The Smith Vocational girls volleyball team continued to roll along on Thursday, as the Vikings picked up their fourth consecutive victory to start 2025 and did so in dominant fashion — a three-set sweep over Pope Francis on their home court.
Set scores were 25-21, 25-22, 25-19.
Irelyn Marcoux was stellar with 10 kills, eight digs and five aces while Heidymar Diaz-Lopez added eight kills, seven digs and four aces. Roma Bentrewicz dished out 22 assists and chipped in three aces and five digs in the process.
Hecmarie Diaz-Lopez put forth a strong defensive effort, digging up a team-high 18 balls while recording one ace and a kill. Leah Franklin (eight kills) was a force at the net, turning aside six Pope Francis spike attempts. Harleigh Vertucci (two aces, one kill, one dig) and Lily Sosa Cruz (three aces, one assist, nine digs) also contributed in the win.
Smith Vocational (4-0) looks to extend its streak to five Monday on the road against Renaissance. That match is set to start at 5:15 p.m.
Boys soccer
PVCICS 2, Mount Everett 1 — The Dragons defended their home turf on Thursday afternoon. Despite the Eagles controlling most of the possession, it was PVCICS that took advantage of its opportunities to put Mount Everett away.
Nate Tuttle netted a goal on a pass from Owen Wallace, while Julian Lee-Choi buried home a loose ball behind the Eagles’ defense. Grace Rachele made four saves in net to keep PVCICS in front.
Franklin Tech 2, Hopkins 1 — It looked as if the Golden Hawks were going to win the whole way, but a late surge from the Eagles stunned Hopkins on Thursday afternoon. Franklin Tech scored to tie the game up late and added the winner with 30 seconds left to steal the win.
Nate Rickles tallied Hopkins’ goal in the first half, giving the Hawks a lead they held all the way until the final minutes.
McCann Tech 1, Gateway 0 — The Gators were shut out on Thursday evening, as Zach Howland buried the one and only goal of the game under the lights in Huntington.
Zack Hess stopped nine McCann shots in the loss.
Northampton 4, Monument Mountain 1 — Jasper Cantor scored two minutes in, and the Blue Devils never looked back as their trip to the Berkshires was well worth it on Thursday evening.
Cantor added another just after halftime and Owen MacLachlan tallied a goal a minute later. Max Stocker finished the scoring in the 68th minute to give Northampton its three-goal lead.
Holyoke 3, Smith Vocational 2 — The Purple Knights won a one-goal game against the Vikings on Thursday afternoon in Holyoke to improve to 2-1 on the season. Last year, Holyoke only won two games. And now the Knights have matched that through just three games in 2025.
Smith Voc drops to 2-1 with the Bi-County League East loss. These two teams will meet against later in the season.
Field hockey
Frontier 4, East Longmeadow 2 — The Redhawks aced a big early season test on Thursday afternoon, as they doubled up on the Spartans with four different goal scorers leading the way.
Elsa Brown (two assists), Ashlie Galenski, Macy DeMaio and Addie Harrington did the damage for Frontier while Haly Doucette-Kaplan dished out a pair of helpers as well. Brooke Charest made five saves in the cage.
Golf
South Hadley 161, East Longmeadow 163 — Ryley McMahon brought her A-game, as she shot the low round of the day with a 37 (1-over). Luke Guiel (41), Caiden Drohan (41) and Ryan MacGregor (42) were the other top scores for Tigers.
Guiel finished his last three holes 1-under and McMahon played her last four holes 1-under to close out the South Hadley dub.
“League wins are hard to come by in our new stacked league,” Tigers head coach Jason Bourque said. “East Longmeadow is a great program, so we were glad to win a close one. Ryley had a great round today and she is becoming a player to watch out for us a junior.”
Southwick 170, Hampshire 172 — A 38 from Brayden Fennessy was enough to earn medalist honors, but the Raiders were unable to build off of that as they fell in a close one to the Rams at Edgewood Golf Course in Southwick.
Hampshire’s other scorers were Scarlett Parent (44), Cole Boissonneault (44) and Nico Johnson (46).
Easthampton 189, St. Mary’s 224 — Amelia Gruber shined with a 38 to lead the Eagles’ flock in a decisive victory over the Saints on Thursday.
Maeve Loring and Jacob Murrett each shot a 50 while Aiden Subocz and Angelo Torchia turned in 51s for Easthampton.
Frontier 166, Amherst 195 — Brady Wood’s 38 earned medalist honors for the Redhawks, as he led the way with Jacob Cornelison (40), Addy Wood (44) and Christian Powell (44) right behind to give Frontier the win.
Ben Scott was terrific for Amherst with a 39. Other point scorers for the ‘Canes were Graham Van Giesson (49), Owen Howard (53) and Phin Pyecroft (54).
McCann Tech 162, Hopkins 178 — The Hornets had three golfers shoot 40 or better as they got the best of the Golden Hawks at Westover Golf Course on Thursday afternoon.
Ryley Regan shot an impressive 39 for Hopkins, while Jessica Waskiewicz (45), Aiden Keeling-Lococo (47) and Siddarth Palmer (47) rounded out the scorers.
Longmeadow 145, Northampton 196 — All four of the Lancers’ scorers broke 40 in an incredible team performance on Thursday at Twin Hills Country Club.
Cecily Henshon and Connor Henrey each shot a 1-under 35 to lead Longmeadow.
Late Wednesday results
Cross country
Hampshire 15, Pope Francis 44 (boys) — The entire top five consisted of Raiders runners, as they cruised to an easy win over the Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon behind the dynamic duo of Owen Cubi and Oscar Schiff. Cubi (16:53) crossed the line first while Schiff (16:54) was on his heels for second.
Hobbes O’Sullivan (third, 17:35), Aidan Conklin (fourth, 17:36) and Augustus Niswonger (fifth, 17:48) all raced well for Hampshire in the victory.
Hampshire 15, Pope Francis 50 (girls) — In an absolutely dominant performance on Wednesday, the first 16 competitors to cross the finish line were all members of the Raiders cross country team. They left no doubt in the win.
Kathleen Barry (20:01) came in first, Ada Corner (20:22) came in second and Alex Henrichon (20:28) was close behind for third. Brooke Hockenberry (20:48) and Charlotte Letendre (20:51) rounded out the top five.