Spring Sports Highlights for 4.30.18

Under beautiful conditions for golf, Westminster hosted AOF, Canterbury and Hopkins at Hop Meadow Country Club. The final results were Westminster (205), AOF (210), Hopkins (223) and Canterbury (235). Grant Noble '18 and Abir Singh (Hopkins) tied for match medalist with outstanding scores of 37 (+1). Other Westminster scores included Ned Blanchard '20 (40), Cam Scott '18 (42), Peyton Knauf '19 (42), Ian Broadbent '18 (44) and Justin Flaks '20 (44). The three victories raises the team's record to 13-1-1.

Second Boys' Golf took its game to Tunxis Plantation to compete against Kingswood. On the nicest day of the spring to date, the Martlets turned in a solid performance and drove away with a convincing 207 to 243 win. Carson Roth '19 had another strong outing shooting a +3 (38) to lead all golfers for medalist honors. The only other sub-40 round was engineered by Peter Sanger '21 (39). Congrats to both Roth and Sanger for their fine play. Other scores included Alex Gadowski '18 (42), David Harris '21 (43), Charlie von Stade '21 (45) and Darion Benchich '20 (45). The 207 total was the second best team result of the season.

Taft hosted First Girls’ Lacrosse for a rainy, scrappy, back and forth game on April 25. Taft did not get on the board until a few minutes into the first half, which proved to be indicative of the low-scoring, possession-based game for both teams. The Martlets answered two minutes later with their first goal and both teams alternating scoring plays throughout the first half, maintaining a one-goal spread until there were 2.4 seconds into the first half when Taft pulled ahead. They broke for half and Westminster trailed 2-5. A victory was well within reach for the Martlets as they lessened the deficit to one goal, but struggles to maintain possession and convert caused turnovers to Westminster goals ultimately allowed Taft to score more of its own. Westminster had goals from Jill Parsons ‘19, Shannon Keefe ‘19, Emma Lange ‘18 and Emma Alpaugh ‘18. Westminster had strong contributions from Georgia Nolan ‘20 who was a threat all over the field and dominated end line to end line.

 

Westminster took on a strong and powerful Deerfield team, in Deerfield, Mass. Deerfield opened up the scoring early, scoring two quick goals off of fast breaks. However, Westminster responded quickly, scoring not long after, getting itself on the board. With 16 minutes to go in the half, the score was 5-2 Deerfield, which was the closest it would be all game. It wasn't until the end of the first half, when Deerfield started to pull away with a strong lead, leading into halftime. As the second half began, Westminster responded to being down and began to win the draw control, resulting in two quick goals. However, the deficit was too much to cover, and Westminster struggled to maintain possession on offense, resulting in a final score of 6-15. Despite many attempts to close the gap, Deerfield proved to be strong and disciplined, and Westminster struggled to capitalize on offensive opportunities. Emma Alpaugh '18 and Blake Cote ‘19 had strong performances, each scoring twice. Shannon Keefe '19 also scored.

 

First Boys’ Lacrosse returned to the friendly confines of Hovey Field to take on the visiting Millbrook Mustangs. The Martlets were a bit slow out of the gate, taking a 4-1 lead into the half. Demitri George '18 got hot in the second half at the face off X, which led to increased time of possession and an uptick of scoring. This game was a total team effort in earning the win, as every player contributed on the field.  

 

Second Girls’ Lacrosse had trouble finding its offensive footing on a rainy day at Taft. The Rhinos scored first and the Martlets countered a minute later when Celia Sotirhos ‘21 buried a shot off a feed from Layla Ennis ‘19. The play was back and forth for the first half, which ended with the Martlets trailing by one. The second half did not get better for the Martlets as they struggled to connect on passes and kept slipping on the muddy field.

 

 

It was a tough day for lacrosse in the pouring rain, but both teams dug deep and put on a good show. At the end of the first quarter the score was tied 2-2 with each team scoring a man-up goal. The second quarter saw the visitors getting some possession time and going on a small run for a lead into halftime. Third quarter was all Martlets, as they possessed and played good lacrosse and went up 7-5 heading into the fourth quarter. Westminster would implode in the final 10 minutes as penalties and unstructured lacrosse would plague the home side. Avon would tie it up early and extend to a 9-7 win. It’s a good thing the forecast calls for better weather tomorrow, as it’s a new day to play. The rain was so bad that goals, assists and saves could not be kept.

 

Westminster headed up Route 91 to take on the Eaglebrook School on a sunny afternoon. The home team would open the scoring early in the game to take a 1-0 lead. The Martlets would then go on a five-goal run to head into halftime with a 5-3 lead. Westminster would struggle to stay out of the box with some wild sticks but were able to settle down in the second half and stay out of the box. Second half started with two quick goals for the visitors and they never looked back. Ben Ferrell '21 would get the game ball with a strong 16-save performance.

Ally Marenco '18 allowed just two Kingswood Oxford singles and the Westminster bats came alive during a 17-1 victory in West Hartford. Emily Samar '18 tripled and had two doubles for the Martlets. Taylor Adams '20, Gabby Nemarich '20 and Ashlee White '18 each had three hits for the Black and Gold. Hannah Stone '18 and Mandy Busky '21 added two hits apiece. Marenco struck out six batters over four innings. Infielders White, Stone, Adams and Busky made strong plays throughout the game, and Samar was sharp behind the plate.

