In Thursday’s Catholic Central championship, St. Mary’s finished fourth (boys and girls), but won in other ways at Franklin Park.
After the action, St. Mary’s Kyle Kwiatek was named regular season MVP after a remarkable senior campaign, but decided to divvy out the wealth to Stang’s Lowell Copps.
“Kyle missed a meet due to his foot injury, so he alone decided to give his MVP award to the runner up from Bishop Stang, Lowell Copps, who won today’s race,” St. Mary’s coach Tristan Smith said. “I think it shows a lot about Kyle’s character.”
Kelsey Kwiatek (6th, 21:18), Nina Lopes (27th, 25:19), and Gabby Marichal (40th, 26:54) were the top performers on the girls’ side, while Matt Terrien (4th, 18:17) and Matheus Menezes-Avendanha (12th, 18:57) highlighted the boys.
GOLF
At Tedesco Country Club on a picture-perfect Thursday, the annual Northeastern Conference Open was underway with Marblehead earning a second-place finish (162), trailing only Gloucester (160).
Senior captain Charlie Grenier led the way with a 79 to finish second, while fellow Magician Marty Ryan followed with an impressive 83.
Swampscott finished sixth (175) and was led by Jason Bouffard’s card of 85.
VOLLEYBALL
Lynn Tech 3
St. Mary’s 1
Lynn Tech upped its record to 14-5 with a 3-1 victory against St. Mary’s in set scores of 25-23, 25-19, 18-25, and 25-19.
Maria Groscos (23 digs, 5 aces, 3 kills), Ava Bishop (15 digs), Lia Morales (7 digs, 2 aces), Katie Tartarini (9 digs, 2 kills), and Zahara Belizaire (5 assists, 5 digs, 3 kills) all shined for the Tigers.
Peabody 3
Winthrop 0
Another match, another sweep for Peabody’s volleyball team, which improved to 18-1 after defeating Winthrop, 3-0.
In set scores of 25-10, 25-13, and 25-3, Ava Ruffing had five kills, Lizzy Bettencourt had 10 kills and four aces, Abby Bettencourt dished out 22 assists, and the duo of Brooke Foley and Adison Higgins combined for five kills.
Peabody hosts North Andover Friday night.
Marblehead 3
Swampscott 2
Call it a comeback. In a match that came down to the very end, Marblehead (7-11) outlasted rival Swampscott in set scores of 21-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-18, and 15-13.
Greta Sachs had 10 kills, while Sammy Walker added another seven. Eva Burke had 28 assists alongside four aces, and Megan Parkman added 20 digs and a pair of aces.
FIELD HOCKEY
Swampscott 2
Fenwick 0
The Big Blue moved to 11-5-2 after defeating Fenwick Thursday afternoon, 2-0. Sawyer Groothuis and Meg Baran did the scoring, while Coco Clopton and Sophia Ciciotti did the facilitating. Lilah Caplan delivered with another shutout between the pipes.
Peabody 1
Malden 1
In a “hard-fought game” according to Peabody coach Jillian Tobin, her Tanners tied Malden, 1-1, with all nine seniors playing a part. Sophia Kassis registered nine saves, and in the final minutes of the game, Daniella White knocked in the Tanners’ lone goal.
“Captains Meghan Collins and Iliana Nikolouzos put in work on both sides of the ball,” Tobin said.
