The ConVal tennis team remains undefeated halfway through the short spring season.
“The kids are doing really well,” said head coach Mike Young after Monday’s 7-2 win over rival Souhegan. “That was quite a match…I haven’t beaten Souhegan very many times.”
Young said he’s never had a harder time picking lineups than this spring; senior Ben Kriebel, the only Cougar to win all his intra-team challenge matches, slots into the No. 1 position, but the rest of the lineup has shifted from match to match.
Kriebel picked up the Souhegan/ConVal rivalry where it left off in 2019, when it was older brother Zach up front for the Cougars battling Souhegan’s Sam Goddard. On Monday, it was the younger siblings squaring off, as Kriebel faced the Sabers’ new No. 1, Joshua Goddard. Goddard won a close one, 9-7; No. 3 Brady Proctor lost his singles match to Michael Dodge, 4-8, but Proctor and Kriebel would team to beat Goddard and Dodge at doubles, 8-4.
“Ben has just gotten better and better after three matches,” Young said. “Brady’s been playing really well.”
ConVal did not have the numbers to field a girls’ tennis team this spring, so Eva Calcutt joined the boys and has been a valuable contributor.
“She brings a lot of maturity to the team,” Young said. “She is just so on top of everything, it’s unbelievable.”
Calcutt is 5-0 on the season in singles and doubles, winning at the No. 5 spot Monday and then pairing with Fletcher Maggs for another win at third doubles
“Fletcher and Eva played a great doubles match,” Young said.
Jaimini Viles keeps his skills sharp with competitive squash during the offseason, so he was more than ready to take the No. 2 singles spot; with an eye on the clock to get to his evening drivers’ ed class, Viles dispatched James Zeolie 8-3 and then teamed with David MacKay for a win at No. 2 doubles. MacKay also had an 8-2 win at No. 4 singles.
Lucas Gregory and Avery Pope didn’t play Monday, but have been steadily improving, Young said, and only have one loss between the two of them, a doubles match that went to tiebreaks.
The Cougars are now 3-0 on the year, which is already halfway over due to the limited schedule. ConVal was set to play eight matches, but Manchester West withdrew from their two scheduled for the end of the season; ConVal plays at Souhegan Friday and then finished up with two against Hollis-Brookline next week.
Monadnock 15, Conant 1
The Orioles were in for a three-hour practice Wednesday morning after a mercy-rule loss to Monadnock Tuesday in which just about everything that could go wrong, did.
“Monadnock is a rich community with baseball and a lot of those players play secondary baseball, supplementary baseball,” Conant head coach Aric LeClair, a Monadnock grad and New England Ravens coach himself, said after the game on Humiston Field. “We don’t have many guys that do that. So some of them, it’s their third game in three years. So that’s tough. But some of the mistakes we made, you can’t blame not playing, because some of them were mental mistakes. So we only can use that excuse for so long.”
Sophomore Cam Olivo looked strong in the win for the Huskies, pitching four innings and allowing just one earned run on a RBI knock from Garrett Somero to drive in Griffin Labonte in the fourth.
“We scratched at the end, scored a run finally,” LeClair said. “Any time you don’t get shut out, it’s a good thing.”
Monadnock went up 2-0 in the first inning on a single, two walks and a hit batsman from Conant starter Hayden Ketola, who went 2.1 innings and allowed eight runs. Labonte came into the game for another 1.2 innings, and Jordan Ketola closed it out in the fourth and fifth.
In all, the Orioles walked eight batters, surrendered two passed balls, made two errors and balked four times, a litany of unforced mistakes that LeClair will need to get cracking on before the tournament.
The Orioles did make their share of good plays, too; freshman Zach Lovett was flawless in right field, and Hayden Ketola, who moved to center after coming off the mound, made a diving web gem of a catch going full speed to his right to end the top of the fifth.
Once Conant gets focused on the field, there is promise. The Orioles’ main man is senior shortstop Colson Seppala, who does all the little things for Conant and sets an example for the crop of youngsters.
“He’s our lead guy,” LeClair said. “Every day in practice, he’s doing the right things. He’s leading our team in hits for a reason. The younger kids look up to him and for good reason – he’s our go-to kid.”