 

Hannah Stone '18 had two doubles and five RBIs, and Bethany Winters '20 pitched well over four innings to lead the Martlets to a 15-1 victory against Loomis. Mandy Busky '21, Kiki Magid '19, Gabby Nemarich '20 and Ashlee White '18 had two hits apiece for the Martlets. Nemarich, Busky and Taylor Adams' 20 made some strong plays in the field. A defensive highlight occurred in the fifth inning, as Nemarich fielded a base hit and threw out a runner attempting to score. Emily Samar '18 and Meg Cournoyer ’19 combined to catch a fine game, and Winters allowed only three Loomis Chaffee singles.

 

With the match delayed a day due to rain, the Martlets were more than ready to host Taft in what proved to be a very competitive match. The Martlets earned the mental edge by winning all three doubles matches. Clara Ekholm '20 and Ellie Suit '20 were in control of their match at No. 2 from start to finish winning 8-3. The other two matches were much closer. Mary Kille '18 and Nat Wilson '18 found themselves up 7-4 but their opponents did not quit and fought back to take the lead 8-7. Kille and Wilson dug in and tied the match to go to a tiebreaker. They were able to take their momentum and win 7-5 with a beautiful down the line shot by Wilson. At the same time, Lauren Way '20 and Alex Wolf '19 finished off their match 8-6. Way and Wolf had not really been challenged this season so it was great to see them put together a solid match against a team equal to themselves. In singles, Olivia Zhang '20 at No. 2 kept the Martlet groove going winning in dominant fashion 8-3. Zhang was in control from the first serve and looked confident in her win. Way was even more overwhelming in her 8-1 win at No. 4. This clinched the victory for the Black and Gold. Suit put the cherry on top with a hard-fought win at No. 3 singles 8-5. It was another great team win.

 

The Black and Gold made the short trip to Suffield on a beautiful day for tennis and came away with another win. Suffield plays the 4-3 format, so the Martlets brought a player up from the Second team to complete their roster. All three doubles teams looked strong with none of them dropping more than two games. No. 1 Clara Ekholm '20 and Nat Wilson '18, No. 2 Olivia Zhang '20 and Laura Mittelman '20 and No. 3 Alex Wolf '19 and Diana Tsibilkova '21 all played confidently and aggressively. In singles, the Martlets were equally dominant with Mary Kille '18 at No. 1, Lauren Way '20 at No. 3 and Maggie Chaves '19 at No. 4 all bringing home the win. Way was the only Martlet to play a perfect match, not dropping a single game.

 

The rain was steady and soft all day in Simsbury. In Salisbury it was barely a mist, teasing coaches and players alike with the possibility of an outdoor match. But the courts were just slick enough, and the skies foreboding enough to keep the players indoors in the 40-year-old Ford Tennis Courts — three newly resurfaced hard courts with nice high ceilings. Knowing that three rounds of play would keep the teams there till close to 8 p.m., the coaches opted to forego the normal match format and play singles first. Doubles would only be needed if the match were still tied 3-3 after the first two rounds. The evens started. Ethan Na '19 played a Russian senior with a withering backhand. When Na was able to move his opponent out wide, his backhand sometimes went long, but Na had trouble holding his serve. Nonetheless, he fought hard and played many, many deuces. Grant McCargo '21 controlled seemingly every point in the second set, moving his opponent left and right with heavy spin on both the backhand and forehand. His opponent absorbed all the pressure and eventually McCargo would send a ball long. All of the Hotchkiss players were good at handling pressure. Connor Seeley (captain) '18 played for about 75 minutes with lots of tight rallies, but came up short as well. First round to Hotchkiss 3-0. In round two, Azat Mukhametkulov ’19 started off against a talented lefty who was hitting a heavy ball on both forehand and backhand. When Mukhametkulov came in to net, the lobs over his head would just drop in inside the baseline. When Mukhametkulov hit balls out wide, they somehow came back and usually in good spots. When Mukhametkulov left a ball too high or too short, it often came back as a laser. Mukhametkulov hit his share of lasers too and had some great serves. It was a fun match to watch. Nikola Kostic (captain) ’18 played a boy who liked to run around his backhand. Kostic tried to force his opponent left and use the open court, but his opponent was fast and precise. Kostic played very well. Carl Ekholm '19 was up 5-0 in his first set to Blake Cilmi (Westminster alumnus sibling, Addison '16) and held on for the 6-4 win after Cilmi stopped making unforced errors. The final point of the first set was about 60 shots long. In the third set tiebreaker, Ekholm was up 6-4 and then down 6-8 before earning a match point at 9-8. It seemed like it would be a repeat of his overtime Suffield victory when Ekholm worked another long point, moving Cilmi left and right before getting a short high ball sitting up asking to be smacked. Ekholm did smack it but slightly long and then fell 9-11 to make the final score 0-6. Two exhibition doubles were played and Chris Whipple '18 played and exhibition singles match (outdoors) but formal doubles was not played. Team members rode home knowing they had played well and lost to a stronger team.

