The Cranston East Thunderbolts will head out to square off against the Bishop Hendricken Hawks at 6:30 p.m. on Monday. Considering both teams were shutout in their prior games, the pair is probably coming into this one with something to prove.
Cranston East is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Rhode Island's top teams: North Kingstown, who was ranked first at the time (Cranston East was ranked fourth). The Thunderbolts lost 3-0 to the Skippers on Friday. The Thunderbolts haven't had much luck with the Skippers recently, as the team has come up short the last seven times they've met.
While Cranston East was not able to make it on the board, they still kept things close, especially in the first set. The match finished with set scores of 25-22, 25-18, 25-16.
Meanwhile, Bishop Hendricken came up short against La Salle Academy on Thursday, falling 3-0.
While Bishop Hendricken ultimately came up short, they didn't go down without a fight: they scored at least 17 points in every set they played. The final score came out to 25-18, 25-17, 25-20.
Cranston East will have to keep a close watch on Jackson Kretzer and Andrew Ramos, a pair of players who had a big impact on Bishop Hendricken's prior game. Kretzer had 21 assists, while Ramos had 12 kills, five digs, and one block. Ramos has been hot for a while, having posted five or more kills the last 21 times he's played.
Cranston East's loss dropped their record down to 8-5. As for Bishop Hendricken, they dropped their record down to 6-6 with the defeat, which was their third straight on the road.
Everything went Cranston East's way against Bishop Hendricken when the teams last played back in May of 2024, as Cranston East made off with a 3-0 win. Do the Thunderbolts have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Hawks turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
