La Salle boys volleyball survives five-set thriller vs. NK for second straight state title

PROVIDENCE — La Salle saw its championship slipping away.

The Rams surrendered five straight match points to North Kingstown to turn its fifth-set lead into a deficit in the Division I boys volleyball finals. But La Salle wasn’t going to be put away without its own fight for the crown on Saturday at Rhode Island College.

Christopher Benell won a point in the middle to regain the lead, and again back on match point, the Rams turned to their star.

Ephraim Abhulime, lined up on the outside, loaded up for the game-winning block. And the senior came through with a denial on North Kingstown’s spike in an emphatic return-to-sender finish for a 3-2 (23-25, 25-18, 25-15, 16-25, 17-15) victory for La Salle’s second consecutive state championship.

“I'm ecstatic at that point after the block,” Abhulime said. “I was hoping to bring it home because they were fighting for every ball, so it felt great to get the last play of the game.”

More: Here's how La Salle, North Kingstown boys volleyball seized Division I semifinal victories.

North Kingstown was down, 14-9, in the final frame before grabbing the serve back on James Erwin’s kill. La Salle didn’t have a return for Cody Tow’s flick from the back row or Connor Valois’ kill that landed in space in the right corner for a 14-12 deficit. No. 3 La Salle (17-4) dug Ryan Rathbun’s spike initially, but it landed out of play as the Skippers were within one after trailing 7-1 in the frame.

“We talked about it all year, just focusing on our process and not worrying about the scoreboard,” La Salle coach Nik Wojciechowski said. “And that's exactly kind of what we did.

“When NK mounted that comeback late, we overcame that and I think that just goes back to that mindset of just playing volleyball.”

More: How Barrington boys volleyball went from saving the program to champions in four years.

The top-seeded Skippers (19-2), with Jayden Yang doing most of the serving, tied the game at 14 as La Salle’s Jahmir Evans went wide with a spike. North then took the lead on Valois and Jackson Meier’s combined block. But the Skippers couldn’t find the winning point after the miraculous comeback.

North Kingstown was without one of its star hitters and serve taker, Ryan Harrington, after the junior was nursing an injury that occurred just 24 hours before the state championship. The Skippers gave everything they had after falling behind 2-1 in the match and forced La Salle down to its final points.

“Even just the idea that we came in here still ready to win and fight through some bad sets,” North Kingstown coach, Chris Batzinger said. “It just says a lot about the kids that we have. How connected they are to each other, how much they trust the coaching — it’s just a big group of leaders. And I’ve never seen a 14-9 comeback in this environment.

“It was really cool to come back and with just this whole situation for these guys. I think we're going to look back on it fondly with how hard we had to play and we came so close.”

La Salle retied the set on a serve fault by the Skippers before Benell met North Kingstown at the net and Abhulime tallied the winning block. The win was La Salle’s second consecutive five-set playoff triumph after dispatching Cranston East in the semifinals.

“This has been a very fun four years, I’m going to miss it a lot,” said Abhulime, who helped bring La Salle its first championship last spring. “I'm going to definitely try to come back and help the guys next year.”

Wojciechowski said of Abhulime: “He's been such a key part of our program. From an athletic standpoint for sure, but what he's done to make himself a better man, a better person and a better leader, I think has a lot more to do with him coming up in these big moments than his athletic talent.”

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La Salle trounced the Skippers during the middle frames, winning a 9-1 run in the second set and a 6-1 sequence in the third stanza.

“Amazing, we haven’t been able to beat [North Kingstown] in a while, so it feels good to finally beat them in the biggest game of the season,” Abhulime said. “North Kingstown’s a really good team, they fought really hard toward the end, but I’m glad my team was able to push through that.”

jrousseau@providencejournal.com

On X: @ByJacobRousseau

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: La Salle boys volleyball wins five-set thriller for state title vs. NK