Seppala, Somero and Malique Motuzas had hits for Conant Tuesday.
The Orioles (0-2) are at Monadnock Thursday, weather permitting.
Mascenic 8, WLC 1
Shea Zina tossed another gem Tuesday at Wilton-Lyndeborough, allowing two hits and no runs over five innings while striking out 12 batters.
Troy Brennan started on the mound and went four innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits and a walk and fanning 10 batters; he went 3-4 with a triple to lead WLC at the plate. Sean Brennan added an RBI.
Sean Agonis (2-3, 2B, 3B), Zina (1-4), Hayes Pearson (1-3, 2 R) and Ryan O’Shea (1-3) drove in runs for Mascenic. Jack Cocozella was 2-4 with two doubles and closed out the game on the mound, allowing one run in two innings.
Mascenic (3-1) hosts WLC (0-2) Friday.
Souhegan 17, ConVal 1
ConVal continues to scuffle in the early going, losing another blowout Monday, this time to Souhegan.
The Sabers’ Kyan Bagshaw struck out 12 Cougars and had a no-hitter going before leaving the game after five innings. Eric Stapelfeld doubled in the fifth and scored on a groundout to create ConVal’s only hit and run.
“At some point we will put it together and get a win,” coach Matt Harris said.
ConVal (0-4) hosts Souhegan Friday.
ConVal 18, Souhegan 1
Lily Mandel went five strong innings for ConVal Monday afternoon, getting the win on the mound for the Cougars by allowing just one run on three hits and two walks while striking out six.
“Aggressive base running and no defensive errors made the Cougar victory extra special,” said head coach Amanda Hinton.
Morgan Bemont (2-4, 3 RBI), Mairin Burgess (2-4, RBI) and Mandel (2-2, 2 BB, RBI) led ConVal at the plate. Julielle Cabana had a great game in left field despite the 30+ MPH wind gusts, Hinton said.
ConVal (2-2) is at Souhegan Friday.
Mascenic 19, WLC 4
Ally Adams went 3-4 with three RBI to lead Mascenic to a big win over WLC on Monday. Leah St. John (1-2, 3 RBI), Xaria Talbot (2-4, 3 RBI), Ella Pearson (2-4, RBI), Lyla Buxton (2-3, RBI) and Saige Wescott drove in runs for the Vikings.
Buxton started on the mound and went five inning with no earned runs and five strikeouts. Lexis Vautour pitched the fifth, allowing one earned run and striking out two.
Abby Dowling (2-3) and Madison Raymond (1-2) drove in runs for WLC.
Mascenic (4-0) and WLC (1-3) are back at it in New Ipswich Friday.
Lebanon 5, Conant 4
Conant had a shot at beating visiting Lebanon Tuesday, but dropped the match by one despite excellent play all around.
The Orioles got singles wins from No. 1 Margaret Wieniecki (8-0), Conant’s 13-year-old eighth-grade phenom; No. 3 Abby Wheeler (8-5) and No. 4 Emily Muilenberg (9-8). No. 2 Sarah Smith fell in tiebreakers; No. 5 Erin Weidner dropped her match 8-3, and No. 6 Bella Hart was shut out by future UNH women’s soccer goalie Sally Rainey.
Wheeler and Muilenberg won at No. 2 doubles; Hart and Weidner lost, so it came down to Wieniecki and Smith vs. Keira Hines and Kaeley Skakalski; Conant’s duo played beautifully, head coach Gloria Morison said, but the experienced Lebanon pair won out, 8-6.
Conant (1-1) is at Lebanon Thursday.
Goffstown 3, Mascenic 0
The rebuilding Vikings went down in straight sets at Goffstown Tuesday night.
Head coach Lauren Somero is still instilling the fundamentals into her inexperienced team, which saw only four boys try out and recruited another four eighth-graders to fill out the squad.
“Blocking continues to be an area that needs growth,” Somero said. “The middles are working hard to anticipate where the offense is coming from and close out the space to find the block.”
Spencer Dilda had nine kills in the loss, and Kirvan Hughes looked good defensively, Somero said.