Mercury Roundup (10.19): Spring-Ford girls tennis advances to District 1 championship
Playing in its first ever District 1 semifinal match, the Spring-Ford girls tennis team knew it had its hands full with reigning District 1-3A champion Unionville, also the top seeded team in this year’s tournament.
The fourth-seeded Rams were not intimated, taking home an exciting 3-2 victory with two three-set wins to pick up the second district win in program history and advance to the District 1 championship for the first time.
Spring-Ford will face second-seeded Wissahickon at 2:30 p.m. in Tuesday’s title match.
“They’re just an incredible bunch of kids,” Spring-Ford coach Todd Reagan said of his team. “We’re pretty balanced. On our varsity team we have four freshmen, four seniors, two juniors and a sophomore and they all blend so well together.
“They get along. They’re pretty cool customers. They don’t get too high. They don’t get too low, and they stay calm and they stay confident each and everyday. Those are the two mantras on our team, and they are experts at it.”
Rams’ freshman Mia Matriccino won handily over Unionville’s Leah Walter, the fourth place finisher at the 2019 District 1 tournament, knocking her off in two sets 6-2, 6-0.
Sophomore Cady Krause came from behind to knock off Unionville’s Catherine Stone (1-6, 6-1, 6-1) in third singles and the team of Alexis Luo and Evelyn Mejia defeated Unionville’s Emily Federico and Sophie Walter (4-6, 6-4, 6-0) in second doubles.
With all the other matches finished and the team score tied, Luo and Mejia’s third set sweep was the clincher for the Rams.
“Evelyn and Alexis in second doubles just took off,” Regan said. “They just switched it into another gear. … It all came down to them, the two freshmen in second doubles, and they played top level in that third set.”
Isabel Mejia, in second singles, and Lucy Olsen/Emily Tiffan, in first doubles, both played competitive matches once again. Unionville’s Meera Sehgal defeated Isabel Mejia, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, while the doubles team of Faith Ilgner/Jaclyn Santaguida topped Olsen/Tiffan 6-4, 7-5.
Wissahickon topped No. 7 Pennsbury and No. 3 Downingtown West in its first two matches, winning 3-2 both times. The Rams also won both their matches 3-2.
Reagan is confident his group can find a way to win its first district championship Tuesday.
“Always be proud of your accomplishment,” Reagan said of what he told his team. “It’s pretty cool. No one at Spring-Ford had ever done it before and won. You’ve won two. And the bottom line is, we always like to think now there’s no one you can’t beat if you play your best. What we have to do is play at our best, at a high level in a big-time match.
“I told them I believe they can do it, then I told them to go home and do all the school work you missed, get to sleep and remember to eat lunch tomorrow.”
Field Hockey
Upper Perkiomen 1, Boyertown 0 >> Though the Bears gave them all they could handle, Luci Carpenter’s goal and Lynnsi Joyce’s 11 saves helped the Indians stay atop the PAC standings with Monday’s win.
Boyertown (4-5) goalie Sarah Yoder saved four of the five shots she faced, and Alaina Schmid, Lauren Eves, Katelyn Dulin and Remi Lloyd spearheaded the upset effort.
Upper Perk (7-0-1) will play second place Methacton (6-1-1) on Wednesday with first place in the PAC on the line after the two teams tied in their previous meeting.
Perkiomen Valley 4, Pottsgrove 0 >> Falcons’ goalie Makenzie Johnson stood on her head with 20 saves, but the Vikings managed to get it by her four times for Monday’s PAC win
Savannah Silvestre, Jordyne Strong, Cristina Dougherty and Kike Rotay scored for PV off assists from Saige Shine, Avery Dolas and Marie Lindberger.
Girls Soccer
Methacton 1, Boyertown 1 >> Bears’ Madison Springman and Warriors’ Julia McCann notched goals in Monday’s PAC draw.
Boyertown opened the scoring in the 22nd minute on a breakaway by Springman. Methacton equalized in the 68th minute with a goal by McCann, assisted by freshman Aubrey Beaugard.
Girls Volleyball
Boyertown 3, Methacton 2 >> The Bears held onto sole possesion of first place in the PAC with Monday’s five-set win, knocking off the Warriors 23-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-14 and 16-14.
Melinda Eglinton (10 kills, 22 digs, 1 block, 2 assists), Meghan Haftl (48 assists, 6 aces, 2 kills, 22 digs), Mandy Baldwin (14 kills, 5 digs) and Andria Santangelo were a few of the Warriors’ statistical stars.
Boyertown to can clinch an outright league championship with a victory over Pottsgrove on Wednesday.
Perkiomen Valley 3, Owen J. Roberts 0 >> The Vikings kept hopes of a earning a share of the PAC title alive, sweeping the Wildcats 25-11, 25-7, 25-16.
Jessica Lofton tallied three aces, three kills, one block and five digs; Isabel Clauhs had two aces, 12 kills and four digs; and Allison Haflett notched six kills and one block in the win.
Bridget Kowalski (one assist, 13 digs), Ellie Kalbach (two kills, 11 assists, four digs) and Meghan Touhey (five kills, two assists, one assist, six digs) were three of the standouts for OJR.
