HCC Sports Round-Up: Tennis Nationals, Lacrosse Accolades

From the HCC sports desk:

Strine in Quarterfinals, Four Other Matches on Slate for Harford Women’s Tennis on Day 3 of NJCAA Nationals

TUCSON, Ariz.—The 2010 Harford women’s tennis team has already eclipsed the 2009 squad with four match wins at the Division-I NJCAA National Championship, including two by sophomore Kelsey Strine (Abingdon, Md./Edgewood), who will play in the quarterfinals of the No. 6 singles draw on Tuesday at Reffkin Tennis Center.

The Fighting Owls captured just three matches in 2009 and still have five matches to play on Tuesday, while also fielding a substitution-filled lineup after losing No.1 Ashley Sherinsky and No. 2 Kate Tiburzi from the fall season. Harford is currently in 26th place with four points.

Strine, the No. 7 seed, has seen two tough three-set matches, including her unlucky draw in facing the eighth-best player in the field in the opening Round of 32. She pulled out a 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 win over Abraham Baldwin’s Lauren Smith to advance to the Round of 16 on Monday, where she dispatched Mesa’s Hayley Roby, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 to set up a quarterfinal match on Tuesday against Jade Cunningham, the No. 2 seed from Seminole State. Strine plays at 10:00 a.m. (MT)/1:00 p.m. (ET) for her quarterfinal match.

Sophomores Courtney Brewer (Street, Md./North Harford) and Megan Heagy (Fallston, Md./Fallston/Towson) both saw their opening round matches go to three sets, but ultimately fell to enter the consolation back draw.

Brewer won her No. 3 singles first round back draw match on Monday by defeating Elgin’s Luiza Aleksiekcyk, 8-5, and advanced to the quarterfinals with a second-round bye. She will meet Lake County’s Mirka Illasova at 7:30 a.m. (MT)/10:30 a.m. (ET) in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Heagy advanced all the way to the No. 4 singles quarterfinals of the with byes in the first and second rounds of the consolation draw and will face Ashley Leverett of Central Alabama on Tuesday at 7:30 a.m. (MT)/10:30 a.m. (ET).

In doubles competition, all three Harford teams dropped their opening round matches, but the No. 2 team of sophomore Agnes Burke (Havre de Grace, Md./Havre de Grace) and freshman Julie Vuncannon (Aberdeen, Md./Aberdeen) advanced two rounds in the back draw with byes and will face Pima’s Lori Cinnamond and Ana Gallardo in the quarterfinals on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. (MT)/2:30 p.m. (ET).

The No. 3 team of Strine and Heagy is also alive after winning their opening round match in the consolation draw on Monday, 8-3, over Seward County’s Shaley Thomas and Lindy Kowalchuk. Strine and Heagy advanced to the quarterfinals with a second round bye and will meet ASA’s Viktoriya Popova and Gisele Diaz on Tuesday at 12:00 p.m. (MT)/3:00 p.m. (ET).

The only other matches on Monday saw Vuncannon fall to ASA’s Tetiana Kovalska, 8-0 in the No. 1 singles back draw, sophomore Christine Babcock (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright/Stevenson) blanked, 8-0, by Temple’s Raven Lewis in the No. 2 singles back draw, freshman Katie Sampayo (Fallston, Md./Fallston) defeated by Dally Senesombath of Elgin, 8-5, and the No. 1 team of Brewer and Sampayo downed by Bia Miranda and Keri Huett of Abraham Baldwin, 8-0.

Harford Men’s Lacrosse’s Grudzien, Bish and Wood Named to All-Conference/All-Region Teams

BEL AIR, Md.—The Harford men’s lacrosse team saw three players named to the annual MDJUCO All-Conference and Region XX All-Region teams, the conference and region offices announced on Friday. Freshmen attackman Dane Grudzien (Joppatowne, Md./Joppatowne) and defenseman Pat Bish (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright/Juniata) led the Harford representatives with a Second-Team selection, while freshman defenseman Matt Wood (Joppatowne, Md./Joppatowne) was tabbed for the Honorable Mention squad.

Grudzien finished the season ranked second in the MDJUCO Conference with 58 points in 17 games and also ranked fourth with 41 goals and ranked eighth with 17 assists on the season. Grudzien’s goal total also currently ranks in a tie for 19th in the nation, while his point total is 20th in the country. The attackman also held the single-game high of seven goals for Harford, which he achieved the first game of the season against Delaware Tech-Terry, and tied for the single-game high of eight points, adding one assist to his seven goals against the Hawks.
Bish started all but one game for the Fighting Owls and tallied one assist as a defenseman. He also ranked third on the team with 26 caused turnovers and was fourth with 55 ground balls for the season.

Wood, another defenseman, capitalized on his chances with the ball, firing seven shots, six on goal, and finished the season with four goals, as well as two assists. He also corralled 67 ground balls and caused 27 turnovers, both which ranked second on the team.
CCBC-Essex led the annual awards after its 15-7 victory over Anne Arundel that claimed the 2010 Region XX title. Head coach Shawn Burke, midfielder Brandon Kendrick and defenseman Neil Willis nabbed the MDJUCO and Region XX Coach, Offensive Player and Defensive Player of the Year awards, respectively.