Regardless of what happens the rest of the way, the Mt. Hope High School boys' volleyball team cemented the 2025 season as being the best in the rather brief 10-year history of the program after the Huskies defeated visiting North Providence in the semifinal round of the Division III playoffs Tuesday night, June 3.

Top-seeded Mt. Hope earned its first-ever appearance in the league title match by dispatching the fifth-seeded Cougars in three rather comfortable sets: 25-20, 25-13 and 25-17.

Jacob Betres led the Huskies' attack with six kills. He also had 10 digs. Matt Moran added four kills and three blocks up front. Setter Dylan DeOliveira assisted on 25 points and chipped in 11 digs.

Mt. Hope improved to 17-3 in D-III outings to date. Two other of those wins came over the Cougars, both by the same 3-0 scores, during the regular season. Twice before the Huskies appeared in the playoff semis, but lost on both occasions.

North Providence, which beat fourth-seeded Achievement First-Providence in the quarters, saw its season come to a close with a 9-8 record in the league, 10-9 overall.

(Updated, June 5, 6 p.m.) Tuesday's win by Mt. Hope set up a showdown with second-seeded Portsmouth for the D-III championship Saturday, June 7, in Providence at Rhode Island College. Match time is tentatively set for 7 p.m.

(Note the time and date change for the championship match, which has twice been changed since the brackets were released last week.)

The Patriots, unbeaten in league play at 15-0, earned their spot in the final with a 3-0 victory over third-seeded Hope in the semis: 25-14, 25-14 and 25-17.

That Portsmouth is the second seed while being undefeated is due to the new playoff power ranking system used by the Rhode Island Interscholastic League for the first time this school term.

Though the Pats beat the Huskies twice during the regular season by the scores of 3-2 and 3-1, Mt. Hope was credited for playing a more difficult schedule and winning more games out of the division.

Asked how her team can get past Portsmouth in their third meeting, Mt. Hope head coach Lisa Lunney said, "We need to play mistake-free, aggressive ball."

While the Huskies' improvement has been gradual, Portsmouth's emergence as a title contender is extremely impressive.

The program remains in its fledgling stages, having only started in 2023. The Pats went 4-9 their first year then jumped to 13-4 last spring when they won a match but lost to the eventual league champion Tolman-Shea co-op in the semifinals.