team pg 1 4-11-24
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Team opens with wins
The Woodstock Academy boys’ tennis team took care of business in its first two matches. Now, it gets a little reward.
The Centaurs don’t have another match until April 15. That could be a blessing or a curse.
It means the team can get some early-season practice time in but it also means it will have three matches in the spring break week and that could present some numbers issues.
“It’s going to be really tough because I have some international students that are starters so they will be home but last year, a lot of the schools we played were also missing players. We could go against a good team and they don’t have everyone either so sometimes, it’s a good thing and other times, it’s extremely bad,” coach Siana Green said.
The Centaurs can bask in their success for the moment, however, as they picked up a pair of ECC Div. II victories in the first official week of play.
Woodstock and Killingly avoided the inclement weather early last week by switching their home dates and playing inside at the Pomfret School courts.
The Centaurs walked away with the 5-2 victory.
Woodstock guaranteed itself the win by sweeping the singles competitions beginning with junior co-captains Owen Rigney and Tyler Chamberlin who both picked up wins.
Rigney had to work a little to post a 6-2, 6-4 straight-set win over Phillip Purcell.
Chamberlin had to press even more as he just got past Ivan Tang 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 at second singles.
Ethan Staples also persevered through a longer match, winning in three sets, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 and fellow senior Cang Nyugen also had to come back from a first set setback to win 2-6, 6-4, and 6-2.
The Centaurs also saw Ryan Chabot and Steve Shen post a No. 1 doubles team victory.
The second doubles team for Killingly (0-1, 0-1 ECC Div. II), Jack Owens and Dante Adams, and third doubles team of Max Richardson and Bradey Jonasen, posted victories.
Rigney and Chamberlin also shined in the first outing the day before at home against NFA.
They set the tone early as both recorded 6-0, 6-0 victories in the first two singles matches and the rest of the team followed suit with successful outings as the Centaurs shutout the Wildcats, 7-0.
Staples and Nguyen also recorded singles wins for the Centaurs.
Chabot and Shen were 6-0, 6-0 winners at first doubles and Heath White and Ben Sperber, in their first outing together at second doubles, posted a 6-1, 6-1 victory.
Third doubles was a forfeit win for Woodstock in its season opener.
Boys’ Volleyball
Woodstock didn’t have to wait long for its first varsity victory. In fact, the Centaurs picked up two in their first week of play as a varsity program.
“We’re super happy,” said senior Aiden Finch. “We lost our first match but to come back right away and pick up our first win, especially a reverse sweep, was amazing.”
The Centaurs lost their first match, 3-0, to Wolcott Tech. But they were able to right the ship against the Bulkeley/SMSA co-op the day after. Woodstock rallied from two sets down to take a 3-2 victory.
Prior to the match, coach Adam Bottone moved his son, Brayden, from outside hitter to setter.
“Brayden has nice hands and he understands the game better than the other guys. He did well.” Adam Bottone said.
The freshman finished with 18 assists despite being told just before the match that he was playing setter.
Finch, who had only three kills for the Centaurs in the opener against Wolcott Tech, had a dozen versus Bulkeley/SMSA.
Bulkeley/SMSA won the first two sets.
Adam Bottone said the team experimented with a 6-2 and setting from the back row, but instead, he was having the outside hitters set. That necessitated the switch to Brayden Bottone.
Woodstock swept the last three sets, 25-21, 25-21, 15-12 to score the victory. Nate Billings added 18 digs in the win.
The Centaurs were supposed to play Bulkeley/SMSA on Friday, but a music department trip meant some key athletes would not be on hand and both teams agreed to move the match up to Tuesday.
It meant the Centaurs had to play three matches in three days.
They traveled to Hartford and posted a 3-0 win over an undermanned Capital Prep team,
The Centaurs won the three sets handily, 25-5, 25-10, 25-12.
Finch again led the way with eight kills while fellow senior Hunter Larson had seven and Billings tossed in eight service aces.
In an ideal world, Adam Bottone would like to have his son back on the outside and have the two athletes he had planned to have as setter perform that task but it will take time.
Softball
The weather didn’t heat up, but, fortunately, the Woodstock bats did.
The Centaurs bounced back from a season-opening loss to Coventry early in a rather unsettled week weather-wise to post a 10-7 victory over Montville.
Woodstock got the early jump on the road against the Wolves.
