From the HCC sports desk:
Strine Advances to Round of 16 as Harford Women’s Tennis Competes at NJCAA Division-I National Championship
TUCSON, Ariz.—Harford women’s tennis sophomore Kelsey Strine (Abingdon, Md./Edgewood) won her No. 6 singles match in the Round of 32 at the 2010 NJCAA Division-I Women’s Tennis National Championship on Sunday at Reffkin Tennis Center. The Fighting Owls are currently in a five-way tie for 26th place with two points.
Strine, the No. 7 seed, was down one set (6-3) to Abraham Baldwin’s Lauren Smith before seeing the second set tied at six to force a tiebreak. Strine easily won the extra play, 7-2 to earn the 7-6 set win and notched a 6-2 win in the deciding set to clinch the match, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.
With the win, Strine advances to the Round of 16, where she will face Mesa’s Hayley Roby in a 12:30 p.m. (MT)/3:30 p.m. (ET) match on Monday.
Sophomores Courtney Brewer (Street, Md./North Harford) and Megan Heagy (Fallston, Md./Fallston/Towson) also saw their matches go to three sets, though both ended up on the wrong side of the decision.
Brewer earned a 6-4 first set win over Kalamazoo Valley’s Brittany Johnson in the No. 3 singles draw, but Johnson handily won the second set, 6-1 to tie the match at one set each. Brewer pushed Johnson to an extra game in the third set, but ultimately fell, 7-5 to give Johnson the 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 match win.
Heagy similarly notched a 6-4 first set win in her No. 4 singles match against Mesa’s Cagney Bustamante, before Bustamante blanked Heagy 6-0 in the second set and secured the match win with a 6-2 third set decision for the 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 match win.
Freshman Julie Vuncannon (Aberdeen, Md./Aberdeen), sophomore Christine Babcock (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright/Stevenson) and freshman Katie Sampayo (Fallston, Md./Fallston) rounded out the singles results for the Fighting Owls in the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 5 spots, respectively.
Vuncannon fell to Central Alabama’s Lauren Blair, 6-1, 6-0 in the No. 1 spot, Babcock was downed by Lewis and Clark’s Valerie Madas, 6-1, 6-3 at No. 2 singles and Sampayo was ousted by Pima’s Lucy Gaynor, 6-1, 6-0 in the No. 3 slot.
On the doubles front, the No. 2 team of sophomore Agnes Burke (Havre de Grace, Md./Havre de Grace) and Vuncannon pushed Elgin’s Megan Joyce and Lauren Ferry to three sets, but fell 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (7-3) for the match. Brewer and Sampayo fell at No. 1 doubles, 6-1, 6-1 to the No. 7 seed of Jaclyn Lahari and Morgan Shaw from Collin County, while Strine and Heagy were downed by No. 5 seed Jaime Hertling and Kasey Spencer from Johnson County, 6-1, 6-2 at No. 3 doubles.
All of Harford’s doubles teams and defeated singles players continue competition on Monday in the consolation draw.
Harford Women’s Lacrosse Falls in Region XX Semifinal, 18-10, to CCBC-Catonsville
CATONSVILLE, Md.—The No. 4 Harford women’s lacrosse team took a 10-7 deficit into halftime, but was outscored 8-3 by No. 1 CCBC-Catonsville as the Cardinals (16-2) earned an 18-10 Region XX semifinal victory over the Fighting Owls (7-6) on Saturday at CCBC-Catonsville.
Freshman Jaclyn Hall (Bel Air, Md./Bel Air) led Harford with four points on the day (3g, 1a), while sophomore Melissa Warczynski (Street, Md./North Harford) added three goals and freshman Kaitlyn Hall totaled three points (1g, 2a). Freshman Stefanie Saul (Aberdeen, Md./Aberdeen) went the distance in goal, stopping 12 shots in 60:00.
Kara Cashen led the Cardinals with seven points on six goals and one assist, while Emily Reese added seven points with five goals and two assists.