 

The Martlets managed a clean sweep of the girls from Suffield Academy. Mia Poling '18 played particularly strong singles. A special thanks to Indira Marzbani '18, Eda Chen '20 and Isabel von Bargen-Burke '19 for coming up from the lower program to fill in the cracks in the lineup.

 

The Martlets travelled to West Hartford to compete against Hall High, which is always a fun outing. Trying to maximize playing time, the girls played six singles and six doubles matches (just six game pro sets), so many athletes played twice. The 12 Westminster players played a total of 107 games! Leading the charge was No. 1 singles player Eda Chen '20. Always a steady, consistent baseline player, Chen eventually fell to her equally talented opponent. The remainder of the singles match players were No. 2 Jennifer Jerand '19, No. 3 Isabel von Bargen-Burke '19, No. 4 Lily Carrel '19, No. 5 Siena Holowesko '21 and No. 6 Izzy Bailey '21, all of whom won their contests. On the doubles side, Bailey and Holowesko played No. 1 doubles, followed by Lizzy McCoy '20 and Chloe Ferro '20 at No. 2, Mairead DeFronzo '20 and Ferro at No. 3, Annie Brewer '21 and Chen at No. 4, Christina Zahringer '20 and Carrel at No. 5, and Tatum McBreen '21 and Jerand playing No. 6. The team won four of the six doubles contests on a spectacular spring day.

 

Westminster hosted the ever-dominant Renbrook varsity tennis team on another warm afternoon. There were many small victories earned by Third Girls’ Tennis, not least of which was the sole win by the No. 2 doubles team of Siena Holowesko '21 and Annie Brewer '21, who beat their opponents 8-5 in a pro set. Even though this was the only "dub," everyone else who played really stepped up their game and had some great rallies. It was evident that so many of the girls' strokes are coming along, in addition to their serves and positioning on the court. In an exciting and close match at No. 1 singles, Eda Chen '20 faced a formidable opponent and won six games, the highest of any player. The other singles players also played against incredibly strong challenges; No. 2 Jennifer Jerand '19, No. 3 Isabel von Bargen-Burke ‘19 and No. 4 Mairead DeFronzo '20. Each of the singles players had some terrific rallies and no one backed down from the strong play of their opponents. In doubles, likewise, the teams took several games from their opponents. The No. 2 doubles team consisted of Lily Carrel '19 and Izzy Bailey '21, while the No. 3 team of Chloe Ferro '20 and Lizzy McCoy '20 were solid.

 

Maya Ruffin '19 and Alisa Toner '21 got the weights off to a good start with a 1-2 finish in the discus. These two young women also placed third and fifth in the shot put. Toner wasn't done yet: she also took second in the javelin where she was followed by Amanda Liu '18 in fifth. Liu won the pole vault as well as the high jump. Her teammates did not leave her alone, however, as she was followed by Chloe Sealy '18 in the high jump. Dylan Foster '20, who would go on to win the 200m dash, placed second in the long jump with her best leap of the year. In the distance events Natalie Rubin '19 continued to hold it down, she placed second in the 800m and third in the 1500m. The Martlet 4x400m relay team posted its best time of the season thanks to the efforts of Liu, Sealy, Elisabeth Knauf '20 and Abby Moss '20. The Fourth Form duo of Paige Phillips and Cecilia Raymond took second and third places in the 100m. Fellow Fourth Former Knauf took third in the 300m and second in the 100m hurdles. Phillips placed second in the 200m and ran the anchor leg of the winning 4x100m relay team. Fellow Martlets Foster, Raymond and Lauren Nam '18 did a great job to set her up for that victory.

 

In the weights, discus throwers Tremaine Dawson '21 and Malik Alishlalov '20 took fourth and fifth places. Fritz Gale '18 took third and Alishlalov took fifth in the javelin. Gale also won the high jump, where he was followed by Hayden Cathcart '18 in third. Gale was not done yet: he went on to place second in the long jump with his best jump of the season. Matt Park '21 also placed fourth in the long jump. Park was a member of the winning 4x100m relay team along with Brandon Williams '18, Nate Pane '19 and Alishlalov. Drew Brownback ’19 won the pole vault with his best vault of the season and finished second in the triple jump. On the oval, Park and Alishlalov took fourth and fifth in the 100m. Pane and Cathcart earned third and fifth in the 200m. Williams ran to second in the 110m hurdles and third in the 300m Hurdles. Pane and Teagan Stedman '18 continued to run well in the 400m as they placed second and fifth in a competitive race. Stedman was also a key factor in the 800m: he placed third, right behind teammate Emmett de Kanter '19. De Kanter won the 1500m and Daniel Chey '18 took fourth place. The Martlets continued to dominate the distance events in the 3000m where Kieran Haug '21 and John Kuzminskas '18 snagged the first two places by a margin of more than a minute. The meet once again ended on a good note as Westminster placed second in the 4x400m relay thanks to the efforts of de Kanter, Stedman, Brownback and Pane.