The Vineyard high school student-athletes were back in action this week following spring break and the time to lock in and stack up wins is now.
While most of the squads enjoyed some time off during vacation, the track and field team had a major meet to attend in the MSTCA Warrior Invitational last Thursday in Foxborough. In a field of hundreds of schools from all over the Commonwealth, two Vineyarders, Daniel Serpa and Camille Brand, brought first place finishes back to the Island.
Serpa, a senior, won the mile in a field of 77 participants with a time of 4:32.44. He was nearly two seconds faster than second place. And Brand, a sophomore, won the high jump in a field of 34 participants with a five foot, two inch leap.
On Wednesday, the Vineyarders traveled to Nauset to compete with the Warriors before the division five relays Saturday in Seekonk.
Another team boasting some big wins lately is girls lacrosse who took down Falmouth Academy 16-2 before the break and then Sturgis East 18-2 on Tuesday. Against Sturgis East on the Cape, multiple Vineyarders got in on the offensive action as the girls are showing to be a very deep team.
Charlotte Scott netted four goals and had five assists. Ali Dyke scored four times, Lily Moran had three goals and two assists and Brooke Ward scored twice.
The boys lacrosse team faced a tough test in two schools from Connecticut at the beginning of break last week in Newington and Canton. The Vineyard lost both contests but coach Chris Greene said it was a great trip for the boys despite the losses.
“I think we learned a great deal about ourselves,” Coach Greene said. Against Newington, the Vineyarders were hampered by a lack of players and some unseasonably warm weather while against Canton the head coach said a few mental mistakes were the difference in the game.
On Saturday, the Vineyarders lost to Sandwich 16-3. Aiden Conley scored twice and his brother Liam had the other Vineyard goal with an assist. Frankie Paciello had six takeaways and three ground balls, Chase Toomey added three takeaways for purple’s defense and Michael Perry made five saves. The team takes on Nantucket away on Saturday.
On Monday, the girls tennis team evened their record to 2-2 without dropping a set against Dennis-Yarmouth. In singles play, Cali Giglio won 6-0, 6-0, Evelyn Brewer won 6-1, 6-0 and Andrea Morse won 6-0, 6-0. For doubles, the first team of Sofia Balsas and Ellie Pennington won 6-0, 6-2 and second doubles team Sophie Winters and Sophie Roads won 6-2, 6-4.
On Wednesday the girls team defeated Sandwich 4-1 to stay undefeated in their division. Saturday they take on Nantucket at home starting at 12:45 p.m.
The boys tennis team is currently undefeated and looking to stay that way with a home match against Falmouth Friday and an away contest against Nantucket on Saturday.
In their last action before vacation, the Vineyarders nearly had a clean sweep of both their opponents in Barnstable and Dennis-Yarmouth. Against Barnstable, in singles, Jacob Riis won his match 6-1, 6-4, Zak Potter won 6-2, 6-0 and Jack Marshard won 6-3, 6-3. In doubles, Tegan Myers and Caleb Dubin won 6-1, 6-0 and Clyde Smith and Kert Kleeman won 6-0, 6-1.
Against D-Y, in singles, Jacob Riis won 6-0, 6-1 and Clyde Smith won 6-0, 6-0, but Tommy Flynn was defeated 6-3, 6-4. In doubles, Tegan Myers and Caleb Dubin won 6-0, 6-0 while Kert Kleeman and Kyle Levy also won 6-0, 6-0.
Boys baseball plays against Falmouth at home on Friday at 3:15 p.m.
— Tim Johnson
The baseball team played a doubleheader over break last Saturday against Dover-Sherborn away and dropped both contests 7-2 and 9-6. Coach Kyle Crossland said the Vineyarders made too many mistakes while D-S was timely with their hitting.
“The second game we had a late rally but it wasn’t enough,” the head coach said.
In the second game, Cam Napior toed the rubber for the Vineyarders and struck out five through four innings. The Vineyard scored five in the final two innings but it wasn’t enough to overcome their opponent’s eight run lead. Hunter Johnson hit a double while Wyatt Loughman knocked in two RBI. Up next the Vineyard takes on Falmouth at home on Friday at 3:15 p.m. before turning around and taking off to Nantucket to play the Whalers on Saturday.
The softball team had one game before vacation against O’Bryant. While the Vineyarders were defeated, there were bright spots in the contest — notably, Bella Webster with a home run, Maddie Mello with an RBI double that scored Kelly Pacheco and Bella Arters making her pitching debut and recording a strikeout. Next, the girls play back-to-back home games this Friday and Saturday against Sturgis East at 3:15 p.m. and then Nantucket at 12:15 p.m.
Wrapping up the spring sports action on the water, the sailing team last raced at Moses Brown in Providence where they went 1-3 on the day. The Vineyarders beat Dartmouth 3-0 but then lost to Hotchkiss, Portsmouth Abbey and Moses Brown all by the same score.
“Excellent conditions and solid teams but we didn’t sail well early in the day,” said coach Andrew Burr.
Mr. Burr said his team found themselves later in the afternoon and put some pressure on their final opponent but couldn’t get their record to .500 on the day. The Vineyarders will race against Bishop Stang Thursday at home before hitting the road to face Sharon on Saturday.
