Barrington is starting to look like a darkhorse in D-I boys volleyball
Barrington is starting to look like a darkhorse in D-I boys volleyball
Jacob Rousseau, Providence JournalThu, May 7, 2026 at 11:49 AM UTC
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BARRINGTON — Barrington boys volleyball’s commitment is on display.
A three-win season last spring wasn’t welcomed, but it was the right direction for the Eagles. Barrington entered as the Division II defending champions last year and earned a promotion to the state’s top level. The transition wasn’t smooth — Barrington captured just one D-I victory — and it was tough to stomach coming off the 13-win championship season.
But the Eagles were falling forward with every loss last year. Competing at that level might have looked unfeasible until Barrington’s entire cast returned to the gym this spring. They came back ready, and bigger, for the rest of the state and the Eagles are playing with a confidence that’s dangerous in June.
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Barrington ousted perennial contender North Kingstown, 25-20, 25-22, 15-25, 25-23, on Wednesday night, May 6. It was Barrington’s ninth win overall and sixth against league opponents. Donovan Park put on a show with 21 kills, three aces, 19 digs and five blocks. The senior hitter plays like an All-Stater and leads Barrington like stars usually do.
“It’s either our best or second-best performance this season,” Park said. “We played East Greenwich just like that and we took them in four as well. I think things are looking up, we’re just fixing little problems here-and-there but we should be good.
“When we play like that, we can beat good teams like EG and NK. I think we can beat anyone.”
Donovan Park, Barrington boys volleyball
Barrington had its full lineup available for just one of the few times this season and handled its visitors in the first two sets. A 14-9 lead in the first frame and 16-9 advantage in the second had Barrington eyeing a sweep of the Skippers.
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“We’ve all just started to click as a team,” Park said. “A lot of us came up from JV or were previously playing together. It’s just a bunch of different kids and we kind of worked together to have good chemistry.”
NK got hot in the third set to stave off a quick loss behind 24 combined kills from Mark Sardelli and Sean Peters. And the Skippers nearly pushed it to a fifth set before Gabe Graff’s kill handed Barrington a 24-23 lead. NK’s error, after a blocked shot by Barrington, then lifted the Eagles to a victory that seemed unfathomable less than 12 months ago.
“We’ve got all the same guys this year as last year,” Josh Shanty said. “I definitely think we all matured a lot. We’ve learned a lot and we’re just taking that knowledge that we have and we’re just keeping it going.”
Logan Lane (left), Barrington boys volleyball
The third-set loss, and rally in the decisive frame, showed that Barrington is still riding the wave against D-I teams. It’s a constant battle until someone finishes the match and Barrington could only learn that lesson with last year’s defeats. They would’ve won more matches in D-II, but they’re in a far better spot after the promotion.
“It kind of came together in terms of our energy,” Logan Lane, who handed out 40 assists and had eight digs, said of the match. “That’s a big thing with our team is we know when we need to pull it together. We know when we need to work on something and we can’t be complacent. We need to make sure that’s something that we’re not doing, which we’ve done a few times in the past.”
Dylan Schall, Barrington boys volleyball
Playoffs are still a few weeks away as Barrington currently holds the No. 6 spot in the RPI standings. A couple more wins will help build out the Eagles’ experience. But last year’s losses had plenty of teaching moments and Barrington is better for it.
“It feels great just remembering back to last year when we only won one D-I game,” Park said. “Now it’s definitely a big shift. We feel great and we’re looking forward to the playoffs.”
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Score from North Kingstown at Barrington boys volleyball on may 6 2026
Source: “AOL Sports”
