Saints secure top seed
Volleyballers head to playoffs with convincing win
PAWTUCKET — Maddie Nault knew exactly who she was going to set the ball to late in the third game of Tuesday afternoon’s Division III showdown with talented Rogers.
The Vikings knew who the senior was going to set. Everyone inside Alumni Hall knew where the ball was going to go.
With the Saints clinging to a one-point lead late in the game, Nault received a perfect pass and delivered a perfect set for middle hitter Victoria Adegboyega. The junior produced a thunderous kill and followed it up with a block to earn the Saints a pair of match points. The junior ended the match with a kill – her team-best 12th – as the Saints secured a 25-19, 25-21, 25-23 victory.
“Usually if it’s a close game like that I will go to her automatically because I have all the faith in her that she will get it over and put it to the floor,” Nault said.
“We all kind of have faith in each other, but it’s not just about me because everyone on the team is great,” Adegboyega said after adding three blocks and three digs. “I was kind of scared at the end of the game, but when my team needs me I have to pull through. The coaches and my teammates encourage me daily to get better and I put in the extra time and effort to do this.”
St. Raphael (9-1 Division III) clinched the No. 1 seed in the playoffs as it looks to defend the title it won over Block Island in November of 2019. Nault, who recorded her 1,000th career assist earlier in the season, guided the offense with 29 assists and five digs, while Tatyana Vicente did a little bit of everything with six kills, five aces and 13 digs.
The Saints close out the regular season Wednesday night at the PCTA against Central.
“I really like the way our attack is looking, especially with Allajah Perryman moving from the right side last year to the outside,” St. Raphael coach Cory Linhares said. “She’s adjusted really well and is hitting the ball really well. Vicki and Amaya [Dowdy] are controlling the middle. On the other side, I think our serve-receive still needs work and will until the end of the season. We also need to be better in junk-ball situations.”
Rogers (6-2 Division III) defeated the Saints in the 2018 D-III final, which is something that still bothers Adegboyega. The star that November afternoon in the five-game win was lefty Sophie Breitenbach. Now a junior, Breitenbach, is even more dominant and was the main reason the Vikings were even in position to push the match to a fourth game.
Breitenbach had three kills early in the opening game to keep the Vikings in the contest, but St. Raphael’s serving [Vicente] and it’s attacking arsenal proved to be too much to overcome in the opening game. The Saints turned a 16-14 advantage into a 23-15 lead thanks to the serving of Vicente and the attacking of Adegboyega and Perryman.
“Rogers played tough and because they beat us in my freshman year – I know it’s so long ago – but it feels almost like yesterday,” Adegboyega said. “That’s our motivation because we didn’t want to let them beat us again. We needed to push through.”
Breitenbach used a jump float serve to record four straight aces early in the second game to give the Vikings a 7-3 lead. Rogers, however, committed eight service errors in the middle game to aid the hosts. A service error gave St. Raphael an 18-17 lead and then Nault followed with a kill, as the Saints never trailed for the rest of the game.
Neither team led by more than three points in a third game that featured improved serving from both sides and longer rallies. Breitenbach, Kathryn Margolis and the Vikings went on a 5-0 run in the middle of the game to take an 1816 advantage. The road side led 1918 when Vicente delivered a block and then had a kill to put her team up 21-20.
With the Saints up 22-21, Nault connected with Adegboyega for a thunderous kill that put the Saints up 23-21.
“When the chips are down and we need to get a point – whether it’s when we’re having a tough time or we need to put things away – the ball goes one place and that’s to Vicki,” Linhares said.
A free-ball error on match point cut the lead to 24-23, but then Nault found one of her top hitters to kill the match off.