Skippers volleyballers back on track in hunt for top seed
NORTH KINGSTOWN – The season started about as perfect as it can go for North Kingstown boys volleyball, and one loss hasn’t derailed that.
There’s no more pressure to go undefeated. Still, remaining as the top-seed in Division I, which they’ve held the whole season, would be a big step toward reclaiming their state title.
NK lost a wild 3-2 match to North Smithfield coop back on April 18 but responded with two 3-0 sweeps the following week. They beat winless Coventry to end April before hosting a big game last Wednesday against Cranston East, the team that surprisingly beat North Smithfield in the Northmen’s next game. The Thunderbolts had been on fire for the past month, but the Skippers beat them 3-1 and effectively dropped them out of contention for the top seed at 8-3. The Skippers meanwhile improved to 10-1.
The Skippers followed that up with a 3-1 nonleague win over Division II Barrington on Friday night and a 3-0 win over East Greenwich on Tuesday.
“I don’t think we’re in the lead or anything, I think every team is equally good,” NK outside hitter Cody Tow said on Friday after beating Barrington. “Every team can beat every team. There’s no bad team in the league. Even D-II teams are very good. Barrington played us good today.”
After that loss to North Smithfield, the Skippers changed their formation a bit. They switched to a 6-2 rotation with hopes of maximizing the talent they have on the front line.
“We’re trying to communicate more also,” Tow said. “A lot of people have been stepping up: Ryan Rathbun,
Finn Kearney now setting. These guys are filling in some of our gaps. They’re doing very well.”
The Skippers seemed to experiment with the rotations in their home gym against Barrington. They won the first set easily, going up 16-6 and holding on for a 25-18 win, but they somewhat struggled in the second set where the Eagles won seven straight early points to take a 9-5 lead and expanded the difference to as many as eight points. The Skippers brought the deficit back to 24-23 thanks to two heroic digs by James Erwin near the end, but they made an unforced error on the final point by failing to clear the net, with Barrington winning 25-23.
NK got it under control in the third set, winning 25-18. Tow took over in the fourth set, leading the Skippers to five different runs of three or more straight points and winning 25-13.
To lose a set to a team one division lower was surprising considering the Skippers have a 32-4 set win/loss ratio in league games, but the non-league label made the game more-so practice for a tough upcoming stretch that could sort out some of the playoff seeding.
They’ll face South Kingstown (1-10) on Monday before hosting a rematch with North Smithfield (9-2) on Wednesday and hosting La Salle (10-2) two days later.
“We’re just trying to forget the past, you know?” Tow said. “We’re not thinking about the loss anymore, we’re just focusing on what’s coming up.”