Hempfield held off Conestoga Valley in an L-L League boys' volleyball match on Tuesday, April 6. The visiting Bucks made the first set close (25-22) and the third one even closer (26-24) but came up empty in a 3-0 Hempfield win. The Knights won the second set 25-16.

It was Hempfield's third 3-0 victory as they remained unbeaten. Ryan Givens was on fire, registering 11 kills, three aces and five solo blocks. Junior Mason Orth finished with 25 digs.

TENNIS

The Hempfield boys' tennis team topped Warwick and earned its first Lancaster-Lebanon League victory of the year on Tuesday, April 6.. The Black Knights aced the Warriors at Warwick by a 6-1 score, improving to 1-4 on the year (1-3 league).

Alexander Cooke, Eric Jordan and Carson Weigle came through in both singles and doubles competition.

"Alex has played some nice matches but run into a little bit of bad luck here and there," head coach Mindi Bell remarked. 'This was a really nice match to get a win under his belt.

"He's not afraid to come to the net, to mix it up," Bell added. "I think he definitely has more wins to come."

In the first doubles, Jordan and Cooke had the winning recipe against Warwick's Connor Evans and Mark Class in an 8-4 win.

Weigle teamed up with Trent Meyers for an 8-0 victory while the twosome of Gavin Chamberlain and Eli Worley triumphed 8-3 at number three doubles.

"We were able to pick up all three of the doubles, which was nice," Bell said. "We had yet to do that this season. That helped give us a nice cushion."

Like most tennis teams, finding the perfect combination of doubles duos is a work in process for coaches.

"We're really young this year," Bell explained. "A lot of our kids are freshmen and sophomores - sophomores without experience because of last season being canceled.

"We've tried a few different doubles pairings that work best with skill sets that match up well," continued the coach.

Bell also credited volunteer assistant coach and Hempfield alumnus Brian Fox in helping with doubles teams.

"Most kids don't come to us with doubles experience," she explained. "Brian has been helping us work on doubles skills this year."

Cooke stayed hot in singles play, blanking his opponent in straight sets 6-0, 6-0. Weigle won 6-4, 6-1 at number two singles and Jordan outscored Matt Geib of Warwick 7-6, 6-0 at number four singles.

"Carson Weigle is only a freshman and is our number two singles player," Bell said. "That was exciting to get his first varsity win."

The pairing of Chamberlain and Worley and the duo of Jordan and Cooke played tough doubles matches on Thursday, April 1, but came up short in a match at Donegal.

Jordan and Cooke suffered an 8-6 loss at number one doubles while Chamberlain and Worley lost 8-4 at third doubles. Donegal won the match 7-0.

Weigle was on the losing end of 6-2, 6-2 straight sets at number two singles. Jordan lost 6-2, 6-3 at number three singles.

TRACK

The Hempfield 4x800 relay team took first place in Tuesday's home meet with Manheim Township. Hiwat Wisotzkey, Molly Siebert, Gabriella Hollinger and Lily Williams combined for the winning relay time of 10:37.3, which was not enough to top Township. The Knights fell to 0-2 with the 112-38 loss.

Olivia Wenzel earned wins in two field events - her 16-5 long jump and her 34-10.5 triple jump.

Coming off a close 79-65 win the previous week over Penn Manor, the boys' track team lost an even closer meet versus Township. The Streaks eked out a 76-74 win.

Tanner Hess raced to victory in the 100- and 200-meter events with respective times of 10.57 and 22.25. Senior Owen Jackson had the winning pace of 2:02.5 in the 800. Tom Minnich took the triple jump at 39-9.75

GIRLS' LACROSSE

Playing back-to-back games, the Black Knights came away with one win, improving to 3-2. Hempfield lost a 13-7 non-league match at Cumberland Valley on Monday, April 5. Tuesday Hempfield raised its league mark to 3-0 with a 14-6 win at Warwick.

In that win four different Knights scored two goals each - Catherine Molitor, Abby Gingrich, Brynn Axe and Kayla Brooks.

Regan Gillisse and Kenna Price also scored while Haylee Eide provided an assist.

Goalie Eryn Murphy recorded two saves in the victory.

Brooks had two goals in the Cumberland Valley game as did Isabelle Masengarb and Whitney Hershey while Makenzie Warfel netted one goal. Gillisse dished off one assist.

BASEBALL

The Knights opened the season by winning a 1-0 pitchers' duel over Governor Mifflin. The quiet bats woke up for Hempfields' next two contests in thundering cadence as they plated nine runs in each of those games.

On March 31, the Knights pounded Penn Manor 9-1 in an L-L League game at home. Hempfield scored in four of its innings.

Christian LaBarbera, Austin Dunlap, Logan Harelson and Cody Fatta scored the team's first four runs. Fatta stroked a two-run single to highlight a four-run sixth inning where LaBarbera, Stephen Katch, Ethan Green and Connor Bitts all scored.

On the mound Dunlap took control as he pitched four perfect innings to close things out.

The base knocks kept coming in the April 5 contest against league rival Manheim Township. Only trouble was that the slugging was from both teams in a 10-9 Township walk-off win.

Dunlap and LaBarbera each scored two early runs as the Knights built a five-run lead. Cam Berger had an RBI hit as well as a sacrifice fly.

The fourth frame was the big one for Township as the Blue Streaks pushed five runs across. Dylan King, who had recorded an RBI groundout in the previous inning, tripled to drive in two more.

In the back-and-forth game, Constein's RBI double drove in Fatta to respond to Township's big rally.

Finally, a hit batsman with the bases loaded did the trick for Township in the Streaks' final at bat, giving the home team the win.