Eye On The CIAC

A rare spring week with virtually no rain led to a very busy week of competition. With May now underway, the CIAC rankings have stabilized a bit as is evident in the Rankings Watch section, and there were a lot of close and noteworthy results from the past week.

Boys Volleyball:

Wethersfield opened its week with a hard-fought 3-2 over Simsbury. After opening the season 1-2, Wethersfield has reeled off five-straight wins with each of the last three coming by 3-2 scores.
On Wednesday night a pair of highly-ranked class L teams squared off with Glastonbury outlasting Southington by a 3-2 score to remain unbeaten on the season. It was the first time all season Glastonbury has been pushed to a fifth set, and only the second time in eight matches it hasn’t won in three. Southington then bounced back with a 3-2 win over Farmington which snapped a four-match win streak for the Indians.
Another unbeaten was pushed to the limit on Wednesday as Oxford managed to get past Cheshire by a 3-2 score. Oxford had not dropped a set all season while running its record to 11-0, but the team had to rally after Cheshire won games two and three, but managed to win the final two to earn the win.
Shelton managed to push Xavier to a fifth set before the Falcons earned the victory, which was their seventh win in eight matches.

Girls Lacrosse:

Haddam-Killingworth maintained its perfect record by the narrowest margin imaginable, pulling out a 14-13 victory over North Branford. The team overcame a three-goal deficit early in the second half to claim the win, which was its second victory over North Branford by one goals.
There were a pair of one-goal games on Tuesday as teams try to find their form with time left in the regular season. New Milford pulled out a one-goal win over Immaculate by an 11-10 tally, and Somers and Ellington squared off for the second time in six days with Somers collecting the 14-13 win in overtime to pull within a game of .500.
There was a big L matchup over the weekend with Glastonbury maintaining a perfect record by knocking off Cheshire 11-7. It was just the second loss of the season for the Rams, and halted their nine-match win streak.

Boys Golf:

Guilford edged past Shelton and topped Branford in a tri-match to improve to 9-1 on Monday. Guilford topped Shelton by a single stroke in the match, with Ryan Moore of Guilford leading all players with a 33.
Greenwich and Ridgefield squared off on Wednesday in a battle of unbeaten teams, and it was the defending champions from Greenwich that came out on top 149-166.
Berlin got past Middletown in a mid-week match with Berlin posting a 169 to claim the victory. Austin Forauer shot a 1-over 37 to earn medalist honors in that winning effort.

Softball:

A contest between highly ranked class LL softball teams lived up to the billing with Glastonbury outlasting South Windsor 4-2 on Monday afternoon. South Windsor had scored 49 runs in its previous three games before being limited to a pair in the setback.
Bristol Central continued its winning ways while dealing Rockville its first loss of the season on Wednesday. The Rams pounded out 10 hits in the 6-3 win, which was its second of the season over a team ranked number-one in the state softball media polls.
In a battle of the teams ranked 10th in the CIAC postseason rankings in class M and S respectively, Ellington dealt Canton a 3-1 set-back. After dropping its first two games of the season, Ellington has reeled off nine-straight wins.
Norwich Free Academy came away with a one-run win against East Lyme in a key ECC match-up. It was the fifth one-run game of the season for NFA and two of those games have gone at least nine innings.

Track & Field:

Alyssa Brown of Danbury produced one of three qualifying performances for her team in a meet at Staples on Monday. She posted a mark of 30-9.50 in the shot put to become the 11th performer to qualify in the event.
A dual-meet between Hamden and Notre Dame-West Haven on Wednesday produced several qualifiers, including the best boys long jump mark of the season. Stephen Gary of Hamden jumped 22-4.5 to become the ninth qualifier in the event, and the first performer to break 22′ this season.
Jada Jenkins of Simsbury ran a very quick 26.2 in the 200 meters on Wednesday to rank as one of the fastest qualifiers in that event this season. She also ran a 12.4 in the 100 to qualify in that event as well.
On Saturday alone there were 70 qualifying performances in girls track & field and another 28 on the boys side. Among them was Isabella Narvaez of Greenwich who ran 59.39 in the 400 which marks one of the fastest times of the season.
For the boys Canton’s Julian Franklin posted a performance of 41-3.5 in the triple jump which is the best mark of the season so far.

