The Cranston East girls volleyball team will be playing for its life this week as it enters the final two games of the season.

The Bolts entered the week on a four-game losing streak and in need of two wins to reach the playoffs. The team faced Mount St. Charles on Tuesday and Cranston West on Wednesday to close out the regular season.

East has had some big performances this season, but has struggled to regain its footing as of late. Coach McKenzie Richards feels that slow starts have hampered the team during the streak.

“It comes down to, if we lose the first set, how do we come back stronger and let the first set go. We struggle with that. It is not about the effort or the talent at all, we have that. It’s just coming together and putting it all together as one. It’s known that we need to lay it all out there because it could be over. Playing like we have nothing to lose and giving our all could be the difference,” said Richards.

Despite falling to Coventry 3-2 on senior night, Richards hopes that the club will look to that outing when preparing for the final two, which are must-win matchups.

“Losing streaks can take a lot out of a team. We had a lot of momentum during our senior night and although we lost in five sets to Coventry, that was our best performance with energy and effort. It shows that we can come together and finish strong,” said Richards.

The Bolts will be relying on their large senior core this week to lead the way. Richards hopes to see her club play with urgency as it fights for the division’s final playoff spot.

“They’re starting to come to the realization that this actually does end. We have that going for us, that’s giving us that extra push because at the beginning of the season, we really didn’t have that on our minds,” said Richards. “Now that we have had those conversations, I think that there is a different mindset going into this.”