Sports Roundup: Volleyball Honors Seniors, Field Hockey Keeps Winning
David Creed •
This Whaler sports roundup includes updates on the volleyball team after a pair of victories this week, the field hockey team as they continue to roll through their regular season competition, the football team after a competitive game against one of the Cape & Island’s best, and the golf team after they closed out their regular season and now eye the state tournament qualifier later this month.
Volleyball Earns Thrilling Win Over Nauset At Home, Beats CCA On Senior Night
The Whaler volleyball team hosted the Nauset Warriors Wednesday afternoon for a rematch between the two programs after the first match in Nauset last month went five sets and was ultimately won by the Warriors.
But on Wednesday, Nantucket had the upper hand and won the match 3-2 to earn their third victory of the season despite trailing 2-1 through the match’s first three sets.
The first set was back and forth. The Whalers earned a couple of quick points, but Nauset was able to match them and eventually take a small 14-11 lead midway through set one - which led to the game’s first timeout.
The Whalers came out of the timeout and rallied to make it a 19-17 match and took a 24-21 lead. On the cusp of a set one victory, the Warriors rallied back to make it 25-24 - prompting a Nantucket timeout. They responded nicely by winning the next three points to clinch the set 27-25.
In set two, Nauset jumped out to an 8-5 lead, then Nantucket responded winning seven of the next nine points to take a 12-10 lead, and Nauset won four straight points to retake the lead 14-12 and force a Whaler timeout. The Warriors went onto win the second set 25-19.
In set three, Nauset jumped out to a 14-11 lead prior to the first timeout taken of the set. They went onto win the set 25-18 and were one set away from handing the Whalers a loss.
But Nantucket had different ideas. In set four, the Whalers jumped out to a quick 4-2 lead and eventually won it 25-20 to force another decisive fifth set - where the first team to 15 (win by two) would take the match.
The Whalers took the first two points, but Nauset punched back to win the next two. It looked like we were destined for another nail biter to end the match, but Nantucket ultimately went on to dominate the set and win it 15-6, earning them the 3-2 victory. You can view more photos from this game by clicking here.
The very next day, Nantucket looked to keep their winning ways going when they hosted Cape Cod Academy on Thursday and beat CCA 3-1 on their senior night.
"It was mostly good," head coach Lyons said. "We kind of took that first game to warm up, and that's something I don't want us to do. But mostly it looked good. I told them when we came into one of our last timeouts I said, 'Listen, I understand that we're ahead, but this is when I need you to practice not making errors. I'm definitely happy with the win and so are they obviously on their senior night as well."
The Whalers, now 4-10, will try to keep this hot streak going on Saturday against Frontier Regional High School at 2 p.m. You can view more photos from the senior game by clicking here.
Field Hockey Shuts Out St. John Paul II
The Whaler field hockey team continues to be the winningest Nantucket sports team of the 2024 fall season, and they continued their winning ways on Thursday with a 2-0 victory over the St. John Paul II Lions on the island.
"I thought there were some things we needed to fix in the first quarter," head coach Dan Weber said. "I thought our energy was good. I don't think we played down in terms of energy. But where we're at as a team, it's now the little things. It's not big things like track the ball, pass the ball. We know how to do all that stuff. Now it's little things like if I'm going to score, I need my toes pointing towards goal. If I'm going to defend properly, I need to make sure that I'm moving my feet and staying on my forehand. I think offensively it was just little things in that first quarter where we didn't have our toes pointed, we didn't have presence in front of the net. But I thought after that, we corrected them pretty quickly. I thought obviously the second half was much, much better offensively.”
The first goal was scored in the second half by senior Sam Zadroga on a corner play with the assist going to junior Marin Mooney.
"Marin put it in a great spot and Sam, little thing, had her stick on the ground in a good spot,” Weber said. “She didn't really have to do much. She just redirected it on that net but a little thing of have your stick on the ground and good things happen.”
The second goal was one of the nicer goals of the year in the eyes of Weber and was scored by senior captain Suz Peraner.
“One of the nicer goals I’ve seen just because of the passing up the wing from Marin to Sadie (Paterson), and then to Sam, and then basically to a wide open Suz because we moved the ball so fast that she's just wide open and Suz does a nice job - stick on ground - particularly on grass make sure it's on the ground, and put it in the back of the net,” Weber said. “That second goal was really, really nice.”
Weber said the defense was rock solid again as they recorded their seventh shutout of the season through the first 12 games of the year.
"I thought the defense was really good today. Very, very good and big improvement,” Weber said. “I thought Shelbi (Harimon, goalie) sneaky and kind of quietly, had a really strong game. I think she had 10 saves or something like that. Marin Mooney was a beast today. Huge on this left side.”
Nantucket will attempt to win their ninth game of the season on Friday, October 11 when they host Whitman-Hanson at 3 p.m.
Football Loses To DY 21-7
The Nantucket football team welcomed Dennis-Yarmouth – one of the top teams on the Cape & Islands – to the rock Thursday evening and put up a good fight despite losing 21-7. Whaler head coach Reese Everett said after the game he liked the way his team battled but feels like there is another level his team can play at as they look ahead to league play.
"This right here was a really great game on our end, just from what we've seen," Everett said. "The scoreboard did not reflect that. We're still showing those progressions, but we still have to find that spot. You know, start at 100 percent and when we're getting down on ourselves, we have to continue to lift ourselves up.”
The Whalers allowed a touchdown on the opening kickoff to begin the game, but otherwise kept the Dolphins in check. DY had a 14-0 lead with 8:32 to go in the second quarter when freshman quarterback Burke Lombardi found junior wide out Arann Hanlon for a 42-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-7. It was Hanlon’s second straight game with a touchdown.
Nantucket hung around for most of the game before the Dolphins regained their two score lead late in the second half. The Whalers played a physical and tough brand of football to combat a high-powered Dolphin offense and showed significant improvement from earlier in the season.
"We certainly show film, and we do things a little bit differently now that I'm the head coach and we actually point out kids to show them the errors that they can improve on,” Everett said. “Some kids are just quick to get down on themselves, but it is a work in progress. Some of these guys, it's their first or second year of playing football. If we continue working with them, who knows what Nantucket football has to bring.”
The Whalers are now 1-5 but due to their strong strength of schedule, find themselves within the Div. 7 playoff picture with the #15 seed. They begin league play next week, and will host the St. John Paul II Lions on Friday, October 18 at 5:30 p.m.
Golf Loses Final Match Of Regular Season
The Nantucket golf team wrapped up their 2024 fall regular season on Wednesday with a road matchup against the Nauset Warriors – the top team in the Cape & Islands.
The Whalers lost the match 251-285, which finalized their season record at 9-7. Below are the scores for each Whaler golfer, with the team now eyeing the state tournament qualifiers later this month.
David Foley – 44
David Boulter – 45
TQ Scarlett – 47
Paxton Fitch – 49
Ben Freeman – 50
Emil Ivanov – 50
Colby Lucas – 50
Hunter Bistany – 54
SCHEDULE AHEAD:
Friday, October 11:
The field hockey team will host Whitman-Hanson at 3 p.m.
Saturday, October 12:
No games are currently scheduled.
Sunday, October 13:
No games are currently scheduled.
For more updates on Whaler sports throughout the year, you can:
Follow Nantucket Current Sports on Instagram here.
Follow Sports Editor David Creed on X here.
Follow Sports Photographer Chris Tran on Instagram here.