Despite a 1-3 record in Section Two, the volleyball team has been putting up competitive game scores despite falling short in the wins department. Thursday, Sept. 23, was not a typical outing for Solanco as they dropped three quick games against Section Two's undefeated Elizabethtown.

"Our defense was solid all night, getting a lot of digs on some tough balls," said head coach Dillon Costello. "Our serve receive was good in the first two sets but then fell apart. The girls played hard. It was a loss to learn from."

On Saturday Solanco hosted Columbia, Lititz Christian and Lancaster Mennonite for some "double header" action. The hosts defeated the Tide (25-16, 18-25, 25-21, 25-8) and LC (21-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-22, 16-14.

"It was definitely a confidence booster," said Costello. "My setters, Triniti Erisman and Madi Davis did a nice job getting everyone involved. I would say the MVP for us was Kate Unger. She was a force at the net and brought a ton of energy. I switched her to outside and she was not letting anything drop in the back. She did a great job keeping the team spirits high throughout the day."

Jaidee Beam paced the win against Columbia with seven aces while Martha Weaver added seven kills due in part to Madi Davis and her 13 assists. Unger added one block and Marissa Cannizzaro recorded 11 digs.

Against Lititz, Erisman served up four aces and dished out 11 assists. Beam collected nine of those for kills. Anya Fisher put up five blocks and Unger hustled for 29 digs.

Last Tuesday, despite a loss, Solanco took Manheim Central to four sets pulling out a 30-28 thriller in the second set. Unger put up a match-high nine blocks and Cannizzaro recorded 17 digs to spark the defense while Erisman dished out 10 assists, Herr fired off seven kills and Beam added three aces as Solanco fell to 3-6.

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TENNIS

The tennis team hit the toughest part of their schedule over the last week, facing the top four teams in Section Two and coming away with four straight 7-0 losses.

Ava Peiffer and Wendy Lehmann almost pulled out a No. 3 doubles win over Elizabethtown, falling short 8-6. Destiny Langley put up the best singles numbers of the week with a 6-0, 6-4 loss against Donegal.

FOOTBALL

For the second week in a row Solanco got off to a good start and scored the first touchdown of the night. But for the second week in a row, it was the opposition that had the last say.

Friday, Sept. 23 in Quarryville, Penn Manor's Eli Warfel found DeShawn Stanley for a 19-yard TD strike that put the visitors in front, 21-17, with 4:47 left to play. And then stopped the Mules on their final drive.

"We had opportunities that we did not execute on," said head coach Tony Cox. "And I hate that for the kids because they work so hard during the week making those plays. We just came up short.

"I told the players before the game that whoever makes the least number of mistakes will win," he added. "The 120 yards of penalties we were whistled for did not help. We must move on and learn from our mistakes."

Solanco took the lead with 4:51 left in the first on Robert Castagna's seven-yard run. Manor jumped ahead in the second frame with Warfel's 8-yard strike to Clark Wagstaff but Solanco capped the scoring for the half when Trent McDowell booted a 39-yard field goal with 5.1 seconds remaining.

Manor regained the lead when Warfel hit Stanley from 14-yards out to go ahead 14-10 with 11:54 left. Solanco answered the challenge on Elijah Reimold's seven-yard scoring run with 6:01 on the clock.

"I thought Connor Smith had two sacks in the first quarter and did a great job on offense and Josiah Forren, with one interception, and Colton Stoltzfus led the team in tackles with seven each," added Cox.

Brody Mellinger was Solanco's top rusher with 103 yards on 20 carries.

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GIRLS' SOCCER

The dogfight in Section Three continued as Solanco, Elco and Cocalico kept pace with each other to remain tied for the top spot at 5-1.

Thursday, Sept. 23, Solanco traveled to Section One's Elizabethtown and came home with a 2-1 victory. E-town broke in front with a goal in the 31st minute. The visitors responded less than two minutes later. The Bears miscalculated on a clear and the ball came rolling to Arianna Seiberlich who gained control and sent a shot right over the goalie's head.

"Arianna did a tremendous job of keeping the shot on goal and not blasting it over the ball," said head coach Ken Yoder.

Alyssa Harpe, scoring her third straight game-winning goal, sealed the deal with five minutes remaining, making good on a corner kick.

GOLF

Last Monday at Honeybrook Golf Course, Solanco advanced three players to the District 3 Golf Tournament to be held October 8-9 at Honeyrun Golf Club in York.

Andy Teaman (82), Logan Wagner (83) and Anna Sexton (94) all advanced while Brayden Herr (86), Jeffrey Martin (91), Nathan Tucker (103) and Hudson Brown (105) also competed.

"As a team, we scored 342 which was lower than our 346 season average," said head coach Greg Minnich. "In 16 years I don't know if we've ever had three district qualifiers."

FIELD HOCKEY

Playing four games in five days left little time to tweak strategies. None in fact as Solanco played Friday , Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. Despite the workhorse load, the home team came away with positive results.

In Lancaster on Sept. 24, Solanco beat McCaskey2 -1. Tied at 1-1 in the first half, Sadie Cook notched the game-winner with 6:34 left in the game. Rebecca Bruno, who scored in the second quarter, was credited with the assist. Caitlin Bennethum earned four saves.

Less than 24 hours later, the girls traveled to Ephrata and came home with their most lopsided defeat of the year, 9-0.

Last Monday, with a hat trick from Sadie Cook, they regrouped with a 3-1 win at Octorara.

"It was super exciting," said head coach Whitney Hawkins. "We lost 6-3 to Octorara on our senior night, so to come back like this, and after that loss to Ephrata, it felt great. We started some different players in the first half and they stepped up.

"Defensively, Abby Kennedy stepped up and took control of the field," she added. "She finally broke out of her shell and showed her skills."

Solanco swept the series against Donegal last Tuesday with a 3-1 victory. Holding a 1-0 lead on Mia Daniel-Morales' first half goal, the hosts doubled up the Indians after the break with goals from Maya Dolan and Emma Housekeeper. Addison O'Donnell and Kara Peace were credited with assists.