Playoff Action for Nashoba Varsity

By Ellen Oliver

All the Nashoba varsity sports teams made the post season. Read who picked the right time to get hot and who is getting started on their summer vacation.

Baseball
Top seed Nashoba got a first round bye, then faced Algonquin (8-seed) at home on Monday. With Drew Foster on the mound, the Chieftains proved their dominance with a 7-1 thrashing of Algonquin. Nashoba advances to the semi-final rounds to play 4-seed Wachusett on June 5 at Tivnan Field in Worcester.

Softball 
Second seed Nashoba earned a first round bye, then a meeting with 7-seed St. Peter Marion on June 1 in the D1 quarterfinals. The Chieftains were down 4-2, but refused to let their season end and rallied for an 8-4 victory. Next, the Chieftains faced 3-seed Marlboro on Tuesday at Worcester State University. The pitcher’s duel had both teams scoreless into extra innings until Marlboro broke the drought and scored four times. After a marathon three-hour game, the Panthers prevailed 4-0 over Nashoba in 11 innings. The Chieftains end the season 16-6.

Track and Field: Boys & Girls
At the D1 Central/West meet, the Nashoba boys finished 14th with 21.5 points, the girls were 11th with 27 points with the top four finishers in each event qualifying for the State meet. Earning seats at States were Kristina MacLure (2nd, 200m, 26.51), Tatiana Jarostchuk (3rd, 100m, 13.03), Evelyn Cubero (4th, javelin, 105-7), John Ojukwu (2nd, 100m, 11.08), and Matthew Mudgett (4th, discus, 127-8).

At States, Jarostchuk placed 11th in the 100m preliminaries, MacLure placed 9th in the 200m preliminaries, Cubero placed 23rd in javelin (90-08), and Mudgett was 16th in discus (128-07).

At the District E Pentathlon on June 4, the Nashoba girls won the team competition (6401 points). Meiling DellaGrotte was 4th (2195 points), Taylor Brady was 5th (2145 points), Emmalie Keenan was 11th (2061 points), and Emily Suleski was 83rd (1052 points).

Tennis: Boys Team
Twelve-seed Nashoba smoked 5-seed Blackstone-Millville in the first round of the playoffs with a 5-0 victory. As a reward, the Chieftains took on 4-seed Auburn on Sunday and kept the fire burning. Nashoba dominated with a 4-1 win, taking all but second doubles and even that match was hot. Hoping to have a back-to-back Cinderella season and earn another trip to the state finals, the Chieftains tried to topple top seed Bromfield on June 4, but Nashoba lost 3-2. Nashoba closes the books on their season with a 10-9 record.

Boys Tennis: Individual
Christian Fletcher fell in the first round in a spirited match to Algonquin 7-5, 6-4. After defeating players in the first and second rounds, Pra Vennapusa lost in the third round to Lucas Tata of St. John’s and Pri Vennapusa lost in the 3rd round to Shrewsbury’s Alex Ellwanger. In doubles, Josh Bricknell/Tom Kennon defeated a Marlboro team, but lost in the second round to Westboro, 6-2, 6-1.

Note: Stow’s Dylan Fletcher, who attends St. John’s, made it to the Central Mass singles finals, but lost to St John’s teammate Christopher Ellis 1-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Tennis: Girls Team   
The Chieftains drew a 4-seed ranking entering the playoffs. After a first round bye, they met 5-seed Wachusett. Although Nashoba had defeated Wachusett twice in the regular season, this time the Mountaineers prevailed, taking the semi-round 3-2. Nashoba took first singles (Jillian Winer) and first doubles (Emily Suglia/Kelsie Zeliff). Nashoba ends with a 12-5 record.

Tennis: Girls Individual
In singles, Winer advanced to the fourth round where she was defeated by Maria Monje from Holy Name 7-6, 6-3. Rachel Zelle won her first round, but was defeated 6-3, 6-0 by her Auburn opponent. Erika Rohrberg got the victory in the first round, but fell in the second round to a tough Shrewsbury player, 6-0, 6-0. After defeating teams from Shepherd Hill and Sutton, the Suglia/Zeliff doubles team made it one more round where they were defeated by Wachusett 6-1, 6-4. Sophia Duros and Victoria Wang knocked off a Wachusett team to advance to the quarterfinals where they lost to Northbridge 6-4, 6-4.

Lacrosse: Boys
The boys’ lacrosse team entered the Central Mass playoffs as the 14th seed with a 9-9 record. Facing 3 seed Shrewsbury (16-5) on May 29, Nashoba dug a hole for themselves as the Colonials took a 7-1 lead in the second quarter. The Chieftains battled back on aggressive goal scoring by Kyle Elkins, Mike d’Entremont, and Mike Lengieza (two goals each). In the end, the Colonials prevailed with a tight 12-9 victory. Nashoba ends the season with a 9-10 record.

Lacrosse: Girls
On May 28, nine-seed Nashoba traveled to Upton for the first round of D1 Central Mass lacrosse playoffs. In the nail biter game of the week, Nashoba came within one goal with 15 seconds remaining thanks to a net connection by Brittany Joseph (2 goals). As the clock ticked, the Chieftains won the faceoff, but their surge was thwarted by the Nipmuc goalie. The final score was Nipmuc 10, Nashoba 9. The Chieftains end the season with a 10-9 record.