Early season struggles are often difficult to shake off for a high school sports team. That does not seem to be the case for the boy's lacrosse team who used wins over Cedar Crest and Conrad Weiser to draw their 2023 mark even at 4-4.

Both wins were by comfortable margins with the 'Bucks just missing a shutout on the 10th, settling for a 15-1 win over Conrad Weiser instead. Jeff Fisher fronted the offense (6g-1a) with help from Noah Nolt (3g-1a) and Hunter Silvaggio (2g-1a). Tyson Zwaska, Bryce Zwaska, Tommy Perella, and Isaiah Sensenig pitched in with one score apiece. Soren Stoltzfus finished with six saves.

CV's win over Cedar Crest came on the 6th via a 20-8 final. The Buckskins built a solid 13-3 cushion heading into halftime and coasted through the second half with a 7-5 edge. Silvaggio was the front man this time around, finishing with seven goals and two assists. Fisher and Nolt split six goals with Fisher adding six assists to his tally. Tyson and Bryce Zwaska added two goals each while Sensenig, Perella and Seth Frankford had one goal each. Stoltzfus finished this victory with seven saves.

Conestoga Valley was on the opposite end of their battle with Hempfield on the 4th, falling by a 12-8 final. Fisher was the lone multi-goal scorer for CV, finishing with four. Silvaggio, Nolt, Sensenig and Bryce Zwaska divided the remaining four scores equally.

GIRLS' LACROSSE

The girl's lacrosse team was in action just once over the same time frame, falling to Cedar Crest by a 7-6 final on the 6th. Jamie Handwerger was hit with the loss, stopping 13 shots. Sophia Hess netted three scores, Rachel Tsai added two while Charlotte Eby picked up the final goal.

TENNIS

The boy's tennis team made good use of their lite stretch in the schedule, knocking off Garden Spot 7-0 on the 10th. CV kicked off the match with doubles wins by Yuji Wenger and Michael Horst, Fabian Heine, and Boro Kristic along with Nolan Miller and Eli Lefever. Wenger followed with a number one singles win with Horst adding a number two singles victory. Heine was in the three spot for his win while Miller finished things up at number four singles.

The Buckskins followed that shutout sweep with a 6-1 loss to Cedar Crest on the 12th. CV's lone team point came at number three doubles where Miller and Lefever were victorious.

VOLLEYBALL

The Easter holiday also gave the boys' volleyball team a slight rest with only matches opposite Exeter and Penn Manor on the slate. The Buckskins were able to top Penn Manor on the 11th, cruising to a 3-0 win behind 28 assists and 12 digs from Drew Hultstrand as well as 10 kills from Mason Tardibuono. Garrett Funck added six blocks in the 25-20, 25-16 and 25-19 win.

Conestoga Valley found themselves on the opposite end of a 3-0 final on the 5th, falling to Exeter 25-17, 25-13 and 25-22. Funck finished with two blocks with Carson Hoover matching that total with aces, adding 11 kills. Rowan Aisenbrey contributed nine digs.

SOFTBALL

The saying goes 'all good things come to an end' and for the Lady Buckskin softball team the good time was their four-game winning streak. The end came on April 10th courtesy of a 3-0 loss to Solanco. Rhiannon Henry covered the pitching, allowing three runs on five hits and eight walks. The senior hurler did add nine strikeouts to her tally. Brylee Bateson picked up the lone CV hit, a leadoff double in the seventh.

The Lady 'Bucks picked up a second straight loss on the 12th, falling to Elizabethtown by a 4-1 count. Once again, Henry covered the pitching duties, allowing just one earned run to go with six strikeouts and two walks. CV's third inning run was of the unearned variety with Alexa Freeburn scoring on an E-town error. Isabella Rodriguez and Kaitlyn Humphreville added to Freeburn's base-knock with hits of their own.

BASEBALL

Over on the baseball diamond, the Buckskins officially are sitting on a losing streak with losses to Ephrata, Solanco and Elizabethtown pushing CV to 3-5 on the year.

Ephrata handed out the first loss, posting a 10-0 win on the 5th. Brendan Bossert got the start and covered the initial two innings while Jude Thompson took over for the final 2+ innings. Together the pair surrendered nine hits and nine earned runs to go with one strikeout and five walks. Kayden Fisher and Luke Landis accounted for the offense with one hit apiece.

The Easter break offered no relief for CV with Solanco posting an 11-7 win on the 10th. Evan Wilson got the start and pitched into the second inning before giving way to Caden Miller. Miller and Seth Burkett split the final six innings in half with Miller absorbing the final five Golden Mule runs. The trio combined for nine strikeouts and three walks. Owen Fisher paced the offense with one hit and two RBI while Wilson, Evan Lapp, Jackson Esbenshade and Miller each finished with one RBI.

April 12th saw the Buckskins fall to Elizabethtown by a 7-2 final. Owen Fisher's fingerprints were all over the game after taking the loss for his five and one-third innings on the mound coupled with his single RBI at the plate. Kayden Fisher drove in CV's other run with his fifth inning single while Lapp covered the final two-thirds of an inning in relief of Fisher.

TRACK

The third time is the charm for the Conestoga Valley track teams. After failing to win both the boys' and girls' meets in their initial two chances, the Buckskins were successful on the 11th where the boys topped Garden Spot by a 102-47 final while the girls secured an 86-64 win.

The boys claimed all three relay races starting with the work of Micah Kao, Jordan Craighead, Mason Denlinger and Timothy Gitonga in the 3200m relay. Andrew Hoffer and David Irwin were both involved in the remaining two relay wins. Jayden Johnson and Nick Tran joined for the 400m relay win while Zach Phy and Joey Castronova were the other half of the 1600m relay win.

Tran added wins in the 100m and 200m while Castronova added a 400m win. Toss in victories by Kao in the 800, Phy in the 300H and Caleb Malari in the 110H and CV nearly swept the track wins.

Thabo Lautsbaugh doubled up with wins in the long and triple jump while Jordan Sensenig claimed the high jump. Zimmerman topped the javelin results while Ismael Camacho did the same in pole vault.

The Lady Buckskins needed all three relay wins to hold on and thanks to nine different runners they did just that. Hallie Schnapf, Brooke Denlinger and Alondra Ortiz compromised three-quarters of the 400m and 1600m relay with Mae Linder joining for the 400m relay win and Hershey for the 1600m relay win. Meagan Kime, Abigail Zook, Seana Daugherty and Bellemarie Alston opened the meet with a win in the 3200m relay. Denlinger (100H, 300H) and Ortiz (100m, 200m) added two solo wins to their day while Hershey (400m) and Alston (800m) added one each. Felicia Pius (shot put) and Cheyenne Plank (discus) accounted for the only wins in the field.