Cook, Northmen pick up second consecutive victory

Young North Smithfield squad faces difficult match vs. Thunderbolts

NORTH SMITHFIELD — North Smithfield volleyball coach Jeff Crins doesn’t have a say in his team’s schedule, but he must’ve been pleased when he saw who is young squad was going to face in the first week of the season.

Instead of facing two of the elite teams in Division II in the opening week, the Northmen jousted with a Mt. Hope team which won three games last season and Westerly, which didn’t win a match.

Just as Crins hoped, the Northmen built some confidence with a pair of sweeps to go into Tuesday’s match against talented Cranston East feeling good about themselves. Two days after sweeping the Huskies in Bristol, the Northmen rode senior outside hitter Tyler Cook (nine kills and five aces) and middle hitter Noah Darveau (10 kills, three aces and two blocks) 25-11, 2513, 25-18 victory over the Bulldogs at Lovett Gymnasium.

“We’re just showing up to practice every day and trying to get better because we are a young team and we’ve lost a lot of people, especially from the (2015 D-II) championship team,” Cook said. “It’s just about getting out and working on the things that we need to work on.”

“I wanted to be a little bit more fluid and I wanted to see us run our offense a little more,” Crins said about the improvements from Tuesday. “We did that today. We’re starting to get the pass to target a little more and we’re using as much of our offense as we can.”

North Smithfield (2-0 Division II) will find out how far its come in the first three weeks of the season when the Northmen visit Cranston East Tuesday night. The Thunderbolts lost to Division II champion Cranston West in last season’s semifinals.

“This was good for us going into Cranston East on Tuesday,” Crins said. “This boosted their confidence. We’ll go there and see what happens against them.”

Westerly (0-2 Division II) trailed by 11 points early in the first set and nine points early in the second, but the Bulldogs remained competitive for most of the third set. The set was tied at 14 before the Northmen rode the serving of Sean Murphy to open up a five-point advantage.

Junior Angelo Turano produced a team-high six digs for the Bulldogs, while outside hitter Adelmo Intrieri added two aces, a kill and a dig, and Matt Coskran had two kills and an ace.

The Bulldogs actually scored the first point, but as was the case far too many times in the 50-minute match, the road side couldn’t handle prosperity. Following a Westerly service error, the Northmen rattled off six more points to build a six-point lead. The Northmen led 14-3 and 19-4 before the visitors made a mini-run. Sophomore setter Will Reyes keyed a 5-1 run to end the set.

Reyes was the setter in the first two sets before Crins switched to a 6-2, which allowed fellow sophomore Jeff Lamoureaux to set in the third.

“Will’s got the game down pat, but he’s still working on building some confidence and working on his decision making,” Crins said. “He’s got great hands and the other stuff will come with that.”

Crins said after last week’s Injury Fund loss to Mount St. Charles that he likes the balance he has in the front row, but he needs Cook to be a go-to hitter in key spots. The senior delivered a couple of kills early in the second to help the Northmen open up a 14-6 advantage.

“He’s coming into that role of go-to hitter who can put that ball away when we need it,” Crins said. “The other guys around him are playing consistent all the way around. Murph, Noah and Tejas (Bhatia) are starting to click. They don’t have to kill the ball every time, but they need to make smart decisions.”

After another blowout win, Crins switched formations in the third. That allowed the Bulldogs to hang around until late in the set. The set was tied at 14 when the Northmen sided out and Murphy went to the line and served his team to a 19-14 advantage. Bhatia delivered his eighth kill to finish the match. Follow Branden Mello on Twitter @Branden_Mello