EAST PROVIDENCE —  To the victors go the spoils…including a lot of time off.

The East Providence High School boys’ volleyball team as well as the Mount St. Charles/North Smithfield co-op, the Nos. 2 and 1 seeds, respectively, in the Division II championship tournament, will each have nearly two weeks to prepare for their initial playoff outings after finishing their 2022 regular seasons last week.

Only six teams qualified for the D-II playoffs based on the 40 percent wins rule, meaning teams had to have at least eight victories out of their 18 regular season games to earn a bid.

The first-place Mounties and second-place Townies thus received byes directly into the semifinals, scheduled for Wednesday, June 8. Each will host their final four matches.

The quarterfinals take place over this weekend. Westerly is the third seed with sixth-seeded Barrington on East Providence’s side of the draw. On Mount’s half, the four-five match is between West Warwick and Pilgrim.

Regular season wrap

The Townies had little trouble dispatching the Tolman/Shea, Pawtucket, co-op in three games in their home finale on May 24. East Providence bettered the visitors by the scores of 25-16, 25-23 and 25-17. Seniors Grant Wosencroft and Kyle Dunn led to the locals to the sweep of the Tigers. Middle hitter Wosencroft had 12 kills and three blocks at the net while setter Dunn had 12 assists and also served for three aces.

East Providence faced a much sterner test in their last regular season outing, a 3-2 road win over West Warwick. The Townies outlasted the host Wizards by the scores of 25-22, 23-25, 25-13, 20-25 and 15-4. Wosencroft had 12 more kills. Dunn had 20 helpers and eight digs. Another senior Brett Schwab had 13 kills and 11 digs.

EPHS capped its rebound season with a 15-3 record. A former state championship program and D-I power, the Townies were coming off a 4-7 season a year ago, their first in the D-II ranks and a 2021 spring schedule still truncated due to lingering COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

Of his team’s season to date, EPHS head coach Dan Cabral said, “Given the group that we have this year and the number of seniors and the experience we have I thought this would be a good year. I didn’t think it would be this good, but I thought it would be good. We had a solid, shortened season last year when we were in a lot of the matches. We were 4-7, but we could have easily been 7-4. And we lost a tough playoff match to Tolman last year in five. So we showed bits and pieces of what we needed to. And I thought coming in with another year of experience, a little more seasoned, we had a good opportunity.”

Revival reasons

The aforementioned trio of seniors along with the likes of sophomores Xavier Hazard and DJ Lepine among others have spurred the Townies’ revival so far this spring. In fact, nearly every member of the squad who has taken to court, regardless of playing time, has contributed to East Providence’s success.

“On different nights we’ve had different guys lead the way,” Cabral said. “Brett Schwab has been a main contributor for us. Grant Wosencroft and Xavier Hazard have also stepped up and played really well. Kyle Dunn has been another of key contributors with his excellent defense and setting.”

Schwab has exemplified East Providence’s growth year-over-year, literally. A 5-foot-9 “libero” (back line defender) last spring, he grew to 6 feet in time for 2022 and is now an all-court player.

“I think this year we kind of want it more as a group,” Schwab explained of the Townies’ play to date. “I think we’re bringing all the things that coach is trying to teach us into the game itself, and it’s starting to work out.”

Said Cabral, “I just think we’ve been really consistent in our play. The kids put a lot of hard work in every day and we’ve had some unexpected surprising efforts from guys like Brett. His overall play, his passing has been stellar. And our attack has been good.”

The Townies took the long Memorial Day weekend off “getting our bodies rested, our minds rested,” according to Cabral, before getting back to practice on Tuesday, May 31, to prepare for what are hopefully two playoff outings next week.

“We have a good opportunity in front of us. And we just to put the work in,” Cabral added.