Boys Tennis:

In a battle of two teams that could really use a win, Cromwell edged North Branford 4-3 on Wednesday afternoon. It was a second-straight 4-3 loss for North Branford while Cromwell has righted the ship with consecutive wins after a six-match losing streak midway through the season.
Manchester rebounded from consecutive losses to earn a hard-fought 4-3 win over Conard on Friday afternoon. The team had won five straight prior to the back-to-back losses, and is now 3-1 in 4-3 decisions.

Girls Tennis:

For the second time in less than a week, two top teams in class M battled it out on Monday, with Ellington/Somers knocking off Avon by a 4-3 score for the second-straight time. The team remained unbeaten on the year, while both of Avon’s losses have come to Ellington/Somers.
A battle of highly-ranked class L teams went the distance as Southington claimed a 4-3 victory over Conard. It was the second loss of the week for Conard after the team opened 7-0, while Southington bounced back from its first loss of the season which came on Monday to Newington.
A pair of top-10 ranked LL teams squared off on Monday with Fairfield Ludlowe edging Newtown by a 4-3 score. It was the first loss of the season for Newtown which opened the year 11-0 and had not lost more than two matches in any of those contests.

Baseball:

Bethel and Oxford went to extra innings on Monday, with Bethel capturing the 5-4 win after 15 innings of baseball. Bethel moved to 7-5 with the win and bounced back from a one-run loss to Weston late last week.
Unbeaten Bristol Central nearly saw its unblemished record blemished on Wednesday, but the team held off RHAM to claim a 10-9 win. The team is now 4-0 in games decided by two runs or fewer and earned the win despite a five-run rally from RHAM in the seventh.
Newtown won its second-consecutive one-run game, this time blanking Bunnell 1-0. Pat Mullins tossed a one-hitter in the victory with seven strikeouts.
St. Joseph trumped Trumbull in a classic pitcher’s duel for the cross-town rivals. The Cadets prevailed 1-0 behind a complete-game shutout from Stanley Wolpiuk. The game was also part of a doubleheader where the teams raised money to support the very worthy Wounded Warriors Foundation.

Girls Golf:

Two unbeaten FCIAC squads squared off on Monday, and Greenwich managed to squeeze out a win over Staples by a 177-188 score. The deciding points came at the top with Greenwich’s number one Catherine McEvoy and number two Alexandra Sazhin earning critical wins.
Woodstock Academy stalled NFA’s recent run of victories with a solid victory on Wednesday. Elaina Becher was the medalist with a 56 as Woodstock moved over .500 at 4-3 with the win.
Avon earned a very narrow win on the course over Cheshire, handing the team just its second loss. Avon earned the win by a 193-195 score with Marissa Grillo’s 39 leading the way.

Boys Lacrosse:

A pair of teams in the top-10 of the class S rankings battled each other on Monday, with Morgan getting past Valley Regional 10-7. Chris Waterbury had four goals and one assist in the victory as Morgan improved to 6-2 with the win.
Bethel earned a double-overtime win over Stamford on Tuesday with Justin Sinko scoring the winning tally with less than a minute left in the second overtime.
Avon maintained its unbeaten record with a second-straight close contest, this time pulling out a 7-4 win over Granby Memorial. The Falcons have held three of their last four opponents to four goals or fewer.
Class S East Catholic gave Hall all it could handle on Friday before the fourth-ranked team in LL claimed the 9-7 win. Hall is now 4-0 in games decided by two goals or fewer, helping contribute to its 9-2 record.

