COLLEGE SPORTS COLUMN
“Consistency” could be Ella Fiore’s middle name.
The 5-foot-11 senior guard/forward from Narragansett and a St. Andrews School graduate, is averaging a team-high 12.8 points a game for Florida’s Lynn University’s women’s basketball team. Last season, she averaged 12.4 points in 32 games with 29 starts.
An all-round performer, Fiore also leads the Fighting Knights in rebounding with a 7.2 average and has 16 assists, 10 steals and six blocked shots. Last season, she averaged 5.4 rebounds a game with 60 assists, 56 steals and nine blocked shots.
Fiore has started all five games for 3-2 Lynn and has scored in double figures in four of them. She has scoed 15 points on three different occasions. She had 13 points and 10 rebounds in a 6357 loss to Virginia State on Nov. 20 and 15 points and 10 rebounds in a 72-57 triumph over MinnesotaCrookston on Nov. 24.
Brendan Gibbons (Wakefield)
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound forward is seeing action as a true freshman for the Air Force Academy men’s hockey team, the Falcons 7-8-1 overall and 4-3-1 in the Atlantic Hockey Association. The St. Mark’s school (Mass.) graduate who played 130 games in three seasons of junior hockey has seen action in 12 games thus far. He likes playing against Michigan State. He had his first collegiate goal and an assist in a 6-5 victory over the Spartans on Nov. 12 and came back the next night with another goal and an assist in a 5-3 loss.
Jennifer Rickard (Coventry)
The 5-foot-6 senior forward continues to be a solid performer for the Salve Regina women’s hockey team, the Seawolves 5-1-2 overall and 2-1-1 in the Commonwealth Coast
Conference. Rickard who played for both La Salle Academy and Moses Brown during her high school career, has two goals. Her first came in a 4-1 season-opening victory over Johnson & Wales on Oct. 18 and the second was scored in a 4-0 triumph over Albertus Magnus on Nov. 10. In 55 career games she has four goals and three assists.
Ben Dougherty (Charlestown)
The senior is off to a solid start with the Rochester Tech (N.Y.) wrestling team. The Chariho Regional graduate, competing at both 174 and 185 pounds, is 8-3 with a pin, two technical falls and three major decisions. He has a 7539 career record. In his latest match, Dougherty finished third at 184 pounds at the SUNYAC Championship on Nov. 18 in Rochester. He opened the season by finishing fourth at 174 pounds at the Ned McGinley Invitational on Nov. 4 in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Sydney DeCarvalho (Hope)
The 5-foot-6 freshman libero was a member of a young Curry (Mass.) women’s volleyball team. The Colonels, with just three seniors, finished 4-23 and were 0-8 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. The Prout School graduate had 111 digs, 16 assists and 14 service aces in 25 matches and 50 sets. DeCarvalho had double figure digs in four matches with a seasonhigh 18 in a 3-1 loss to Mass Maritime on Sept. 12. She had double figure digs in two of the team’s four victories.
Ethan Knowles (Richmond)
The 5-foot-11, 160-pound freshman back played in 16 games with 12 starts for the Nichols (Mass.) men’s soccer team, the Bison finishing 7-8-3 overall and 2-3-3 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. The Chariho Regional graduate scored his first collegiate goal, and it came in the season opener, a 3-2 loss to Southern Maine on
Sept. 1. Knowles, who played a full 90 minutes in three of the team’s final four games, helped the defense limit foes to 28 goals (1.56 goals against average) with three shutouts.
Ava Mattiucci (North Kingstown)
The 5-foot-6 junior setter had a solid all-around season with the Roger Williams women’s volleyball, the Hawks finishing 9-16 overall and 3-5 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. The North Kingstown High graduate started 21 matches and played in 87 sets and led the team in assists with 641 and service aces with 42, was third in digs with 227, fourth in total blocks with 36.0 and added 70 kills. Mattiucci had a seasonhigh 57 saves for five sets, 47 for four and 26 for three.
Melis Kocak (East Greenwich)
The 6-foot freshman outside hitter played in 24 matches with 21 starts and was on the court for 83 sets for the Saint Anslem (N.H.) women’s volleyball team, the Hawks finishing 14-11 overall and 5-6 in the Northeast-10 Conference after losing 3-2 to Bentley in the league quarterfinals on Nov. 14. The East Greenwich High graduate finished fourth on the team in kills with 133. She also had 60 digs and 24.0 total blocks. Kocak had a seasonhigh 12 kills in a 3-2 loss to
American International on Sept. 16 in Springfield, Mass.
Maddie Resendes (Coventry)
The senior and her twin sister, Sydney, were not only solid on the field for the Curry (Mass.) women’s soccer team, but they did a job in the classroom as well. The sisters were named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District team it was announced on Nov. 22. Both are Coventry High graduates, Maddie majoring in sports and recreation management and Sydney in criminal justice. The Colonels finished 4-7-7 overall and 2-3-3 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference.
Haley Oliver (Coventry)
The sophomore, a Coventry High graduate, and sophomore Benjamin Lockwood (The Prout School) were named MVP in women’s and men’s cross country at Rhode Island College it was announced on Nov. 21. Oliver finished 41st at the Division III NCAA Mideast Regionals on Nov. 11 with a personal record 6,000-meter time of 22:27. Lockwood finished 95th in the men’s division with an 8,000-meter time of 27:16.4. Li Hsiu Hou, who lives in Kingston and is 56-year-old native of Taiwan, was the MVP in women’s tennis.