICK — The No. 6 Tolman High School volleyball team brought a bit of an edge with them into Wednesday night’s D-II preliminary match against West Warwick.
At 8-9, the Tigers needed something to propel them over the hump as they found themselves going up against the 13-5 Wizards.
A vocal bench that led the way in the scoring department would not be enough in the end, as the Wizards, thanks in part to a fortunate call late in the third set, prevailed by a 3-1 final (25-16, 23-25, 27-25, 25-17), under the bright, recently-instilled LED lights at the Dan Sylvester Gymnasium.
The win sent West Warwick into the D-II quarterfinals tomorrow when they play Classical in Proviedence while the Tigers’ season comes to an end.
“All week in practice, we heard a lot of good things about West Warwick. I watched them play once. I knew [Mae D’Ambra] was a great setter and a great hitter. The whole team was very solid, very fundamental. [Jordan Rajotte] in the middle was tough, so I knew we were going to need our best performance,” Tolman coach Mike Haggerty said following the defeat.
“We worked all week on scrapping, trying to keep balls alive, trying to dig and make plays, basically just trying to control the ball as long as possible,” he said.
After dropping the opening set, the Tigers evened the match at 1 with a 25-23 win in the second.
The third set was defined by lengthy runs from both sides. The Tigers surged out of the gate, taking a commanding 11-3 lead before a 15-7 run by the home team enabled them to even the score up, 18-18. Both sides battled back and forth down the stretch before a costly error on the part of the Tigers gave the Wizards a gift point.
“We subbed back row, front row for Jasmine Brito-Silva and Jayne Assuncao. Asusuncao was entering the front row, Brito-Silva was laying down on the floor instead of being up in her position ready to sub and you only have a certain amount of time to substitute, so they then had to reward the point to the other team,” Haggerty said.
That point gave West Warwick a 26-25 lead. Despite squandering three previous set points, they did not let this one get away from them, ending the set on the very next point for a 2-1 lead.
“Seniors need to make senior moments in playoff games and their seniors made more plays than us tonight. That’s the story of our year; we just need to make one more play,” said Haggerty.
The fourth and final set was the most dominant one of the night for the home team.
Save for a late run by the Tigers, one that was too little too late, West Warwick’s lead was never in doubt, as they secured the win and advanced to the next round.
Wizard head coach Josh Malloy credited the Tigers for making his team work for their victory.
“They were scrappy. They got a lot of balls up that a lot of teams wouldn’t. They’re quick on their feet, they hustle balls down to the back row. Just when you think a play was over, they’d get right back into it, so a lot of credit to their defense,” he said.
He was particularly impressed with the play of Al-Amir.
“Their libero was very scrappy. She got a lot of deep balls off and a lot of good touches,” he said.
On his own teams end, while the win was the most important result of the night, there were still areas of improvement he would like to see moving forward.