With crucial victories over Lebanon and Cocalico, the Garden Spot boys' volleyball team kept pace with Manheim Central in the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Two standings. The Spartans improved to 4-0 following a 3-0 triumph at home on Thursday, April 6 followed by a 3-2 win at Cocalico five days later.

In blanking the Cedars, the Spartans posted one-sided scores of 25-8, 25-18 and 25-11 for a sweep.

Tanner Laukhuff finished with a match-leading 12 kills. Keegan Redcay continues to lead the Spartans in assists. He finished with 35. Serving up four aces helped Dylan Zeiset lead the team in that category.

Also contributing were Luke Smucker (2 blocks) and Justin Mininger (2 digs).

What made the win at Cocalico impressive was the comeback by the Spartans, who were trailing 2-0.

In the third set, they turned the Eagles away 25-18. In the fourth set, they won the closest set of the match, netting a 25-23 win. It set up the tiebreaker, which the visiting Spartans took 15-11.

Laukhuff was off the charts, finishing with 40 kills. Miniger's 13 digs were tops on the team as was the total of 53 assists by Redcay.

SOFTBALL

Though there haven't been any victories for the Spartans on the softball schedule, head coach Kim King says that she and the players, "...celebrate the little things.

"You have to celebrate the little things to keep you going," King said.

The Spartans roster has been depleted. Already with only 11 players on the roster, two injuries have the squad down to nine players, which means any more injuries could mean forfeits.

"We knew it was going to be a tough season," she explained.

The softball team suffered a 17-2 defeat to Cocalico on Wednesday, April 12.

"It's not fun to lose," continued the coach. "But you have to celebrate little things.

In the loss, Lexi Bender and Sydni King had base hits. Also, King came in and pitched - only her second appearance as a hurler.

The junior providing relief to Paige Brady for pitching duties has been another small victory.

"It actually gives us someone who'll give Paige some breaks as the season goes on," King said.

Earlier in the week, the Spartans fell to the Elco Raiders by a 24-0 count. It was in this game that King made a relief appearance.

"She struck out two batters in an inning and a third," the coach noted.

Another positive takeaway was the discipline at the plate and the steady effort.

"We had a lot of girls making contact," King explained. "Only three batters struck out. Alyssa Brace got a hit for us."

BASEBALL

Battling back from a 5-1 deficit on their home turf, the Spartans came up short against Section Three rival Cocalico on Wednesday afternoon, April 12. The Eagles saw the Spartans chip away at the lead, making it a 6-4 ballgame heading into the seventh inning. Cocalico added two more runs and held on for an 8-5 victory.

Though they out-hit the Eagles 7-6, the Spartans hurt themselves with four errors on the day.

At the plate, Caiden Murphy went 1-for-3 with a run batted in. Kye Harting also had a base hit and scored a run while senior Colin Smith collected three base hits, including a double. Smith scored one run and knocked in another.

Gabe Smeltz also complemented the lineup with a 2-for-4 day at the dish.

Two days earlier, the Spartans were the winners on the road, topping Elco in L-L League play 9-3.

Karson Weaver not only went 2-for-4 with two runs and a RBI, he helped get himself into position for scoring by stealing two bases. Harting (1-4) and Ryan Speers (1-3) each swiped a bag as well.

Smith had multiple hits (2-5) plus a RBI. Smeltz drove in a run and scored two. Mason Strine had a double and drove in a run on a 2-4 afternoon. Murphy (2-5) also slugged a two-bagger and knocked in one run.

Junior Caleb Zimmerman went 2-5 in the leadoff spot, including a two-run double.

Speers earned the victory, going 5.1 innings and striking out five Raiders. He was charged with two runs on six hits.

GIRLS' LACROSSE

In Section Two girls' lacrosse action, the Spartans were relentless in their pursuit of their second Section Two win of the year. In their home match against Cocalico on Tuesday, April 11, the Spartans finished on the short end of a high-scoring 16-12 contest.

The Spartans' scoring onslaught was led by Gwen Varley. She fired a match-high eight shots into the Cocalico net.

The loss dropped the Spartans to 1-4 in league play (2-6 overall).

The two teams hit halftime tied 7-7. The Eagles (5-3, 4-1 league) outscored the home team 9-7 in the second half with Sara Mackall, Olivia Reider and Danika Sauder each recording a hat trick.

On the Spartan side, Emily Ferris netted two goals and recorded an assist. Brielle Moyer, who also had an assist, and Kathryn Pierce each scored one.

BOYS' LACROSSE

With its third straight win, the boys' lacrosse team improved to 4-2 on Wednesday, April 5, defeating Lancaster Country Day 13-4.

Joseph Bernek's seven-goal production led all scorers. Garden Spot's Ayden Naranjo, Logan Lessley, Jared Patton, Kane Leaman, Nick Gleason, and Ben Keeport each netted one goal while Cole Leaman provided six saves in goal.

TENNIS

On Monday, April 10, the boys' tennis team ran into a tough Conestoga Valley team in a non-league match.

Senior Walter Churpin put up a fight in his first singles set, losing to Yuji Wenger 6-3. Wenger went on to complete the number one singles match with a 6-0 win.

Andrew Herman came up empty and number three singles, losing 6-0, 6-1.

The Buckskins blanked the Spartans in all three doubles matches, improving to 5-4 on the year while Spot fell to 0-6.

TRACK

Garden Spot took on Conestoga Valley in a Section Two track and field meet on Tuesday, April 11. While the girls' team fell in a close 86-64 battle, the CV boys topped Spot 102-47. Both the boys' and girls' teams fell to 1-1.

In the long distance runs, Alan Krock came through for the Spartans in both the 1600 (4:48.3) and 3,200 (10:43.5) runs.

Another senior, Kaleb Zimmerman, was a multi-event winner also. Zimmerman's 48-8.25 shot put, and 160-9.5 discus toss measured the farthest for the meet.

Just like the boys' meet, the Spartan girls had a standout runner in both the1600 and 3200. Melanie Esh won the two events with respective times of 5:46.9 and 12:55.1

Chloe Grady's triple jump (33-7) and her 16-6 long jump both claimed first while sophomore Megan Hechler took the high jump at 5 feet.

Valerie Martin cleared 8-6 to win the pole vault.