Novans find way in five
WOONSOCKET — The Woonsocket girls volleyball team didn’t come back from a large deficit to win the third game of Friday night’s Division IV clash with Tiverton, but the fact that the Novans – who trailed by as many as 13 points early in the game – showed signs of life foreshadowed better things to come.
After playing some of its worst volleyball of the season in the second and third games to fall into a one-game hole, the Novans rode the strong play of
sophomore setter Bella Mencarini and improved communication to stay in second place in the division.
The Novans overcame a three-point deficit late in the fourth game behind the attacking of Aje’ana Coleman and then the home side played simple side-out volleyball in the fifth game to secure a 25-16, 23-25, 22-25, 25-20, 15-10 D-IV victory at Savaria Gymnasium.
“We just need to listen to each other in the huddle and understand the problem and once we get that down, we’re good,” Mencarini said of the roller-coaster ride the Novans went on for over two hours Friday night. “Tiverton was a good team and we were playing down, so we had to get up and match their energy and find a way to overcome.”
“Coach Wayne [Poitras] yells at us to keep getting better and we knew what we were doing wrong,” Coleman said. “After coach told us we needed to communicate better, we did that and won the match. At some point in the match we realized we were not going to lose to this team. We played better teams with more intensity and there was no way we were going to lose. It started to click for us.”
Woonsocket (6-1 Division IV) came into the match having only lost three games all season, and all three came in its lone loss to Providence Country Day. The Novans, however, dropped the second game and then ran into a big problem early in the third game with freshman libero Olivia DeMacedo at the line. The Tiger forced Poitras to use both of his timeouts, as she went on a 10-0 run from the line to put the Tigers up 17-4.
Just like in the previous game when the Novans nearly dug themselves out of a big hole, the home side quickly worked their way back into the game. Coleman and Mencarini inspired an 18-7 run to get the Novans back to within two points at 24-22, but a Woonsocket miscue handed the Tigers the game.
“The kids were getting in their heads too much when they fell behind, but once the realize they’re better than what they’re showing, they started to play well,” Poitras said. “You could see their neck hairs standing up because you could see how stressed out they were by what was happening. There was too much talking at each other and not enough cheering each other on.”
Woonsocket built an 8-4 advantage in the fourth game, but they suffered another dip on the roller-coaster ride that was Friday’s match. Junior Molly Richardson and the Tigers responded with a 13-4 run to build a three-point lead late in the game. Woonsocket answered with crucial plays from Rylie Forcier and Coleman to force a fifth game.
Tiverton (4-2 Division IV) proved to be the architect of its own down fall in the race to 15 because the kids from the East Bay committed a pair of early service errors to spark a 6-1 Woonsocket run to start the game. Tiverton battled back to make it 7-6, but Coleman and Mencarini made sure Woonsocket ended the roller-coaster ride with a smile on its face.
“Winning this match was just great,” Mencarini said. “This gives us so much confidence going into the playoffs and if we see them again in the playoffs it would be a good game and we’ll be ready for what they give us.”
“Every time we talk, we’re on top of our game, but we struggle when the communication dies down and there’s no energy,” Coleman said. “That’s what happened early in the match, but we picked it up.”
Woonsocket, which travels to Paul Cuffee Tuesday night, didn’t get off to the best start in the opening game, but the Novans found their rhythm and posted a nine-point win. They fell behind again in the second game, trailing by as many as nine points, before storming back to take a 23-22 lead following a Julia Bernard kill and a Mencarini ace.
Tiverton responded by scoring the game’s final three points to even the match before completely dominating the third game. The Tigers just couldn’t put the Novans away and made the hour-long ride home with a loss.
“I’m exhausted after a match like this, I’d much rather it just go three sets,” Poitras said.