As winning steaks go, it is difficult to put one together while playing team tennis, but the Bears managed to rip off five straight 'W's" after a season opening loss, putting them atop the Section One standings at roughly the midpoint of the season.

Two matches later and Elizabethtown has started a new winning streak after a 3-2 setback to Lancaster Country Day on April 1st. The Bears are still atop the section standings thanks to LCD and their Section Three status.

E-town remained perfect in Section One play by slipping by Manheim Township 4-3 on the 6th. "We are very excited to have had some early success," said head coach Brenda McBride. "Our win at Manheim Township will be remembered by these boys for a long time, being that our top three had to dig themselves out of deficits to find the will to win."

The singles success that McBride mentions came after the double action where only Trent McBride and Steven Dupler managed a win, putting E-town in a hole with just singles matches remaining. Things started looking bleak when Township claimed the number four singles match. Nyveldt and Dupler started to turn the tide with their three set victories, leaving Trent McBride as the final hope. Despite the match approaching four hours and darkness starting to set in, McBride was able to scratch his way to a 4-6, 6-3, 12-10 win, securing the match for the visitors.

As for the LCD match, Nyveldt was the lone singles player to pull out a win, claiming the number three singles match. Elizabethtown picked up their second win in doubles with Aidan Blyler and Quinn Dolan posting a straight set win.

BASEBALL

The old saying goes that good things come to those who wait. For the E-town baseball team it is oh so true. Thanks to some late pre-season COVID issues the Bears were forced to pause their season just before it began, postponing their season opener until April 7th, nearly two weeks after the rest of the L-L enjoyed their first pitch.

But as the saying goes, good things came to the Bears that waited as Elizabethtown survived a late scare from Ephrata to snag a 14-11 victory. The win not only moved E-town to 1-0 on the season but with the 2020 season falling to COVID it gives second year skipper Jordan Higgins his first victory.

Josh Kreider got the start and the win but needed help from Cael Brandt to finish things up. Together the pair allowed 11 runs with seven earned to go with four strikeouts and one walk. Brandt was also one of four Bears that finished with two RBI with Tanner Breault, Alex Baker and Ben Wentling joining the fun. Baker and Wentling did their damage with one hit while Brandt and Breault combined for seven hits, including two doubles by Brandt.

SOFTBALL

The softball team was also forced to wait through a COVID pause but the 10-day wait between their season opening win against Palmyra and their April 5th beat down of Conestoga Valley had little effect. Need proof...how about an 11-0, five inning victory where winning pitcher Kristin Geesey issued no walks and just one hit to go with three strikeouts. The Lady Bears did their heavy lifting in the third and fifth innings where they scored 10 of the 11 runs. Sophia Finch provided the big bat with four RBI on two hits while Jessica Zimmerman and Geesey matched the two hits but drove in two runs each.

One day later the Lady Bears were back in action, this time with a trip to Ephrata. Elizabethtown came home with another 10-run victory, but the Lady Bears needed all seven innings to finish things up. Brooke Bryan got the start but only covered two innings before giving way to Geesey who picked up the win. Geesey accounted for five of E-town's six strikeouts while the pair split two walks.

Once again Finch sparked the offense with two hits, but one was a fifth inning grand slam and when combined with her seventh inning single the sophomore finished with five RBI. Ava Fair rapped out three singles with two of them helping to extend E-town's lead, giving her two RBI and four runs scored.

TRACK

The track team hosted their first meet of 2021 on April 6th with the Lady Bears slipping by Lampeter-Strasburg 81-69 while the boy's fell 111-39.

Caiden Herr accounted for two of the boy's three wins, claiming both hurdle events, while Ethan Jones topped the high jump field. The Lady Bears did the bulk of their work on the track where they posted eight of their 12 wins, including all three relay races. From there a trio of Lady Bears paved the way with two wins each. Carly Sedun was the only one of the three to do her work in the field, claiming the shot put and discus. Genevieve McDonald did her work in the sprints with wins in the 100m and 200m while Madeline Quinn took the 1600m and the 3200m. Adyson Haak picked up the final win on the track in the 400m. Olivia Anson (javelin) and Julia Sikora (triple jump) enjoyed two field wins.

BOYS' LACROSSE

Nearly two weeks into the 2021 season, the boy's lacrosse team is still in search of their first win. The Bears fell to 0-5 overall and 0-3 in Section One play after losses to Warwick and Penn Manor. Warwick posted their 11-2 victory on April 1st while Elizabethtown fell to Penn Manor by a 9-0 count on the 6th. Joe Zink tallied 43 saves in the two losses with Sam Azzalina accounting for both goals.

GIRLS' LACROSSE

Wins have been hard to come by for the Lady Bears as well with losses to Warwick and Penn Manor putting Elizabethtown at 0-5 overall and 0-3 in league play. The Lady Bears came closest to a win on April 6th, but Penn Manor was able to pull away in the second half for a 9-3 final. Hailey Mertz netted two of the three goals with Aiesha Rios nabbing the other. Jordyn Gutshall turned away eight shots.

A few days earlier the Lady Bears traveled to Lititz and came home on the wrong end of a 19-3 final. Mertz, Rios, and Moira Shott split the goals while Gutshall finished with 13 saves.