Cranston East’s Heleno Miranda, left, slams the ball as West Warwick’s Nick La Rocque tries to block the shot.

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The Providence Journal / Ruben W. Perez

WEST WARWICK –– The Cranston East boys volleyball team had its back against the wall last night.

The Thunderbolt played their last game of the regular season inside West Warwick’s gym on Senior Night with their playoffs hopes on the line.

They needed a win to secure a playoff berth. A loss meant they had to play and win a play-in game just to get into the playoffs.

For a long time, it looked as though Cranston East was going to cruise to an easy victory. The Thunderbolt dominated the first two sets, winning by the scores of 25-19 and 25-12.

They were three points away from winning the third set, leading 22-19, but West Warwick, not wanting to lose on Senior Night, battled back to steal a 25-22 victory with a 6-0 run to close out the set.

Finding new life, the Wizards won Game Four, 25-17, setting up a decisive fifth set.

Cranston East coach Thomas Ferri decided to send his libero, Boreth Ouk, to the line to serve first. It turned out to be a great decision. Ouk sparked the Thunderbolt to a 7-0 run to start the fifth set by serving up four aces and another serve that was not returned.

West Warwick never recovered.

Cranston East coasted to the fifth set victory, 15-5, to survive West Warwick, 3-2, and tie the Wizards for third place in the Division II-South standings, each finishing the regular season with an 8-6 record.

Because West Warwick defeated Cranston East, 3-1, in the first meeting, the Wizards hold the tiebreaker in the season series because they won in fewer sets. West Warwick will play Division II-North’s second seed, Scituate (14-2), in the first round Friday, West Warwick coach Terry Prohaska said.

“I’m proud of the guys because they were down 2-0 but they came back to tie it 2-2,” Prohaska said. “But in that fifth game, that 7-0 run, that was too much to overcome.”

Cranston East will play Division II-North’s top seed Mount St. Charles (14-2), Ferri said.

Ferri said that he didn’t expect West Warwick to fold after the Wizards lost the first two games.

“I was here when West Warwick played Pilgrim and Pilgrim was up 2-0 and West Warwick came back and they beat them,” Ferri said. “They showed me a lot that game.”

Cranston East rode the stellar jump-serving of Sunny Lei and Joe Maguire in the opening two sets.

“We probably had one of our better nights serving so far this season,” Ferri said.

The Wizards had a tough time serve-receiving, so they couldn’t set up their offense and run it through 6-foot-7 senior middle-hitter Ryan Coburn. He still finished with a match-high 22 kills.

“You have to pass to run an offense and it’s up to us to get the pass to [Coburn],” Prohaska added. “You can have six tremendous hitters, but if you don’t have the passing, the hitters are useless.”

The Thunderbolt had no problem running their offense in the first two sets, thanks in large part to their setter, Sunny Lei, who played outstanding.

“Sunny is an incredible player,” Ferri said. “He’s a gifted player. Guys like that don’t come along too often.”

Bou (17 kills), Joe Maguire (14 kills) and Mike Antoine (8 kills) were the main recipients of Lei’s passes.

Neither Cranston East nor West Warwick met their playoff opponent during the regular season.

roblee@projo.com