Cranston East boys volleyball sweeps Hendricken in 2025 semifinals

• Cranston East defeated Hendricken 3-0 to advance to the Rhode Island Division I boys volleyball state championship.
• This is the first time in program history Cranston East has reached the state finals.
• Cranston East will face either North Kingstown or La Salle in the championship game.

CRANSTON — Visions of Cranston East’s semifinal-falter last spring faded within minutes.

Cranston East likely feels they should’ve upset La Salle last spring. But the Rams survived in five sets and then captured their second straight crown. It was on Cranston East’s mind before facing another private school, Hendricken, in the penultimate round of the Division I playoffs.

But this isn’t last year’s group. This 2025 squad is the best team the program has ever had and Cranston East proved it on Tuesday night in front of a home crowd. No. 2 Cranston East dismantled sixth-seeded Hendricken, 3-0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-21), to book the school’s first state championship appearance.

“It’s like a memory engrained every single time we play at a big point or a vital game of the season,” Cranston East’s Dennis Dixon said of last year’s semifinals. “We’ve learned from that and we took it here.”

Cranston East awaits the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between North Kingstown and La Salle. The championship will likely be on Sunday at Rhode Island College.

“It’s really big,” Cranston East’s Caleb Xum said of reaching the title game. “A lot of people look up to us as a sport at Cranston East. It’s going to be huge.”

“I think this is the greatest thing that we’ve had in our program,” Dixon said. “It sets the tone for what we are, how hard our coaches work and how hard our players work. The culture starts to set in.”

The Thunderbolts stormed to a 7-2 lead on three consecutive aces by Charles Pincince. Hendricken retied the game at 7-all, but the Thunderbolts finished off the frame and marched to a 14-7 lead in the second set. Behind Pincince (eight kills and six aces) and Dennis Dixon (seven kills and five blocks), Cranston East has plenty of power at the net and it’s no surprise the Thunderbolts are playing in June.

“Hard work, that’s the No. 1 thing,” Xum said. “We have to be prepared for anything. Even though we had a rough start to the season, we ended up being a better team and having a chemistry together.”

Cranston East added Aggerson Vetiaque and Darien Peterson made a jump in his senior season. It’s those building blocks that coach, Jhamal Diggs can rollover into next season. And up against the wall in the third set, Cranston East rallied down 7-3 and 21-18 against the Hawks. That championship-mettle is only going to help on Sunday.

“I think that coming into this game, we just had to be prepared well and mentally focused for anything,” Diggs said. “Not playing for three sets, expecting to go to five and it was super important for us to get back here.

“This is huge for the boys to get back. I told them at the end of the game that this is historic and they should enjoy this moment.”

Unless La Salle pulls off the upset of the spring, Cranston East will see North Kingstown for the fourth time this season. Odds aren’t in the Thunderbolts’ favor with three losses against the powerhouse program, but they’ve already broken through the semifinal wall.

“This moment, it feels amazing,” Xum said. “Compared to last year, this is a feeling that we’ll never forget. We’re going in hard into the finals, we’ll be ready.”