Sports Roundup: Boys Soccers Wins, Volleyball Loses Thriller At Home
David Creed •
This Whaler sports roundup includes an update and photos from the boys soccer team’s shutout victory on Wednesday, a thrilling five-set match for the volleyball team that they came up just short in, and an update on the golf team following a tri-match on the road Wednesday.
Boys Soccer Continues Strong Start With 7-0 Victory
The Whaler boys soccer team came in as the #3 team in the MIAA’s first Division 3 state tournament brackets, which were released on Tuesday, and on Wednesday Nantucket welcomed Cape Cod Regional Tech High School to the island for their first game since September 18th. They beat the Crusaders 7-0 on Wednesday and head coach Rich Brannigan II said it was the perfect game for his team to play after a 12-day break between games.
Calvin Guevara scored three goals, Stoyan Popov scored twice and added an assist, Aldo Lemus scored once and assisted on one goal, and Pedro Delgado scored once. Brannigan said while he and his team are taking the first state rankings “with a grain of salt” given how early in the season it is, it is a good motivator to show his players.
"The early season power rankings we kind of look beyond it and we'll take it with a grain of salt,” Brannigan said. “But being able to show the guys solid evidence of staying competitive in games, not giving up a lot of goals, keeping zeroes on the scoreboard. These are all little pieces that end up adding up in the power ranking's sort of formulas.”
Nantucket is now 5-1 this season and they will be back in action on Friday, October 2nd on the road against the Sandwich Blue Knights at 4 p.m. Below are some photos taken by Chris Tran during Wednesday’s match.
Volleyball Loses Five-Set Thriller To Sandwich
The Whalers nearly pulled off the upset Thursday afternoon and came just one point away from beating the Sandwich Blue Knights on the island, losing the match 3-2 in a five-set thriller.
Nantucket led 14-11 in the fifth set before Sandwich rallied back for the victory. Whaler head coach Makaila Lyons said it was “for sure” their best match and performance of the season.
“When you're a young athlete, all you feel is the loss in the first moments," Lyons said. "I think we all have an emotional reaction to a game. Usually, we wait until the next day of practice in order to like dive into stats, to really talk about the game, to talk about what didn't go well. But every time we play a game, win or lose, we come back together in our corner wherever that is and we talk about what was good. That's what we do in that moment because especially in a losing game, you're going to feel the bad, right? They're going to think about the mistakes they made, of course, right? But there was so much good tonight. There was so much good tonight. They outscored us by two points.”
The sets were as followed:
Set One: 25-21 Nantucket
Set Two: 21-25 Sandwich
Set Three: 25-22 Nantucket
Set Four: 19-25 Sandwich
Set Five: 15-17 Sandwich
Viki Bozhkova led the Whalers with six aces while Cariela Acosta finished with five and Julie Pires had four. Pires, who was sensational all match diving for balls and flying all around the court, led the team with nine kills while Bozhkova had seven kills and Acosta had six. Quinn Canty finished with five kills.
Bozhkova also led the team with three blocks and Acosta had one. Acosta had a strong day as the Whaler’s setter – finishing with 19 assists. When the two teams met earlier this season on September 16th in Sandwich, the Blue Knights won in straight sets 3-0.
Nantucket, now 4-3 this season, will be back in action on Wednesday, October 7th when they travel to play the Rising Tide Herons at 4 p.m. Below are some photos taken from Thursday’s match.
In other Whaler sports news, the golf team traveled to Harwich Wednesday afternoon for a tri-match against the Monomoy Sharks and the Cape Cod Academy Seahawks at Cranberry Valley Golf Course. Nantucket beat CCA but lost to Monomoy. Nantucket finished with a 262 while CCA finished with a 311 and Monomoy finished with a 256.
Below are the scores for Nantucket’s top six golfers
Lucien Silva: 41
Alex Horton: 42
Paxton Fitch: 42
Emil Ivanov: 44
Hunter Bistany: 46
Edward Tavares and Sammy Lucas: Each shot a 47.
Nantucket is now 7-3 and they will be back in action on Monday, October 5that home against the Nauset Warriors at 3:45 p.m.
SCHEDULE AHEAD:
Friday, October 2nd:
The girls soccer team will be at home playing Sandwich High School at 4 p.m.
The football team will be at home playing the Falmouth Clippers at 5:15 p.m.
The field hockey team will be on the road playing Dennis-Yarmouth at 3:30 p.m.
The boys soccer team will be on the road playing Sandwich High School at 4 p.m.
Saturday, October 3rd
There are no games currently scheduled for this date.
Sunday, October 4th:
There are no games currently scheduled for this date.
MIAA POWER RANKINGS (NEW RANKINGS RELEASED ON 10/2):
Boys Soccer: #3
Football: #19
Field Hockey: #23
Volleyball: #48
Girls Soccer: #59
For more photos, information, and updates related to Nantucket High School Sports, follow our Nantucket Current Sports Instagram Page here. To view the latest MIAA Power Rankings, follow this link.