The Centaurs gave starting pitcher Grace DelSanto a little cushion to work with as they scored four times in the first inning.
Sarah McArthur drew a one-out walk and Ellary Sampson followed with a hard shot up the middle which allowed McArthur to score.
Sampson came around on a double by Delaney Anderson and DelSanto followed with a single to set the stage for Savannah Schley one out later. She went opposite field and her single to right plated both runners.
The Wolves (2-1) did score two in the bottom of the second but Anderson and Schley struck again in the third.
Anderson ripped a triple to lead off the inning, and after a pair of strikeouts, Schley drove in her third run of the contest with a single to center.
Montville rallied to cut the deficit to one in the bottom of the inning but the Centaurs got a little breathing room again in the fifth inning when Sampson (3-for-4) doubled and the Wolves wisely walked Anderson. Maci Corradi scored them both with a single to center.
Sampson knocked in McArthur with a single in the sixth and Madison Bloom added a two -run single in the seventh to account for the 10 runs for Woodstock (1-1).
The Centaurs opened the season at home against Class S defending state champion, Coventry.
The Patriots proved they will have to be reckoned with again as they rolled past Woodstock, 19-1.
Anderson had two of the Centaurs six hits and scored the only run in the sixth inning when she crossed the plate on a Schley single.
Baseball
The Woodstock baseball team found that out on Saturday as they had to manufacture some runs in a 5-1 victory over Montville.
“Sometimes in baseball, that’s the way the game goes, you have to create,” said coach Connor Elliott. “We did that with the first run we scored. We had a big inning but it was definitely a game where we felt like we had to execute to score and that’s good practice for us long term.”
The two teams were locked in a scoreless tie and the Centaurs had first and third with two outs. Spo, Elliott asked Eric Mathewson and Noah Sampson to execute a delayed steal.
It worked to plan as Mathewson was able to lure the throw and Sampson was able to score from third.
The Wolves tied the game in the fourth only to see Woodstock score the remainder of its runs in the fifth inning.
Riley O’Brien and Sampson both singled and courtesy runner Haydon Rowland came around to score on an error.
Matt Hernandez followed with a two-run double to center.
The final run came across when Brady Lecuyer took one for the team and was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
O’Brien did the rest as the senior worked six innings, giving up only three hits and one run with five strikeouts.
The Centaurs were able to turn a pair of double plays as they improved to 2-0 on the season.
Boys’ Lacrosse
Jared Nielsen knew he would have to step up this season to fill in some of the void when it came to offense for the boys’ lacrosse team this spring.
The senior did just that on Friday and Saturday.
After a slow start in which he scored just one goal in the first two games, Nielsen found his scoring touch.
He put in five goals to lead the Centaurs to their first win of the season, 16-4, over the Norwich Tech-Windham Tech co-op.
Nielsen had a repeat performance on Saturday when the Centaurs traveled to Montville and downed the Wolves by the same score to improve to 2-2 on the season.
“(Five goals) in back-to-back games is absolutely ridiculous and it’s not just his goals. He’s getting the ball to his teammates and making it easy for them to score,” coach Jason Tata said.
Gunnar Basak added four goals in the Saturday victory in Montville while Dylan Phillips added a trio of tallies and Henry Wotton tossed in a couple.
The windy, raw early April conditions didn’t faze the Centaurs on Friday as Lucas Theriaque, Phillips and Basak all helped Nielsen as each came away with hat tricks against the Warriors (1-2).
The coach has always been excited about his attack line but he knew it may take some time to gel. It’s happening now.
In addition to the offense, Tata was also happy with the defensive efforts of Jacob Lizotte, David Genay and Sam Lescault.
Earlier in the week the Waterford Lancers scored with 11 seconds left in the third quarter to take the 7-6 lead and that was it as the two teams played a scoreless fourth quarter.
Basak and Theriaque both scored twice for the Centaurs with Phillips and Nielsen getting the other tallies.
Girls’ Lacrosse
The Centaurs played their first match under new head coach Heather Miller but could not catch up to the Griswold/Norwich Tech co-op last week.
The Centaurs fell behind at the start and the Wolverines won 13-6.
“I was,” Miller said when asked if she was happy with the performance. “I know the scoreboard doesn’t say it but I think our passing and receiving has improved greatly since last season. We were really focusing on the fundamentals and the girls did really well with that.”
