The Vineyard girls tennis team is moving on to the second round of the playoffs after defeating Middleborough 4-1 Wednesday afternoon at home at the Ned Fennessy courts.
Cali Giglio led the way for the Vineyarders in first singles, winning her match 6-3, 6-0. Evelyn Brewer followed in second singles with a 6-2, 7-5 win and Andrea Morse finished the singles sweep 6-0, 6-3. In first doubles, Sophia Balsas and Ellie Pennington won 6-1, 6-3 to wrap up the Vineyard victory.
The girls hadn’t played since last Monday against Dover-Sherborn but there was no rust on their game in sight. They finished the regular season 9-8 to earn the 16 seed. Next up is the sweet 16 where they’ll play the winner of top-seeded Weston vs. Norton at a date yet to be determined.
The boys tennis team earned the two seed in their playoff bracket thanks to a dominant 14-2 regular season record. On Friday, the Vineyarders will square off with Ludlow at home after their adversaries defeated Falmouth in the preliminary round. The start time of the match is still yet to be announced.
Last Thursday, the boys concluded the regular season with a 5-0 victory against the Whalers on Nantucket. The Vineyarders went undefeated in Cape and Islands league play this year as they accumulated sweep after sweep on their way to claiming the division title.
The boys lacrosse team also won their highly-contested division in the Cape and Islands league last Tuesday with a signature comeback 15-5 win over Monomoy.
Needing to defeat the Sharks at home to be outright champions of the lighthouse division, the Vineyarders found themselves in an early 4-1 hole but did not let pressure get to them. With a little over four minutes left in the first quarter the Vineyard boys found their groove and rattled off a 14-1 run to secure victory, and vault ahead of Nantucket in the division.
Aiden Conley led the Vineyarders in scoring with five goals and two assists. His brother Liam scored three goals, had one assist, tallied nine ground balls and won eight faceoffs. Will Baliunas scored three times, Wyatt Nicholson added two goals, while Reelan Oliviera and Trevor Gullotta also scored in the victory. Goalie Michael Perry was also stout in net with ten saves on the day.
The Vineyarders are one of five Cape and Islands teams to make the playoffs this year along with Sandwich, Nantucket, Monomoy and Cape Cod Academy. The Vineyarders are ranked 22nd and will take on 11th seeded Rockland on the road in the first round at a date and time yet to be determined.
Rounding out the Vineyard’s spring sports playoff squads this year is the girls lacrosse team ranked 24th in the bracket. On Friday, the girls will battle ninth ranked Cape Cod Academy in Osterville. This will be the first time the two teams meet this season and the Vineyarders should be rested and ready; their last game was Saturday on Nantucket.
In other post-season action last week, the Vineyard track and field squad had several top-five finishes at the Cape and Islands championship at Monomoy Regional High School but collectively did not finish among the top three teams.
The top finisher for the Vineyard was Camille Brand, who tied for first in the high jump with a five-foot leap and finished third in the 200 meter with a 28.19 time. Brand was also a member of the second-place 4x100 relay team with Mya Gardner, Caroline Bettencourt and Shantavia Whylly. Alexa Schroeder finished the two mile in third place with a 12:37.9 time, Maia Donnelly finished the 400 meters in fourth place with a 1:05.26 time and Caroline Bettencourt finished the 100 meters in third place with a 13.64 time.
For the boys, Rodeo Purves-Langer had the best result with a fourth place finish in the one mile with a time of 5:05.5. The boys 4x100 relay team of Luis Costa, Xeandre Miller, Guilherme Oliveira and Caiden Gardner finished in fifth with a 50.76 time. Xeandre Miller also finished sixth in javelin with a 117 ‘9 toss.
Finally, the sailing team concluded their post-season with a second-place finish in the O’Day qualifier in Hyannis then followed it up with a ninth place finish in the NESSA fleet racing championship at Marina Bay in Quincy.
“They crushed it at the qualifier,” sailing head coach Andrew Burr said. “This group continues to surprise me, their learning curve has become parabolic and their teamwork has grown proportionally as they feed off each other’s successes and increasing confidence.”
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