After opening the season with two losses, the Bears won five straight, bumping their record to 5-2. From there, however, Elizabethtown flipped to a four-game slide.

"It is a long season and there are bound to be some ups and downs," said head coach Lamar Fahnestock, "We just want to continue improving."

The Bears fortunes turned with an April 23rd clash opposite the fifth ranked 2A team in District 3, Manheim Central. The Barons bounced back for a 3-1 win after Elizabethtown's 25-23 opening game stunner. Rudy Woitas (37 kills, five blocks) and Dylan Shepherd (52 assists) led the way.

The Bears hit the road one day later for a trip to Hummelstown where the top ranked 2A team was waiting. The result was a 3-0 (25-17, 25-9, 25-24) loss to Lower Dauphin. Woitas (15 kills, one block) and Shepherd (22 assists, one ace) topped the stat sheet again with William O'Connell adding 16 digs and one ace.

After a short weekend, E-town returned home on the 26th to host the fourth ranked team in 3A, Warwick. The Warriors handed E-town their second straight 3-0 loss, leaving with wins of 25-20, 25-12 and 25-13. Woitas (eight kills, three blocks, one ace) and Shepherd (12 assists) held their usually place atop the stat sheet.

Elizabethtown's string of topflight competition continued on the 27th when Central Dauphin entered Daubert Gymnasium. The fifth ranked squad in 3A won 25-15, 25-13 and 25-12, putting the Bears at 5-6. Woitas (12 kills, four blocks) led the stat sheet and was joined by Shepherd (15 assists), Damien Tobias (one ace) and O'Connell (eight digs).

The Bears final win of their five-game run went down on the 22nd with E-town topping Ephrata 25-22, 21-25, 25-22 and 25-13. Shepherd dished out 35 assists with Woitas collecting 21 kills and three blocks. Matt Gilhool and Bryan Murray added seven kills each while Murray and Tobias led the team with three aces.

TRACK

The track team hosted their second dual meet of the season on the 26th with Ephrata playing 'visitor'. The Mountaineers claimed both sides of the meet with Elizabethtown falling 113-36 on the boy's side and 100-50 on the girl's side.

Ethan Jones posted all three wins for the boy's, taking the high jump, long jump and discus. For the Lady Bears it was a trio of double winners plus Zoey Myers' win in the javelin. Genevieve McDonald (100m, 200m) and Madeline Quinn (1600m, 3200m) did their work on the track while Abby Sedun led a sweep in the shot put which paired nicely with her discus win.

GIRLS' LACROSSE

The girl's lacrosse season remains stuck on a winless path, but the Lady Bears got awfully close to breaking out of their rut. That close call came on the 27th with a 9-8 setback to Lancaster Country Day that saw E-town fight back from a 7-3 halftime deficit to come up just short. Aiesha Rios dropped a hat trick while Brooke Horst, Moira Shott, Lizzy Carter, Victoria Gonzales and Kendall Davies chipped in with one score each. Jordyn Gutshall finished with 13 saves.

One day earlier the Lady Bears ended up on the wrong side of a 17-0 final with Gutshall stopping 10 shots in the loss to Red Land. Elizabethtown suffered another unpleasant loss on the 23rd, falling to Conestoga Valley 16-1. Gutshall turned away 18 shots with Abby Sedun netting the lone goal.

SOFTBALL

The season of back and forth continued for the softball team. With wins over Cedar Crest and Penn Manor the Lady Bears posted their second three game winning steak of the season only to see said streak halted with a 7-4 loss to Warwick on the 26th. Kristin Geesey allowed seven runs on eight hits with one walk and two strikeouts. Ava Fair drove in two of the four runs.

The Lady Bears win streak reached three games on the 22nd thanks to a 2-1 upset win over Penn Manor. Geesey not only picked up the win for her work in the circle (six hits, six strikeouts, one walk) but she also played a part in stealing the victory. Geesey got the game winning rally going with a leadoff single in the seventh. Carli Zerphey came in as the courtesy runner and scored on Sydney Stewart's single two batters later.

E-town had an easier time with Cedar Crest on the 21st, rolling to an 11-1 win. Stewart and Jessica Zimmerman combined for four hits and five RBIs while Geesey added eight strikeouts to her complete game victory.

BASEBALL

The baseball team worked through a light stretch, splitting their two contests to sit at 3-7 on the season. Up first was a Friday clash with Palmyra that the Bears won 3-1 thanks to a strong outing from Josh Kreider. The senior allowed three hits and one unearned run to go with three strikeouts and two walks. The Bears matched Palmyra's three hits, one each by Kreider, Josh Rudy and Tyler Souders, but still came away with the win thanks to two unearned runs.

The Bears looked to make it two in a row on the 26th but Warwick had other ideas, posting an 8-4 win. Tanner Breault and Ben Wentling each went hitless but finished with one RBI each. Souders got the start and covered the first six innings but ended up with a no decision after exiting with the game knotted at 4-4. Alex Baker was hit with the loss after surrendering the final four Warwick runs.

BOYS' LACROSSE

Winner, Winner!! The boy's lacrosse team removed the zero from their win column on the 24th with an 11-3 victory over Eastern York. Joe Zink needed 12 saves to secure E-town's first win since May 2019. Jacob Wivell and Austin Eberly scored three goals each while Sam Azzalina picked up the remaining five scores.

Sandwiched around the win were losses to Warwick and Red Land. Warwick claimed a 10-2 victory on the 22nd while Red Land posted a 17-4 win on the 26th. Zink tallied 27 saves in the two losses while Azzalina picked up five more goals. Addison Johnson accounted for the final tally against Red Land.

E-town dropped to 1-12 on the year with an 8-4, April 27th, loss to Penn Manor. Zink finished with 23 saves while Azzalina (three goals) and Johnson (one goal) carried the offense.