End of the road for MSC
No. 1 North Kingstown downs upstart Mounties
EAST GREENWICH — If the No. 4 Mount St. Charles girls volleyball team was going to be the first team in nearly two years to knock off reigning state champion North Kingstown, they needed to play points like the opening point of Wednesday night’s Division I semifinal.
After the underdog Mounties twice dug North Kingstown attacks, senior middle blocker Morgan Watson stuffed NK middle Meaghan Corkery.
Mount failed to execute its defensive game plan in the opening game after the Watson block, but over the final three games, Mount St. Charles was up for the challenge. Led by senior outside hitter Issa Miller and senior libero Katherine Champagne, the Mounties forced the Skippers into errors and were in position to win each of the final three games.
Alas, the Mounties only pulled out the second game because NK junior All-State outside hitter Haley Sawyer was just too good. Sawyer helped the Skippers pull away in each of the final two games of a 25-14, 24-26, 25-18, 25-18 victory at East Greenwich High.
“Our game plan was for everyone to just focus on what they had to do in their positions,” Miller said after delivering an All-State performance at the net and from the service line. “Everyone had to be on tonight and everyone had to play with heart. We couldn’t take a play off. We weren’t happy with the energy in the first game, we just made sure we had energy and didn’t take a point off.”
“We made some pretty big mistakes in the first game and we cleaned those up in the second, third and fourth games,” Mount St. Charles coach Josh D’Abate said. “We had to play almost perfect to win this match. I think if perfect is 100, we played at a 99. Other than that first game, we didn’t make a lot of mistakes mentally and we didn’t miss a lot of serves. We executed our game plan, but they just closed the match.”
Mount St. Charles (11-7 Division I) scored the final three points of the second game to tie the match after a pair of aces from the indefatigable Miller. The Mounties tied the third game at 17 and the fourth at 16, but Sawyer, libero Jamie Harrington and senior setter Gabrielle An- drade engineered long scoring runs for the Skippers.
Even though the Mounties came up a win short of playing for the program’s first state title, D’Abate was proud of his squad. After graduating a number of talented players – including both middle hitters, the starting libero and starting setter – the Mounties went a round further this season.
“If you told me at the beginning of the season that we were a final-four team, I would’ve told you that you were crazy,” D’Abate said. “We had some many pieces that we had to replace, but the kids came in on the first day and bought into what we were trying to do. This is maybe the proudest I’ve been of a team other than that boys team last year. This might be the proudest moment I’ve had as a coach because these girls bought into what we were trying to do.”
North Kingstown (180 Division I) defeated the Mounties three times this season and the Skippers won all three matches in four games. The Skippers will play for their second straight state ti- tle Saturday afternoon at 5 at Rhode Island College’s Murray Center against either No. 2 Barrington or No. 6 La Salle.
After the Mounties tied the opening game at two, the Skippers simply served the Mounties off the court. Harrington served six straight points to help the Skippers open up a 12-4 lead. Mount setter Emma Picard served an ace to cut her team’s deficit to 15-10, but the Skippers answered with five straight points to claim the game.
Mount trailed 5-1 in the second game, but they responded to take a 9-7 lead after a Watson kill. Neither team led by more than three points, but the Skippers earned game point on a Kyla Berwitz ace. Marissa Tessier killed off the game point and then Isabella Giofre served two straight winners to tie the match.
“We just believed in each other and we played with heart the entire time,” Miller said.
NK, behind kills from Sawyer, opened up a fivepoint lead early in the third. But, just like the second game, the Mounties had an answer. Paige McCreight had a kill, while Miller added an ace and a kill to close the gap to one. The Mounties again battled back from a six-point deficit to the game at 17 The Skippers scored seven of the game’s final eight points to regain the lead.
The Mounties led the fourth game 15-14 after a thunderous Miller kill. Picard delivered a kill three points later to tie the game at 16, but the Skippers scored nine of the match’s final 11 points – including the final five – to reach the state final.
“We let them go on a few too many runs,” Miller said. “We kind of got down on ourselves when we lost a point and we let it affect the next few points. Overall, I’m really proud of what we did this year.”