Pawtucket Times

Novans, Northies reach semis

Squads pick up home sweeps

By BRANDEN MELLO bmello@woonsocketcall.com

WOONSOCKET — The four Blackstone Valley teams left in the RIIL volleyball playoffs have won a combined 29 straight matches.

The team with the longest winning streak, No. 3 North Smithfield/Mount St. Charles, is now just a pair of victories away from the Northmen’s first state title for any boys team. The Northies secured a 25-12, 25-19, 25-20 D-I quarterfinal victory over No. 6 Classical at Lovett Gymnasium Thursday night.

“We hadn’t played in a while and the guys had a couple of days off, but they came out ready to play,” NS/ MSC coach Josh D’Abate said. “The big challenge for us going forward is to show more consistency from point to point and have fun.”

The Northies head to No. 2 La Salle

North Smithfield outside hitter Carter Deslauriers led the way with nine kills and a block, while senior right side Azariah Chauvin with seven kills and two blocks. Caden Sullivan had 34 assists. Northies head to Providence to face No. 2 La Salle on June 7 at 6 p.m. for a spot in Saturday’s title game. The teams split their season series with the Northies claiming the last meeting in May in five games, 15-25, 25-23, 22-25, 26-24, 15-12.

In a battle of Blackstone Valley foes, the No. 4 Woonsocket volleyball team secured a 25-10, 25-19, 25-16 Division III quarterfinal victory over No. 5 St. Raphael at Savaria Gymnasium Thursday night. Senior outside hitter Devin Merrill led the way with 12 kills, three aces and four blocks, while Alex Herrara had six kills and five blocks.

Merrill began the season playing as a setter/ right-side hitter in a 6-2 formation, but coach Ruth Plante switched Merrill to outside hitter and allowed sophomore setter Andrew Bissonnette to run a 5-1 formation. That change has helped the Novans become title contenders for the second time in three seasons.

“The big thing is they’re making less errors now than they did earlier,” said Plante, who squad has won five straight matches. “They made a lot of errors because we had so many new pieces out there. G’ovani [Collazo] is the only one who has played three seasons for me.

Woonsocket, which will face either No. 1 Johnston or No. 8 Central Falls in the semifinals, has received solid play from outside hitters Collazo and Merrill along with middles Herrara and Elias Colon.

St. Raphael was hoping to get another shot at Johnston in the semifinals, but the Saints simply ran out of steam at the end of the season. Sophomore Ian Bing seven kills, while junior Geronimo Idarraga added five assists.

“Woonsocket deserved to win, they were the better team,” St. Raphael coach Cory Linhares said. “We just didn’t play well and we never had the same lineup for two straight matches all season. We never could get a rhythm and put it all together.”

On the other side of the Division III bracket, No. 2 Pawtucket co-op produced a 25-20, 25-22, 25-12 quarterfinal victory over No. 7 Scituate to secure a home match at Donaldson Gymnasium against No. 3 Juanita Sanchez, who secured a sweep of No. 6 Exeter-West Greenwich. The Tigers have won eight straight matches, including a sweep of the Cavaliers to end the regular season.

No. 4 Lincoln, which has now won six straight Division II matches, defeated East Providence in four games to advance to Wednesday’s semifinal against No. 1 Barrington. The Lions, who are led by senior middle Tyler Dickinson and outside hitter Will Denio and Wayne McNamara, took the Eagles to five games last month, but dropped a 23-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-15, 1512 decision.

SPORTS

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2023-06-03T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-06-03T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://pawtuckettimes.pressreader.com/article/281616719756624

Alberta Newspaper Group