NK boys volleyball has swept every D-I team in the state; what else can the Skippers do?
NORTH KINGSTOWN — Half of the Division I boys volleyball championship matchup might be set.
Would anyone blink an eye if North Kingstown raced to a state title appearance? After all, the Skippers have now blanked every D-I team in the state this season.
Pinning North Kingstown to return to Rhode Island College in early June certainly wouldn’t file under the scorching take category. But the Skippers know that they aren’t granted a bye to the championship based on regular-season success.
North was ousted last year in the Final Four as the top seed. They graduated two All-Staters but returned talented, and young, hitters this season. The start was impressive with sweeps of Cranston East and the defending champions, La Salle. The Skippers didn’t drop a set through six games, until they lost to North Smithfield during April vacation.
The Skippers, as they know, aren’t infallible. But near perfection in a straight-set (25-21, 25-17, 25-22) rematch against the Northmen proved North Kingstown has earned a bye into the championship — if such a regular-season prize existed.
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North Kingstown, outside of unlikely upsets, locked up the top seed in the tournament for the fourth year in a row with the triumph.
“It feels pretty good,” North Kingstown senior Finn Kearney said of the likely playoff seeding. “It still feels kind of bad that we got that loss. But it's good going into playoffs to have a loss because you know the team knows how to react next time we're down.”
North (13-1) never trailed by more than three against the Northmen. And when they did, star outside hitter Ryan Harrington returned with a block and an ace for consecutive points in the third set. Kearney then broke an 18-all set with an ace and North Kingstown scored five of the next six points to claim control.
Harrington finished with six aces and 11 kills, while Cody Tow and Quinlan Fahy added 12 and nine kills, respectively. Stephen Dufour added 11 digs for North Kingstown, who have lost just five sets all season.
“The first time we played them, it was a bit of mystery because we hadn’t seen them,” Harrington said of the team’s meeting. “We had a different strategy coming in and sort of attacked those matchups we had and that’s what won us the match today.”
The Skippers are still learning late in the season, a scary thought for the rest of the state, and even silenced a second-set run by North Smithfield (11-4) before the Northmen could steal the frame. With NK leading, 21-10, the Northmen managed six consecutive points attempting to even the match. But Tow halted the run with a kill and the Skippers finished off the frame with ease.
“We just got to keep working hard in practice and staying consistent,” Kearney said. “We can't let up — the second we take our foot off the gas, teams are going to start working even harder and push to get above us. We’ve got to just keep working even harder than everyone else.”
Related: North Smithfield boys volleyball tops La Salle in five sets; here's why it matters
Evan Shea and Kearney have settled nicely into their roles at setters after manning the position due to graduations.
“We've grown and the chemistry is better,” Kearney said of the season. “Just practice has gotten so much better and our coaches have us working on some new plans and it's really getting the team working together more.”
The Skippers will host La Salle on Friday before concluding the season with three contests next week.
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“One step closer to a state championship and a division state championship,” Harrington said.
“The big goal for us is to get to the semifinals and deep in the playoffs, and to do well in the state championship and bring that home for us.”
jrousseau@providencejournal.com
On X: @ByJacobRousseau
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: NK boys volleyball tops North Smithfield to tighten playoff seeding