RANKINGS WATCH
Each Monday we take a look at any major movement in the top-10 of the CIAC Tournament Rankings for those sports where it is provided (rankings and records are based on results reported through the CIAC on-line reporting system).

Three undefeated teams remain in boys volleyball with Ridgefield and Glastonbury still unblemished in L and Oxford holding a 12-0 record in M. Staples slid up two spots in class L and Xavier also moved up two spots in L. In M, Wolcott Tech made the biggest leap, climbing from seventh to fourth as the top three remained the same from a week ago. The top-10 featured the same ten teams from last week with just some slight shuffling of the order.
In girls lacrosse minor movement in the top-10 was the order of the week, though there was a change at the top of class L with Glastonbury returning to the top position after a one-week hiatus. New Fairfield in M and Stonington in S were the biggest risers on the week as New Fairfield jumped from fifth to second and Stonington climbed from eighth to fifth. East Lyme cracks the top-10 in M from outside to claim seventh place in those rankings and Danbury makes an appearance at eighth in the L rankings.
Three unbeaten teams remained in the top three spots in class L and there is one unbeaten squad still left in M for the softball rankings. The top five spots in L were exactly the same from last week, while Morgan is a new top-ranked squad in S and Daniel Hand moved to the top of LL. Morgan vaulted from fourth to first for a big move to claim the top spot, and Mercy had a big move in LL climbing from seventh to fourth. Darien debuts at seventh in the LL rankings as consistency reigned supreme with almost no change in the top-5 in all four classes.
Daniel Hand leaped from seventh to second in the L girls tennis rankings but did not slide past unbeaten Amity which remained in the top position. Ellington/Somers held on to its top spot in M while Woodland supplanted Stonington in S despite both teams remaining undefeated. Class S still has four unbeaten teams with Northwest Catholic and Classical Magnet joining Woodland and Stonington. Lauralton Hall made a strong move up to third from fifth in M while Staples jumped from eighth to fourth for another big move in L. There were six unbeaten teams in L last week, but only Amity survived without a loss, causing the significant shifts.
Very little change in the baseball ranks from a week ago with the top four teams remaining in their respective positions. In fact, the top six places in LL and L remained exactly the same, while M had only one position flip in the top-6. The biggest moves came in S where St. Paul Catholic climbed from sixth to third and Stafford moved into the top-10 from an outside position to secure the sixth spot. Bristol Central in LL and Wolcott and Northwestern in M are the only teams still without losses on the season. The other biggest move came in M where North Branford appears at seventh after being outside the top-10 last week.
New faces reside atop the L and M boys lacrosse rankings while Brookfield held its spot at the top of S despite its first loss. Xavier in L and Avon in M both moved up one spot to hold on to the number-one position in their respective classes. Elsewhere in L, Staples made a significant move up to fifth from ninth a week ago on the strength of a three-match winning streak. Not many big changes in M with Fairfield Warde’s leap from eighth to sixth ranking as one of the largest and Daniel Hand also improved by two places. Somers made a rapid ascent in S leaping from ninth to fifth as last week’s fifth-ranked team fell out of the top-10. Old Saybrook’s three-match win streak moved them from outside the top-10 to seventh this week.

CIAC On TV
Another big week of CIAC action on CPTV Sports and on-line. A total of 15 games showing on CPTVSports (no including re-airs) highlighted by a marathon of softball games on Monday and a boys lacrosse marathon on Tuesday. Fans can check out highly ranked East Lyme facing Guilford and Bacon Academy in boys lacrosse, a battle between Cheshire and Oxford in boys volleyball and two highly-ranked class M softball teams when Seymour and Woodland square off. The CIAC Network is featuring the On-Demand broadcast of the 2013 Scholar Athlete Banquet which will be available early in the week, and there is also live baseball and boys lacrosse on the schedule for this week. As always, check out CPTVsports.org for the full schedule, and schedule for games available with the CIAC Network is available on CIAC.tv.