Cranston East boys volleyball defeats NK for 2025 D-I title

• Cranston East defeated North Kingstown 3-2 to win the Rhode Island Division I boys volleyball state championship.
• This is Cranston East’s first boys volleyball state title in program history.
• Cranston East lost three times to North Kingstown during the regular season but prevailed in the championship match.

PROVIDENCE — Cranston East would have scheduled North Kingstown every week if it could.

The Thunderbolts wanted every chance against the state’s preeminent boys volleyball powerhouse. They had lost three times to the Skippers in the regular season, but it didn’t matter to Cranston East.

Sam Rivera tested his serves in each loss. Charles Pincince timed his swings on the outside and Dennis Dixon carved out space in the middle against NK. The trio and the rest of the Thunderbolts improved every time they played North Kingstown.

Cranston East beat the rest of the state and secured the second seed in the Division I tournament. A fourth meeting with NK, one at Rhode Island College, awaited the Thunderbolts.

And Cranston East did what no other program would even think was possible. The Thunderbolts clawed out two games from NK and in the final frame, a fifth-set thriller, Rivera’s ace trickled over the net for a match win.

The 3-2 (25-21, 25-22, 22-25, 15-25, 16-14) triumph is Cranston East’s first boys volleyball state championship in program history and just second boys volleyball title overall.

“I’m glad to be on the court and share it with [my teammates],” Rivera said. “I really look up to all of them and I’m so proud of them. All our hard work and all the effort on and off the court — it all led here and my brothers took me through that final ace.”

Earlier this season: North Kingstown boys volleyball survives Cranston East; Here’s why it matters

No. 2 Cranston East (13-5) stole back-to-back points before Rivera’s ace toed the right side of the net and fell for the win. Rivera capped off the upset of the spring and handed North Kingstown its first loss this season. The top-ranked Skippers entered Sunday’s match with only five set losses all year.

“We knew that we weren’t the favorites to win,” Dixon said. “Nobody expected us to win but we did.

“We knew we were going to make errors. It was just about coming back with momentum. We were sliding, but we had to understand that you have to come back in the next set. You’ve got to come back with some type of fire.”  

The Thunderbolts, after losing to La Salle in five sets in last year’s semifinals, didn’t build the program overnight. Aggerson Vetiaque might have been the best athlete on the court and compiled a promising sophomore season. Darien Peterson added another hitting option behind Pincince and Dixon, and Caleb Xum was the reliable setter every team needs.

“It was great seeing all of my teammates celebrate and seeing how happy they got,” Pincince said. “Volleyball is a lot about community and helping each other and supporting each other. It’s amazing to see what we can do together.”

North Kingstown rallied from a 16-10 deficit in the third set to stave off a sweep. The Skippers stormed to a 16-6 lead in the fourth set with the quality hitting that paced an impressive season in the school’s decorated history.

But in the decisive set, Cranston East broke out to a 4-1 lead. The bench energy was on display and it carried the Thunderbolts the rest of the way. NK only led, 12-11 and 13-12, in the fifth set as Cranston East gritted out the victory.

“They were super resilient,” Cranston East coach, Jhamal Diggs, said. “We came out in the first two sets firing. The third and fourth sets were a little wacky, but the plan was to go to five sets. We talked about it, we practiced that and every game we were prepared to go to five. We just went point-by-point and we’re able to execute.”

North Kingstown graduates a talented senior class that was on the doorstep of back-to-back championships. The Skippers handled their second fifth-set championship loss in a row with class and will eventually be back to that stage.