Girls hockey
The MVRHS girls hockey team started the season with a pair of Cape and Islands League road games, and came away with a hard-earned point.
On Jan. 13, the girls skated against Sandwich at the John Gallo Arena in Bourne, and played well in a 2-0 loss.
“We are better this year,” Vineyard Coach John Fiorito said. “We played a great game on Wednesday. Sandwich won 17 games last year. We were competitive against them for the first time in years. They scored in the first 40 seconds, and another five minutes in. We outshot them 13-1 in the second, and held them to 15 for the game.” Sophomore Sarah Hartenstine started in net and made 13 saves. MV had 26 shots on goal.
The Vineyarders earned a 1-1 tie against the Cape Cod Furies at Charles Moore Arena in Orleans on Saturday. The Furies are a combo team representing Nauset, Monomoy, and Cape Tech.
Senior co-captain Maria Frangos played well in net, and made 24 saves. Ruby Reimann (defense) and Ava Ben David (forward) are the other senior co-captains. “Maria played great, and that was good for her,” Coach Fiorito said.
Freshman Marin Gillis put the Vineyarders in front with a backhander midway through the second period, assisted by Paige Anderson, and the Furies tied the game with 3:30 left to play.
The Vineyarders skate in the C&I with Barnstable, Falmouth, Sandwich (all powerful tourney teams), Dennis-Yarmouth, Nantucket, and the Furies. As is the case with all winter sports this season, Barnstable and Nauset (Furies) will not be traveling to the Vineyard.
After a trip to Barnstable on Thursday, MV faces off with Falmouth in the home opener on Saturday at 4 pm.
Swimming
The MVRHS swimmers took to the pool at the YMCA on Thursday evening for their second virtual meet of the season. The Vineyarders earned a split with St. John Paul II, who swam in Hyannis. The boys improved to 2-0, with a 77-29 win. The outnumbered girls swam well but lost, 73-58, dropping to 1-1.
Christian Flanders (2:21.92) and Andy Carr (2:27.94) got the boys off to a great start with both earning personal bests in a 1-2 finish in the 200-yard freestyle. Simon Hammarlund (3:01.14) notched another PB by winning the 200 individual medley. Ruairi Mullin (25.31), Nathan Cuthbert (25.47), and Emmett Silva (28.18) led a 1-2-3 Vineyard sweep in the 50 free. Cuthbert (1:00.83) then placed first in the 100 free, and Silva shaved more than three seconds off his last time to take second with a PB of 1:05.19.
The personal bests kept on coming. Ruairi Mullin was a solo act in the 500 free, and set a new mark of 5:45.96; Messrs. Flanders (1:15.97) and Carr (1:16.56) were 1-2 in the 100 backstroke; and Simon Hammarlund (1:35.91) was tops in the 100 breaststroke.
The boys went out in style as Mullin, Silva, Cuthbert, and Carr (4:19.13) tamed the Lions by more than 50 seconds in the 400 freestyle relay.
The Vineyard girls started by winning the 200 medley relay. Lily Jones (backstroke), Olympia Hall (breaststroke), Gabby Carr (butterfly), and Eleanor Hyland (freestyle) clocked in at 2:21.70. Jones (2:27.94) and Delilah Hammarlund (2:36.16) were each at their personal best in taking the first two spots in the 200 free.
Gabby Carr (5:48.68) qualified for sectionals in the 500 free, and earned another PB (1:22.03) with a win in the 100 breaststroke. Lily Jones (1:05.75) clinched another first place for MV by winning the 100 free.
Boys basketball
Poor shooting doomed the Vineyard boys hoopsters in the season opener at Nauset on Jan. 14. The Warriors led 20-10 at halftime, and held on for a 44-40 Cape and Islands League Atlantic Division win. Aiden Rogers drained four treys to finish with a game-high 12 points for MV, senior captain Mike Trusty had 10, and sophomore Mattheus Rodrigues added eight in his first varsity game.
“We played good defense, but we couldn’t make wide-open shots,” Vineyard Coach Mike Joyce said. “We had to be in the teens shooting in the first half. We just couldn’t get over the hump. It’s too bad, because it was a winnable game. I think we did a good job with game intensity when all we’ve been doing is practicing for seven weeks.”
The boys host Sandwich on Thursday and Falmouth on Friday. On both days, the JV contest tips off at 2:45, followed by the varsity game at approximately 4 pm.
Girls basketball
The Vineyarder girls opened the season at Nauset against the perennially strong Warriors on Friday. Nauset’s Avery Burns, who scored a program record 38 points in a 90-22 win over Nantucket in the season opener, was dominant again against the Vineyarders, scoring a game-high 23 points in a 62-12 win.
Vineyard Coach Sterling Bishop tried to accentuate the positive after the loss. “It felt great to be in a competitive setting, despite the outcome,” he said. “We had a different attitude as a team. We didn’t focus on the score or the time on the clock. We focused on playing hard and together. We fought to the end. We’re a young team, learning to trust each other. Everyone was really nervous about what playing would be like. The girls felt confident about how they played. It was really kind of a learning experience.”
Senior captain Kylie Estrella scored seven points, Maria Andrade had three, and Josephine Welch chipped in two for the Vineyarders.
MV is away to Sandwich on Jan. 21. The home opener is scheduled for Jan. 26 at 4:30 pm against Dennis-Yarmouth.
