Track and field and girls’ lacrosse return to the Vineyard this week after several away games and meets, with the track team competing against Bishop Stang on Tuesday at 3 p.m. and the girls going up against Oliver Ames Monday at 3:30. Softball, boys’ tennis and boys’ lacrosse are also home this week.
Boys Tennis
For the first time since 2005, the Vineyard boys defeated archrival Cape Cod Academy, winning Tuesday’s match 3-2. The team also brought home a third league win against Bishop Stang Wednesday, and moved to a 6-0 season record.
CCA came out strong, with Vineyarder junior co-captain Kent Leonard and sophomore Patrick McCarthy falling 6-2, 6-2 and 6-2, 6-0, respectively to their opponents. Junior co-captain Justice Yennie brought in the first Vineyard victory of the afternoon with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Sam Lahart, while juniors Justin Smith and Ryan Sawyer, the number two doubles team, took a 6-2, 7-5 win.
With the day’s outcome riding on the results of the number one doubles match, Natty Schneider and Jackson McBride split their first two sets 6-4, 3-6. The duo went up three games in the final set before opponents Jon McGarty and Oliver Rogers came back to put the set at 2-3. Though CCA won one more game, Schneider and McBride pulled out a 6-3 set to take the match and seal the team victory.
“That was a pretty special win,” head coach Ned Fennessy told the Gazette. “We used to beat them regularly, and then as they matured as a school and an organization, they did their number.”
“It was a tight match,” he said, “It could have gone either way, and the boys worked hard and pulled it out, [especially] in the third set of second doubles. Everybody is pretty excited about that.”
Wednesday saw a few shuffles in the Vineyard lineup, with Schneider moving into the number two singles spot and Smith and Sawyer into the number one doubles spot. Juniors Michael Piland and Sean McAndrew paired for the first time at number two doubles. The changed lineup resulted in a familiar outcome, as the Vineyard swept Bishop Stang.
Scores from Thursday’s match against Bishop Feehan—the “team to beat in the Eastern Athletic Conference,” said coach Fennessy—were unavailable at press time. The boys are home on Monday as they take on Sandwich at 3 p.m.
Girls’ Tennis
The Vineyard girls have yet to lose a set this season, a streak that continued Tuesday as the team swept Cape Cod Academy to move to a 4-0 record.
Playing at number one singles, freshman Samantha Potter defeated senior Tess Argy 6-0, 6-1. Junior captain Annie Burton went 6-3, 6-0 against Abigail Souza, and senior Wendy Wen went 6-3, 6-2 against Emma Doe.
On the doubles courts, junior Dylan Brockmeyer and senior captain Alyssa Adler took a 6-0, 6-3 win over Gillian Zoman and Clare McGurk. Number two doubles pair Julia Cooper and Annabelle Hackney went 6-1, 6-2 against their opponents. The girls returned to league play this week with matches against Bishop Stang and Bishop Feehan (scores unavailable at press time), and will play Sandwich and Somerset next week. The Somerset match takes place on home court Wednesday at 3 p.m.
Girls’ Lacrosse
The girls remained undefeated in the Eastern Athletic Conference after Tuesday’s 17-14 win over Bishop Stang. The team is now 3-0 in league play (4-1 overall).
Following junior Alayna Hutchinson’s initial goal for the Vineyard, the lead changed hands seven times in the first half; the girls found themselves in a two-goal hole with six minutes left in the half, after which Hutchinson and senior captain Madison Hughes landed a goal apiece. Hutchinson capped the half by scoring the tying goal with 27 seconds left.
The Vineyard offense scored the first goals of the second half (Hughes scored twice; Hutchinson, junior Jennie Lindland, and freshman Lucy Hackney had one goal each), while the defense, led by senior captain Shelby Ferry, junior Texe Craig and sophomores Issy Smith, Mary Ollen and Sarah Alexander, kept Bishop Stang from closing the scoring gap. Goalie April Hargy had 12 saves on the day.
Hughes and Hutchinson ended the day with five goals apiece and five assists between them. Lindland, Hackney, and junior Taylor Poggi each scored twice, and Smith turned in one goal and one assist.
The team next takes on two tough opponents, going up against Wayland today and returning home for a Saturday game against Natick (Game time 12:45 p.m.). On Monday, the girls play Oliver Ames at home at 3:30. They will travel to Bishop Feehan on Tuesday.
Boys’ Lacrosse
The boys defeated Bishop Stang 11-6 on Tuesday, snapping a losing streak and moving into a three-way tie for first place in the EAC, where the team is 2-1.
“It was huge to get a win,” head coach Chris Greene said. “It was the first time they bought into the offense system we’ve been working on. We looked at film over the weekend . . . I think that paid off; you could see changes [against Stang].”
Senior Charlie Everett and junior Thomas Wilkins led the scoring with three goals and an assist each. Senior Denver Maciel had two goals, while senior Colby Gouldrup had one goal and four assists. Juniors Nick Costello and Marc Natichioni each scored one goal. Senior goalie Nelson Dickson made nine saves.
Last Saturday, the team took a narrow 5-4 loss to visiting Swampscott.
The Vineyarders scrimmage against Moses Brown on Saturday and take on EAC opponent Bishop Feehan at home on Tuesday. Game time is at 3 p.m.
Sailing
After a rough start to the season—traveling to St. George’s at the beginning of the month and coming away without a single win against the host school, Cape Cod Academy and Falmouth (Maine) — the sailing team is well on its way to staking out a spot in the New England Schools Sailing Association’s team racing championship.
“It didn’t start off too well, but the guys really got in gear,” head coach Andrew Burr said.
The team is undefeated in the Cape and Island League, with races against Nauset, Sandwich, and powerhouse Barnstable still up on the schedule. They have notched wins against Dartmouth (“for the first time in a long time,” said Coach Burr), Falmouth, Bishop Stang, Dennis-Yarmouth, St. Sebastian’s, and Chatham/Harwich.
Last weekend, the Vineyarders placed fourth of 10 teams (last year, the team was seventh of twelve), at the annual O’Day Qualifier fleet race, with freshman Raz Sayre having a “fantastic day” of sailing in the B division, Coach Burr said.
With the sailors now aiming for qualification at New Englands, held May 19-20, the next week and a half is “crunch time,” said Coach Burr. The Vineyarders’ New England ranking currently hovers between 18 and 21; the team needs a ranking of at least 16 to qualify for Wild Card Weekend — the precursor to the championships — May 11-12 .
The Vineyard sails against Hotchkiss and Cape and Islands powerhouse Barnstable on Sunday. They take on Nauset at home on Saturday.
“We haven’t qualified for Wild Card Weekend in eight years,” said Coach Burr. “It’s kind of fun; it’s going to come down to the wire.”
The team is well equipped to be contenders, however. Senior skipper Jesse Thomas is “a force to be reckoned with on the water,” Coach Burr said, while fellow seniors Jake Sudarsky and Riley Donegan offer experience as crew. Seasoned upperclassmen Doug Andrade, Katie Johnson, Tyler Shapiro, and James Ulyatt have also mastered the chess game that is team racing.
But alongside the veterans is a sizable group of freshmen — three of whom sailed at the O’Day Qualifier — who represent the future of the team. In addition to Sayre, Eli Hanschka and Zana Van Rooyen are seeing varsity time, with seven other freshmen waiting in the JV wings.
“This is the kind of team I’ve been waiting for three years,” Coach Burr said. “You don’t know when everything will click, but they have a legitimate shot at not just going to New Englands but also to qualify for nationals.”
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