Pawtucket Times

Mounties closing in on No. 1 seed

Taller Bishop Hendricken pushes MSC to four

- By BRANDEN MELLO bmello@woonsocket­call.com

WOONSOCKET — Even though the Bishop Hendricken volleyball team has yet to beat one of the top two teams in either division this season, Mount St. Charles coach Josh D’Abate was worried about the Hawks for one big reason – height.

The Hawks have a clear height advantage at nearly every position against the shorter, quicker Mounties and it showed in parts of the Division INorth clash Sunday night at Mount.

But, a combinatio­n of Hendricken mistakes and superb, quick attacks orchestrat­ed by sophomore brothers Brett and Dan Gould, made sure the Mounties stayed in course for the No. 1 seed in the Division I playoffs. Brett Gould had 36 assists, four kills and three digs, while All-State outside hitter Jarod Tessier had 18 kills and 11 digs in a 25-23, 25-9, 20-25, 25-22 victory over the Hawks.

“We were facing a determined team tonight and I was really happy with the way the guys played,” D’Abate said. “Against a big team like that we have to play fast, play quick and eliminate mistakes. I thought the first game that we won we made one or two less mistakes than they did. In the last game it was the same thing where we got a few points on good defensive plays and we eliminated hitting errors.”

Those one or two fewer mistakes D’Abate is talking about came from the service line. In the opening set the Hawks made two more service errors (5-3) than the Mounties in a two-point game.

The Hawks also made two service errors in the final six points of the match to throw away any chance of extending it to a deciding set.

“Service errors and ball-handling errors are just handing points to the other side,” veteran Hendricken coach Mike Harrington said. “We didn’t have to make them work and they are momentum building-type of plays for the other side. That was frustratin­g.”

Mount St. Charles (13-2 Division I-North) has now won two straight matches against potential Division I semifinal opponents after dropping a matches to the two teams that could oppose them in the state final on June 4 at the Pizzitola Center.

The Mounties can clinch the division’s top seed and avoid undefeated Coventry until the state final with a victory over East Providence Wednesday night. The Mounties swept the Townies when the two teams met in Woonsocket.

“It’s going to be their senior night so there should be a big crowd cheering against us. It should be a really good match,” Tessier said.

Bishop Hendricken (9-6 Division I-North) has known for a few weeks that it will be the No. 3 seed, which means a road match against either North Kingstown or South Kingstown in the Division I quarterfin­als. Harrington, who has guided the Hawks to numerous state titles in the last 15 years, believes there are six teams capable of winning the title.

“We have a really great, deep group of teams this year,” Harrington said. “Coventry, Mount, La Salle, South, us and NK, too,” Harrington said. “There are a good six teams that have some chance to win it. We’re clearly not favored against the top teams, but we haven’t been swept by any of those teams.”

The opening set proved to be the most competitiv­e with neither team building a lead of larger than two points through out the 48-point set. Hendricken had leads of 9-7 and 1210, but the Mounties battled back to lead 18-16 before Hendricken tied it at 20. The Mounties used late kills by Tom Cahaly (six kills) to earn set point before Tessier ended it with a kill from the back row.

Hendricken simply couldn’t pass in the second. The Mounties raced out to leads of 6-0 and 12-2 to force Harrington to use both of his timeouts. The lead grew to 21-3 before Mount made a number of hitting errors on its way to an easy win.

“After the set I tried to keep it light and made a ‘Rocky’ movie reference,” Harrington said. “We got beat really bad that round and it was time to move in. As a coach, you can’t focus on all that negative stuff, you just have to try and start fresh.”

The Hawks responded in the third, taking a 7-4 lead before the Mounties took advantage of a number of Hendricken errors to jump ahead 13-8. With Kyle Murphy at the service line, Hendricken went on a 6-0 run to take a lead they would never relinquish.

The Mounties jumped out to a pair of four-point leads in the fourth, but R.J. Barton, Steven Costantino and the Hawks battled back to take an 18-15 lead. Fueled by Hendricken errors, the Mounties closed the match on a 10-4 run to sweep the season series.

“We knew going into the third that we needed to play with more energy and keep it up, but that’s tough to do when you win by that much,” Tessier said. “We ended up coming back in the fourth and that’s what we needed to do.”

 ?? File photo by Jerry Silberman / risportsph­oto.com ?? The Mount St. Charles volleyball team is a victory over East Providence away from clinching the No. 1 seed in I-North.
File photo by Jerry Silberman / risportsph­oto.com The Mount St. Charles volleyball team is a victory over East Providence away from clinching the No. 1 seed in I-North.
 ?? File photo by Jerry Silberman / risportsph­oto.com ?? One match after taking 84 swings in a five-set win over South Kingstown, Mount junior Jarod Tessier only took 35 to produce 18 kills in Sunday’s win.
File photo by Jerry Silberman / risportsph­oto.com One match after taking 84 swings in a five-set win over South Kingstown, Mount junior Jarod Tessier only took 35 to produce 18 kills in Sunday’s win.

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