With the win, Catonsville advanced to the Region XX championship on Sunday, where they claimed the Region XX title with an 18-11 win over No. 2 Anne Arundel.
Warczynski and sophomore Tori Pyzik (Bel Air, Md./John Carroll/Oregon) were the Harford representatives named to the All-Tournament team.
Harford Men’s Tennis Claims Second Straight Region XX Title, Earns Bid to Nationals
ROCKVILLE, Md.—The Harford men’s tennis team claimed its second straight Region XX championship as it downed Montgomery College-Rockville, 8-1 on Wednesday at Rockville.
The Fighting Owls (9-3) and the Knights are the only two teams in the region, causing the championship to be decided by a standard dual match, rather than a multi-team tournament format. Harford caught a break last year as they played a truncated Rockville squad and edged the Knights 5-4 for their first regional title in a few years.
The same was true on Wednesday, as Rockville fielded a team of only four players, giving Harford a 3-0 lead from the start thanks to default wins at No. 3 doubles and No.5 and No.6 singles.
Sophomore Josh Meier (Belcamp, Md./Home School) continued his outstanding season by dispatching Brad Toulbee, 7-5, 6-0 to claim the No. 2 singles title. Meier improves to an 11-1 dual match record on the year, and also teamed with freshman Cory Litka (York, Pa./Aberdeen/East Stroudsburg) to earn the No. 1 doubles crown in a hard-fought 7-5, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-5) win over Andrew Ortis and Toulbee.
For his two-year career, Meier has claimed all four possible Region XX titles after earning the No. 1 doubles and No. 2 singles titles in 2009.
Sophomore Steve Heagy (Fallston, Md./Fallston) saw action in his second Region XX championship, but came out the victor during his sophomore season, downing Jason Pfannschmidt 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) in the No. 3 singles slot. Heagy also teamed with freshman Marc Donars (Joppa, Md./Harford Tech) for the No. 2 doubles win as they defeated Pfannschmidt and Tom Rigolage, 6-2, 6-3. Donars also claimed the No. 4 singles crown as he blanked Rigolage in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0.
Sophomore Ben Wade (Joppatowne, Md./Joppatowne) earned a default win for the second straight year, claiming the No. 5 singles title and also teaming with freshman Walker Bazemore (Churchville, Md./C. Milton Wright) for the No. 3 doubles default win.
Freshman Kevin O’Brien (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) was the default winner at No. 6 singles and Litka rounded out the results as he fell to Ortis, 6-2, 6-3 at No. 1 singles.
By virtue of claiming the Region XX championship, the Fighting Owls receive an automatic bid for the Division III NJCAA National Tennis Championship from May 10-14 at Collin College in Plano, Texas.
Harbach Throws Four Scoreless Innings in Harford Baseball’s 7-3 Win over CCBC-Essex
BEL AIR, Md.—The Harford baseball team won its fifth straight as it handed CCBC-Essex a 7-3 decision on Tuesday night at Harford Baseball Field. The Fighting Owls (32-10, 19-7 MDJUCO) held the Knights (13-25-1, 8-16-1 MDJUCO) scoreless for eight innings, before Essex broke up the shutout in the top of the ninth.
Sophomore Joe Harbach (Abingdon, Md./Edgewood) (3-2) earned the win on the mound, striking out five and allowing just one hit in four scoreless innings, while also pacing the Owls at the plate as he went 2-for-4 with a run, an RBI, a walk and two stolen bases. Freshman Eric Quinn (Pylesville, Md./Harford Christian) led Harford, going 2-for-4 with two RBI and a double, the only extra-base hit of the night.
On the Essex side, David Williams led the way, going 1-for-2 and batting in two run, while Brandon Franke (2-2) suffered the loss, giving up five runs (three earned) on five hits and fanning seven batters in five innings.
