The Garden Spot boys' volleyball team did not carry a winning momentum into the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs. On Thursday, May 11, the Spartans fell to Manheim Central 3-0 at home in a Section Two battle. It was Garden Spot's third straight defeat.

"We didn't play up to par in the last three matches," Ben Rutt, the Garden Spot head coach, commented. "It's a combination of communication and discipline breakdown."

The Barons, led by Logan Groff and Dylan Musser, won a close 25-19 opening set, and went up 2-0 following their 25-17 victory.

"A team like Manheim Central will ball control really well," said Rutt. "Their passing is very good."

Garden Spot kept it close in the third set before Central pulled off a 25-21 win.

Tanner Laukhuff and Ezra Hubik led the Spartans with five kills each. Laukhuff also contributed 11 assists and two digs. Hubik also finished with two digs while Josh Martin served up two aces. Nicholas Smucker, a junior, registered three blocks.

The Spartans' next match was in the first round of the league playoffs. Entering the playoffs as the number two seed from Section Two, the Spartans squared off against Section One champ Warwick at Manheim Central Middle School on Monday May 15. It was the first match of a twin bill as the Section Two champ Barons faced Section One runner up Cedar Crest in the second match.

Despite the 3-0 loss, Rutt pointed out that the Spartans played well in the first two sets.

"We worked really hard for the first two sets," said the Spartan coach. "We worked hard defensively for the match.

"But you need consistency for the entire match," he continued. "After one timeout Warwick came out and rallied, putting together a bunch of points."

The first two sets were close with Warwick winning 25-22 and 25-21. The Warriors took the third set 25-15.

Laukhuff, who was named the Section Two Most Valuable Player on Wednesday, May 17, poured in 16 kills and distributed nine assists. Keegan Redcay, the team's usual leader in assists, finished with 17.

Justin Miniger came away with eight digs while Smucker again recorded three blocks.

"Tanner recently took over some setting duties," Rutt explained. "He's my leading kills guy. Ezra Hubik and Dylan Zeiset have also been producing for us."

The Spartans came away as the number eight team in the District Three Class 2A power rankings - just ahead of L-L League foe Cocalico with whom they split the regular season series.

Heading into districts, Rutt wants the squad to focus on fundamentals.

"We have to learn from our mistakes and clean things up before districts," he said. "You have to control the things you can control on the court, like our communication. We can't be making serving errors because you're letting the opponent off the hook. Lately we've been giving up points like that."

TRACK & FIELD

The Spartans took part in the L-L League Track & Field Championships, which were held at Hempfield on Friday and Saturday, May 12-13.

Among the medal winning events was the 4x100 meter relay team. Chloe Grady, Katelyn Davis, Angela Nuse and Lauren Horning finished fourth with a time of 50.45 seconds.

Nuse took third in the 100-m dash at 12.53 seconds.

"She had a personal record of 12.44 seconds in the prelims," Spartans head coach Terry Arment pointed out.

Megan Hechler's 300-m hurdles time of 49.29 was good for fifth place.

Spartan senior Kaleb Zimmerman had another outstanding shot put effort.

"He was second in the shot put with 50 feet 10.75 inches," Arment pointed out.

In the girls' field events, Nuse long jumped 17-4.5 to finish fifth in that event.

"Overall, we had 13 top-10 finishes and 13 personal records," added the coach.

Another top-10 finish was Diego Portales, grabbing the 10th spot in the pole vault with an 11-foot effort. Jaden Rodriguez finished tenth with his 5-8 high jump.

Just missing the top 10 was Alan Krock, whose time of 4:34.61 was good for 12th place in the 1600-m.