The top-seeded Mt. Hope High School boys' volleyball team wasted little time and energy in dispatching eight-seeded St. Raphael from the 2025 Division III playoffs as the Huskies swept the Saints Wednesday night, May 28, in a quarterfinal round match at Fitzgerald Gym

Mt. Hope, which beat St. Ray's twice during the regular season by the same 3-0 scores, barely trailed in any of the three sets Wednesday winning by the scores of 25-17, 25-13 and 25-16.

Dylan Shaw led the locals with 15 kills. Jacob Betres had 11 kills, five digs and a block. Dylan DeOliveira set for 32 points and added six digs.

Mt. Hope cruised into the semifinals on Tuesday, June 3, when the Huskies will host the winner of the Achievement First-Providence/North Providence quarter.

The Huskies shut out Achievement First in just one meeting this spring. And like they did with the Saints, the locals swept N.P. twice during the regular season.

Mt. Hope scorched the Saints last Wednesday despite some changes made to their rotation by head coach Lisa Lunney, including the return to the lineup from injury of middle hitter Jackson Gould.

He along with just about every other Husky who played, including fellow middles Gianfranco Semeraro-Bellanca and Matt Moran, had an impact on what was a rather straightforward shutout win.

"It was pretty clean," Lunney said of her team's performance. "I messed with a lineup tonight. I made a whole new lineup. I'm trying some stuff. So we're testing some waters right now. But I just I trust them all. I trust them all, no matter where I put them."

Shaw certainly had the trust of his coach and teammates, even as the junior moved from his usual right side hitting spot to the left.

"Dylan Shaw did a great job tonight, and he's used to playing right side. That's where he's been playing for most of the season," said Lunney. "We put him on the left just to tweak some things, and he had himself a night. His stats were pretty beefy."

It didn't matter Wednesday. Shaw was the Huskies' hammer for most of the evening, beginning with a kill on the first point of the match.

Mt. Hope never trailed in Set 1 as Shaw and Betres helped them open up a comfortable lead with their hitting. Moran and Semeraro-Bellanca chipped in as well en route to the eight-point win.

The Huskies were on their way in Set 2 after scoring the first five points. They eventually doubled up the Saints, 18-9,  Betres later ending it with a spike to complete the 12-point victory.

St. Ray's led for the one and only time of the night, 1-0, to start Set 3. The Huskies quickly answered to move in front, gradually stretching their lead throughout until, fittingly, Shaw capped the overall and set win with a kill on match point.

Of his night and that of his mates, Shaw said, "I thought our whole team played great. I thought I had a pretty good game. I was feeling good today. We switched up our lineup recently. We're feeling pretty good with it, seemed pretty confident with it."

Of his switch of sides Shaw added, "I'm feeling good on both. I can do whatever."

The victory was Mt. Hope's first playoff win since 2019 when the locals defeated Shea, 3-1, in the D-III quarters.

Since, the Huskies have either lost their first match after earning a bye into the semis of the six-team field or fell in the quarters, as they did last year to Juanita Sanchez.

"We're just like taking the season one game at a time," said Lunney. "We're trying not to look ahead, just one game at a time. So I'd like to see who we have next round and we'll start prepping for that."

The tact has worked well so far for the Huskies, who are in the midst of the best season spring in the 10-season history of the program.

Mt. Hope earned its first regular season league title and initial top postseason seed after finishing with the best points total in D-III under the Interscholastic League's new power ranking system. Also, Wednesday's win was just the fourth playoff victory ever for the program. The Huskies have never advanced past the playoff semis in two previous appearances.

"It feels great to get this win," said Shaw. "We just won the division, the only Mt. Hope boys' team to do it, so I'm not sure how far other teams got, but we're feeling like pretty good as a boys' team in history of the school.

"And last year, I mean, some of the guys, they thought we were going to be worse next year, but I always knew this team, we stuck together. I knew we were going to play well. So it feels great."