Harford got onto the board in the second thanks to Quinn’s two-run RBI double and capitalized on back-to-back Knight errors in the third, scoring two off sacrifice flies from freshman Christian Wolfe (Bel Air, Md./John Carroll) and sophomore Willie Barnola (Barquisimeto, Venezuela/UEC J.G. Bastidas) for a 4-0 lead.
The four runs would be all that the Owls would need, but they tacked on a single run in the fourth and two in the eighth on the way to the 7-3 win.
Kemena Stops Season-High 19 Shots, but Harford Men’s Lacrosse Falls to Essex, 15-9, in Region XX Semifinal
BEL AIR, Md.—While No. 1 CCBC-Essex keeper Tyler Powell was pulled 10 minutes into the second quarter, No. 5 Harford men’s lacrosse freshman keeper Tim Kemena (West Chester, Pa./West Chester Henderson) was on the fire in the cage, stopping a season-high 19 shots in 60:00. The Knights (14-1) eventually pulled out the 15-9 victory, but the Fighting Owls (7-10) gave them plenty of trouble along the way in the Region XX semifinal game on Friday night at Harford Stadium.
Essex took just five seconds to notch its first goal of the game and by the end of the first quarter, the Knights had built a 4-1 lead, reminiscent of the teams’ Apr. 8 meeting which saw Harford down 7-1 after 15:00 of play.
Not wanting a repeat of the 19-5 slaughter, Harford kicked in on all cylinders after Ben Yancheski, who was named the offensive tournament MVP, gave the Knights a four-goal lead, 5-1, three minutes into the second.
Sophomore Craig Hanzelka (Edgewood, Md./Edgewood) started a two-goal rally for the Owls, scoring a man-down goal with 11:10 left in the quarter before freshman Matt Vickers (Baltimore, Md./Loyola) took a feed from Ben Wilson (Bel Air, Md./Fallston) with 9:26 on the clock, to put Harford within two, 5-3.
The teams traded goals and Essex tacked on one more for a three-goal, 7-4 lead, before Powell made his exit with 4:27 left in the second. Eric Biller came up with two big saves as the first half expired, but the damage had already been done.
Essex looked to be gaining some momentum back from the Owls, as it outscored Harford 3-1 to staright the third and built a 10-5 lead, the largest of the game. Freshman Eric Kluge (North East, Md./North East) countered with two straight goals, however, to put Harford within three, 10-7, as the teams entered the final 15:00.
A Yancheski goal made it a four-score game two minutes into the start of the fourth, but Wilson came up big for the Owls, scoring an extra-man goal a few minutes later after Essex was whistled offsides.
Neither team scored for over five minutes, which saw Kemena stop four shots and Biller save one, before Yancheski started a three-goal rally for the Knights with 5:36 remaining.
Down four goals, 12-8, Harford still had a manageable game on its hands, but its face-off woes, which were rampant throughout the entire game, came to a head as Brandon Kendrick won two straight chances for Essex, which saw the Knights score within six seconds and 40 seconds of the respective face-offs to take a 14-8 lead.
Each team added just one more goal as Essex pulled out the 15-9 semifinal victory and advanced to Sunday’s championship, which saw them down No. 2 Anne Arundel, 15-7, to claim the Region XX title.
Wilson led Harford with five points (3g, 2a) on the night, earning an All-Tournament selection for his effort. Kemena also joined Wilson on the All-Tournament squad, while Yancheski, an All-Tournament selection and offensive MVP, paced the Knights with six goals.
Essex outshot the Owls, 47-35, and dominated at the face-off X, winning 22 tries to Harford’s five, while corralling 68 ground balls to the Owls’ 51. Kemena held the advantage in the net, totaling 19 saves in 60:00, while Powell and Biller combined for 14, Powell with eight in 25:33 and Biller with six in 34:27.
The rest of the All-Tournament team, as well as results and stats from the entire tournament can be found at Region XX Tournament Central by clicking on the link above.
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