Sports

8- MERCHANDISER - Elizabethtown Edition - October 13, 2021 SPORTS Conestoga Valley • Donegal • Elizabethtown Garden Spot • Hempfield Lampeter-Strasburg • Manheim Central Penn Manor • Pequea Valley • Solanco MORE SPORTS PICTURES and other high school sports news at

Bears’ Racket Club Competes in L-L Playoffs

BY ERIC PYLES

Losing in sports is never the desired outcome and when that loss occurs in the postseason, everything is amplified. Add in a spoiled perfect season to that point and you find yourself in the shoes of the Elizabethtown girls tennis team. The Lady Bears rolled through the regular season with a 13-0 mark then moved to 14-0 courtesy of a win over Lancaster Country Day in the opening round of the L-L playoffs. What came next was that first setback, a 3-0 semifinal loss to Manheim Township on October 4th.

Township secured the win by claiming all three matches that finished, two in singles and one in doubles, while the two ongoing matches were halted because, with the Lady Streaks up 3-0, the team outcome had been decided.

“Toppling Manheim Township presents the toughest test in our district,” said head coach Brenda McBride. “Many of their girls have grown up on the courts and have such sound fundamentals. We came up short this time, but we were competitive in the matches where we knew we had a real chance, with individual flights and team districts approaching, there is much left for us to do.”

The going was more E-town friendly in the Lady Bears opening round shutout victory over Lancaster Country Day on the 30th. “Coming away with a 5-0 victory over LCD was a GREAT win for us,” said McBride. “Our girls showed remarkable mental toughness against a very talented team.”

Alli Evans, Rylee Bender and Julia Anderson posted singles wins while Nizaly Ortiz-Kreiner and Allison Lowell as well as Kathryn Barraclough and Julia Laszakovits posted doubles wins.

VOLLEYBALL

The winning continued on the volleyball court where the Lady Bears moved to 10-0 with wins over Manheim Central, South Western and Cocalico. Two of those wins were the 3-0 variety with South Western managing to steal the opening set, 25-17, before E-town rebounded with wins of 25-15, 25-17 and 25-23 for the 3-1 final. Sydney Stewart (15 digs, four aces) and Kallee Locker (19 kills) led the way with help from Angela Costa-Ouimet (21 assists).

The same trio fronted the sweep over Cocalico on the 5th leading to wins of 25-11, 25-7 and 25-11. While Stewart and Costa-Ouimet took center stage against Central to help secure the 25-12, 257, 25-19 win. Stewart totaled 17 kills, 12 aces and 16 digs in the two matches while CostaOuimet finished with 34 combined assists and Locker 12 kills against Cocalico.

GIRLS’ SOCCER

The girls’ soccer team is in a one step forward, two steps back dance after topping Garden Spot before falling to Penn Manor and Ephrata, leaving the Lady Bears 3-10 on the season.

Elizabethtown did manage to close out September on a high note with a 3-1 win over Garden Spot. The Lady Bears unloaded 29 shots leading to first half goals by Josie Spayd, Adyson Haak and Meiley Shuck. Keegan Miller’s five saves were enough to secure the win.

Three days later the Lady Bears opened October with a 1-0 loss to Penn Manor. Miller finished with 13 saves but one shot from Lauren Stoner in the 47th minute made the difference.

One day of rest was not enough for E-town to outlast Ephrata, falling by a 2-1 final in overtime. Haak put the visiting Lady Bears up early with an unassisted goal but a late score in regulation coupled with Cara Tiesi’s game winner in OT sent E-town home with a loss. Miller finished with six saves.

BOYS’ SOCCER

The boys’ soccer team also faced the Garden Spot-Penn Manor-Ephrata trio, going 02-1 to sit at 6-4-2 on the year. The Bears slipped a 0-0 tie with Penn Manor between a pair of 1-0 losses. Dominic Santana totaled 11 saves over the three affairs, but the Etown attack was held in check leading three games of scoreless soccer.

CROSS COUNTRY

Elizabethtown cross county was unable to enjoy their home meet with Manheim Township and Warwick on October 5th thanks to an 0-4 day. Jordan DiRisio posted the top finish for the Lady Bears, taking fourth, while Ali Fink slipped inside the top 10. Nathan Johnson posted the top finish for the Bears, taking 14th. Dalton Fink (17th) and Jaycen Conrad (18th) gave E-town two more in the top 20.

FIELD HOCKEY

A recent run by the field hockey team is most likely too late to allow the Lady Bears to slip into the 2021 postseason but is still a welcome sight. Etown’s 3-1 stretch improved their overall mark to 6-7-2, putting the Lady Bears just outside the District 3-2A field with only a handful of games remaining.

E-town kicked off their run on the 29th with their second OT win of the season, a 4-3 final over Lampeter-Strasburg. Regan Flory (2g) and Mikaela Condran (1g, 2a) paced the offense with help from Hailey Mertz (1g) and Lyla Fair (1a). Alaina Telenko stopped five shots to secure the win.

The Lady Bears made it two wins in two days with a 3-1 victory over Cedar Crest. Flory and Condran hooked up for the opening score with Piper Patrick finishing things off with one goal and one assist. Telenko needed just three saves for the win.

October opened with a 1-0 loss to Manheim Central with Telenko’s 10 saves not enough to outlast Central. Etown returned to the winner’s circle on the 4th, topping Cocalico 4-2. Condran participated in all four scores, assisting on three while scoring one. Two of those assists went to Flory with Caitlin Steffie corralling the final setup. Telenko finished with four saves.

FOOTBALL

The football team fell to Conestoga Valley 35-21 on October 1st, snapping a two-game run while dropping the Bears to 3-3 on the season. E-town picked up 264 of their 326 yards through the air thanks to Josh Rudy’s 25 completions. Braden Cummings hauled in Rudy’s lone TD strike, an 11-yarder in the second quarter that made it 21-7. The Bear’s final two scores came on the ground with Logan Lentz (7-22) scoring from 17-yards out while Hayden Haver (2-4) covered two yards for his score. Cade Capello led the ground attack (11-30) while Patrick Gilhool (9-86) and Brady Breault (7-45) completed the air attack.

Photo by Cheri Sine

E-town’s Allison Evans handled Lancaster Country Day’s Maggie Auman in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1, at number one singles to help the Bears to a 5-0 victory in a L-L League first-round playoff match in E-town on September 30.

Photo by Cheri Sine

E-town’s Corbin Robinson mixes it up with Conestoga Valley’s Aiden Johnson along the line of scrimmage in the Bears’ 35-21, Section Two loss to the visiting Buckskins on October 1.

Photo by Cheri Sine

Vincent Checco and Allison Evans pose after being named E-town’s Homecoming King and Queen during halftime ceremonies at the Bears’ football game with Conestoga Valley on October 1.

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