MSC swept by Coventry
Mount can’t build on victory Monday, as Oakers prove to be too much to handle in Division I clash
COVENTRY — With a challenging stretch of matches coming up, the Coventry volleyball team looked to take care of business at home this week against a pair of struggling teams in Prout and Mt. Saint Charles. Monday’s win over the Crusaders proved to be a preview of what was to come two nights later as the Oakers made it three wins in a row overall following a sweep of the Mounties.
The celebratory atmosphere prior to the match helped provide the home team with an added boost according to head coach Jill Krebs.
“Tonight was our Teacher Appreciation Day, so we had a lot of fans and I think always having fans helps. The energy was good, I just felt that the kids were really into it tonight,” she said.
The opening two sets were fairly competitive, with Coventry emerging victorious in each of them by 25-14 counts, but the third belonged solely to the home team as they won running away by a 25-8 score.
“We served aggressively today and a lot better than we normally do,” Krebs said of her team’s performance, noting that far fewer service errors were committed than usual. “We also serve-received slightly better than normal.”
Senior Madison Dessert led the way with seven kills and eight aces, while classmate Mackenzie Bonang added four aces of her own to go along with eight digs.
Serena White rounded Coventry’s (5-2) dominating display by delivering 19 assists along with four aces and three kills. Coventry hasn’t lost a set in over a week.
Next week will likely prove to be a more challenging task, as Coventry gets set to take on a pair of elite teams in South Kingstown and North Kingstown.
The steady progression by the Oakers following a 2-2 start to the year has Krebs feeling optimistic about their showdowns against the Rebels and Skippers.
Photo by Jerry Silberman
“I feel like every day, we’re getting better. Every day we do something a little bit better and hopefully, at some point that will wind up being great,” she said, adding that the timing of her team’s development has worked out promisingly so far as well.
For the Mounties (2-5), this year is all about building for the future. Just make sure not to tell that to their head coach, Josh D’Abate .
“I hate using the word ‘rebuild.’ I hated using it during the boys season, but that was a rebuild,” he said, having also worked on building the Mount boys back up after winning the 2018 title.
“We had 12 seniors graduate from the boys team. This year, we had nine seniors graduate from the girls team, six of them starting. I have one returning starter,” he said.
Isabella Gioffre, Marissa Tessier and Jenna Winiker comprise the only seniors on this year’s club, one that is made up primarily of sophomore and juniors.
2019 has proven to be a difficult one so far, with all but one of the Mounties’ five defeats coming in straight sets, including Wednesday’s loss to the Oakers.
“We’ve got players on the floor who have played a grand total of two varsity matches so far,” D’Abate said, reiterating his club’s overall inexperience. “This is a year all about building. From foundation to fundamentals to expectations, it’s a building year.”
Much of his focus centers around all of his players remaining alert and active throughout the match, an area of trouble for this year’s team.
“We keep preaching it over and over again about staying active and moving. Tonight, I didn’t really see a lot of movement except from a couple of girls,” said D’Abate.
That has not been the case during practice, but the Mount head coach knows that there is a significant difference between practicing something well and actually doing it in live completion.
“It looks good in practice, but then we get into a game and it hasn’t translated onto the floor yet,” he said.
Photo by Jerry Silberman