Boys tennis team wins first H/W/S championship

Senior Thomas Schottland of Sparta once again put forth a sensational effort, not dropping a game in rolling to the first singles title and helping the Spartans capture their first Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament championship on April 24 at home.

Sparta’s crown snapped Hunterdon Central’s stranglehold on the tri-county tournament that began in 2010.

Hunterdon Central, which was seeking its 10th straight title, finished in second place with 18 points. Sparta won the title with 24 points.

Schottland, an All-Group 2 First Team selection last year, earned his third straight tournament MVP after defeating Aryan Verma of Hunterdon Central, 6-0, 6-0, for the first singles title.

Sparta’s Robbie Matkiwsky earned the second singles championship with a 6-0, 6-3 decision over Luke Bokach of Hunterdon Central.

Andrew Young made it a clean sweep for the Spartans at singles, earning the third flight crown with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Voorhees’ Owen Pierro.

Sparta’s first doubles tandem of Ian Yip and Graham Mahoney posted a 6-3, 6-1 victory over top-seeded Jacob Silber and Parin Arya of Hunterdon Central for the first doubles title.

The Spartans’ second doubles duo of Charles Canzoniero and Aidan Mahoney reached the second doubles final but bowed in three sets to Phillipsburg’s Zach Labit and Cam Johnson, 7-6 (9), 0-6, 6-3.

Here is how other Sparta sports teams fared last week:

Baseball

Tyler Cox pitched a complete game six-hitter with seven strikeouts and three walks and didn’t allow an earned run in helping Sparta to a 9-2 victory over Phillipsburg on Friday afternoon, April 28 at home.

The Spartans were led offensively by Josh Brancy (2-for-3, run), Matthew Maresca (2-for-4, RBI, run), Braden Schappert (2-for-4, RBI, run) and Shane Hoover (2-for-3, double, run, RBI).

Sparta (8-4), which has won a season-high four straight, was scheduled to play at Wallkill Valley at 4 p.m. Thursday, May 4.

Softball

Alexa Berry went 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, four RBI and two runs; Gabrielle Heim was 2-for-4 with two doubles, two RBI and a run; Abigail Connors was 2-for-3 with a double and two runs; and Maya Laliker doubled twice with an RBI and a run to power Sparta to an 11-4 victory over Lenape Valley on April 28 in Stanhope.

Heim also pitched an eight hitter with 14 strikeouts and one walk to earn the win in the circle.

Sparta (7-4) was scheduled to play at Randolph at 4 p.m. Friday, May 5.

Boys lacrosse

Sparta (4-4) earned the fourth seed for the 13th annual H/W/S Tournament and received a bye into the quarterfinal round, where it was scheduled to play host to fifth-seeded Vernon on Saturday, May 6.

The Spartans defeated Vernon, 10-3, in the season-opening game for each school April 4.

Ryan Rossi (23 goals, 10 assists), Matt Ciarelli (eight goals, six assists), Troy Christiano (four goals, eight assists) and Hunter Takacs (11 goals, one assist) lead the offense.

Girls lacrosse

The Spartans received the third seed for the H/W/S Tournament and were slated to host a quarterfinal round game May 6 against 11th-seeded Pope John or sixth-seeded Vernon.

Uma Kowalski has totaled 47 goals and 10 assists to lead Sparta (7-3) in scoring, with Leah Moore (17 goals) and Aine Byrne (16 goals) also reaching double figures in goals.