East Greenwich’s Dustin Baker and Chandler Crawford (20) reject a shot by Bishop Hendricken’s David DelFino yesterday. The Avengers swept the Hawks by the scores of 25-19, 25-19 and 25-16. The victory moved East Greenwich into a second-place tie with idle East Providence (7-4). Click here to see a gallery of match photos.

The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach

EAST GREENWICH –– Almost a month ago to the day, East Greenwich stunned Bishop Hendricken in four sets, delivering the Hawks their first league loss since 2005 and snapping their 48-match win streak.

Last night on their home court, the Avengers were out to prove that victory was no fluke.

Mission accomplished.

Well, sort of.

East Greenwich swept Hendricken by the scores of 25-19, 25-19 and 25-16, but the Hawks’ offense was in disarray because their starting setter, Michael Delsignore, missed the game because of a left ankle injury and the Hawks were not at full strength.

“To be fair, they are missing two good players for them, but we played pretty well with them,” East Greenwich coach Scott Reslow said. “We really just took care of business. When Mikey’s back with them and their outside’s back, they are a lot better than what they showed tonight.”

Bishop Hendricken coach Mike Harrington said, “Our offense was in chaos most of the night. Our setter has been out. He’s an All-State guy or at least an all-division guy last year. He’s one of the top players on the team and he’s down. That changes things for us so that’s a factor.”

The win provided East Greenwich with a little bit of breathing room in the race for home-court advantage in the playoffs. All eight Division I teams will make the playoffs this year, with the top four seeds getting to play a game on their home court.

East Greenwich and Hendricken entered last night’s game tied for third place with 6-4 records. The victory moved East Greenwich into a second-place tie with idle East Providence (7-4). Hendricken (6-5) is tied for third place with North Kingstown, which beat Chariho last night, three games to one.

“We definitely want home-court advantage,” Reslow said. “Toll Gate is exceptional, but the rest of us, on any given night, can beat [anybody] so it’s better to be in the home confines than to be away.”

East Greenwich was able to use its quickness to chase down hard-hit balls and dominate the net despite being the smaller team. None of the Avenger starters are over 6 feet tall.

Senior captains Dustin Baker (22 assists, 7 block assists, and 5 kills) and Mark Garlock (10 kills, 12 digs, and 5 block assists) powered East Greenwich’s attack.

“They are our two best players, hands down,” Reslow said. “They’ve been playing together for a long time. They bring us a lot of volleyball IQ. … They know the game really well and that really benefits us. Mark’s a great hitter and Dustin gives up good balls for the team. He runs our offense well and gives us a good middle attack.”

James Grandpre (12 digs) also played well for the Avengers, who are much improved from last season’s 3-15 record even though they graduated their best player, Ajay Marken.

“He was playing with a lot of juniors who were all undersized in a league with really big people and at the time it was really hard but it has actually been a blessing in disguise for this year’s team because they have all seen a lot of time and they know what it takes to win in this league,” Reslow said. “They work really hard and their skill level is pretty high.”

David Pezza, who helped fill the void left by Delsignore, and David DelFino (seven kills and three aces) were Hendricken’s go-to guys.

“[Delfino] is getting better as an offensive player for us,” Harrington said. “… Dave Pezza had the best match of his life. He played great defense and he was money all night passing.”

roblee@projo.com