The game was hardly played in the best of conditions as rainy and raw weather greeted the players.
The Centaurs kept it close early but fell behind at the half, 8-4.
They kept it within four when Piper Sabrowski scored two of her three goals in the second half.
Fellow senior Caroline Harris also had a hat trick for the Centaurs.
Seniors Caroline Harris and Piper Sabrowski had three goals each in the opener.
Harris had her fourth goal of the season on Thursday as the Centaurs and Fitch Falcons played through snow flurries, sprinkles and raw conditions.
The host Falcons got the best of it as they dropped the Centaurs to 0-2 with a 19-1 victory.
Girls’ Tennis
Somehow, even with all the rain, snow and cold weather, the girls’ tennis team was able to get in both of its scheduled matches.
The Centaurs were even able to play them outside.
The weather cleared enough for Woodstock to pick up its first win of the season as it downed Killingly, 7-0.
Ellie Bishop-Klee did have to go to a tiebreaker but posted her second straight victory at first singles.
Wynter Worth, Emma Massey and Peyton Bentley, meanwhile, all picked up their first victories of the season in straight sets to clinch the victory for Woodstock (1-1, 1-0 ECC Div. II).
Gianna Musumeci and Kerrigan Reynolds were challenged a bit at first doubles by Malia Taylor and Keomanivong Eliana of Killingly (0-1, 0-1) but pulled out the 6-3, 6-3 victory.
The Centaurs second doubles of Margaux Reck and Kate McArthur posted a 6-0, 6-1 victory as did the Centaurs third doubles of Maeve Lusignan and Catherine Trudeau.
Woodstock’s opener was not as easy, not even close.
It was a long, close battle as five of the seven matches were determined by tiebreakers and St. Bernard pulled out the 4-3 victory over the Centaurs in the season opener.
The second doubles team of Mia Gashi and Ava Little gave the Saints the victory as they defeated McArthur and Delilah Kesselman 6-4, 5-7, (11-9).
Bishop-Klee won at first singles for the Centaurs but Blake Murray, Meri Kamboli and Zhuning Gao captured the other three singles matches for St. Bernard.
The first doubles team of Musumeci and Reynolds pulled out one of those hard-fought victories, a 4-6, 6-2 (10-3) win.
The third doubles team of Madilyn Holloway and Catherine Trudeau posted a 7-6, 6-2 victory to account for the third Woodstock Academy victory.
The Centaurs now get a lengthy break as their next match comes up on April 17 when they play the Windham-Windham Tech co-o.
Girls’ Track
The dual meets are still a couple of weeks away but the girls’ track team got a little head start on the season this past weekend by participating in the Tammy Schondelmayer Invitational in Bloomfield.
It was productive as several athletes qualified for Class MM state championship competition based on their results.
Two relay teams finished first overall in the competition.
The 4x400m relay of Emma Weitknecht, Talia Tremblay, Julia Coyle and Juliet Allard finished best in 4 minutes, 11.87 seconds which is also the best time recorded thus far among MM teams.
The 4x800m team of Coyle, Tremblay, Olivia Tracy and Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain also is best among MM competition so far as they placed first in Bloomfield in 10:16.27.
Jillian Edwards won the 100m hurdles in 17.5 seconds and also placed third in the high jump as she cleared 4-feet, 10-inches.
Allard finished second in the 300m hurdles in 47.97 seconds, best among MM competitors so far, and was also fourth in the 200m in 27.04.
D’Alleva-Bochain was third in the 800m in 2:27.39, also best currently among MM competitors.
The 4x100m team of freshmen Elise Coyle and Rita Rawcliffe and sophomores Ella Lidonde and Weitknecht placed fifth.
Also getting fifth-place spots were senior Reegan Reynolds in the long and triple jumps; Lily Morgis in the discus and Tremblay in the 400m.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
caption, page 3:
Senior Aiden Finch helped guide the Centaurs to a pair of early-season victories with 12 kill effort vs. Bulkeley/SMSA and eight more against Capital Prep.
caption, page 4:
Left: Sarah McArthur makes a leaping catch. Right: Delaney Anderson gets settled in as pitcher Grace DelSanto gets ready to throw. Photos by Gavin Grant/Woodstock Academy.
Woodstock Academy softball season opener. Photos by Gavin Grant/Woodstock Academy.
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