SRA swept in rematch vs. Rogers
Defending champions too much for Saints
PAWTUCKET – Last November in the Division III final, St. Raphael Academy captured the first two games against Rogers and seemed destined to claim the title.
The Saints, however, dropped the next three games in succession – the finale 1614 – and the Vikings bused home as the newest champions.
It appeared new girls’ mentor Cory Linhares and Co. were hell-bent on avenging that defeat when they met again in a league crossover clash at Alumni Hall on Thursday night, and made Rogers work in an extremely tense, interesting first set.
The visitors nevertheless never did ease off on the gas and raced away with a 3-0 sweep before perhaps 50 fans.
During the 27-25, 25-17, 25-20 verdict, Rogers played more consistently and made many less graphic mistakes than the hosts; that’s why it improved to 1-1 (in Division III-B) after suffering a season-opening loss to Middletown.
“I wasn’t here last year (with the girls’ club), so I didn’t know how good Rogers would be after graduation, but they were great,” Linhares said after SRA dropped to 2-1 in III-A. “They didn’t let the ball hit the floor, they forced us to scramble. They just took us out of our rhythm a ton, and we didn’t get a chance to attack very much.
“I mean, their attack wasn’t amazing, but it was enougg to get and keep us off our toes,” he added. “Whenever we attacked, it seemed they were able to pop the ball up in the air and we’d have to go three, four, five, six rallies, and that’s not our strength right now.
“The rally kind of game doesn’t work in our favor. When we pass, set and kill – when we’re rocking and going bing-bing-bing – then we’re fine. We’re in rhythm. When we have to stretch the rallies out, that’s when we struggle. Hopefully, that will change soon.”
Junior Marianna May paced the Vikings with 10 kills, two blocks and an ace, while sophomore Sophie Breitenbach recorded 11 digs, nine spikes and three aces; senior co-captain Katherine Caparas 20 digs; sophomore Mia Finn 28 assists; and freshman Danaysha Cherry four blocks and three kills.
As for SRA, senior captain Paige O’Brien notched seven kills, four caroms and four aces, and junior Tatyana Vicente nine digs, five kills and two aces. Other key contributors included sophomore Victoria Adegboyega (five kills, five aces, three blocks); junior Maddie Nault (23 assists); and sophomore Aliajah Perryman three aces.
The initial game couldn’t have been closer, though the Saints did have to dig themselves out of several holes, among them 12-8, 20-14 and 22-17. At that point, Adegboyega took to the stripe and served up five straight points (with three of them aces) to knot it at 22-22.
They tied it again at 25 following Caparas’ wide serve, but consecutive spikes from Breitenbach sealed it.
All told, there were 11 ties and six lead switches in that opener.
As for the second, the Saints actually gained an 8-7 advantage on a Adegboyega block, yet the Vikings tied it up at 8-8 on the next point, and Caparas strung together three straight and Finn four more to lift them to a 16-9 cushion.
SRA eventually sliced the gap to 23-17, due in part to Perryman’s serve, but Rogers sealed it (25-17) on O’Brien’s serve into the netting and an unforced error on a dig.
The third was much like the second, as SRA kept it close in the early going before faltering. It actually held a 5-4 lead before Breitenbach manufactured eight consecutive points on her work behind the stripe; that made it 12-5.
Still, the Saints continued to battle, eventually knifing the deficit to 20-18 on a pair of Perryman aces. Eventually, though, the Vikes closed it on back-to-back blocks from Cherry and May (25-20).
“The unforced errors killed us; we missed at least 20 serves, so there were a lot of unforced problems,” Linhares said. “We were out of character. I think we’re one of the best serving teams out here; I mean, we had 32 aces in our first match and 21 in the second. I would say serving is our strong suit, but we just didn’t have it (Thursday).
“You could see some good things in spurts, but we weren’t as consistent as we should have been.”
Offered Rogers head coach Erin McGloin: “I was not expecting that, not against St. Ray’s. We just lost to Middletown, 3-1, and – when compared to our team last year – this one is pretty young … As for this match, I’ll take it. But I do think we’re capable of more.
“These girls are all individually talented, but we’re trying to mesh that talent into a team, especially with a new setter (Finn) and new middle (Cherry).”