CSM fall sports in full swing
Volleyball out to 8-4 start, soccer teams at .500; women’s cross country begins campaign
With the month of September coming to an end today, the College of Southern Maryland fall sports programs will look to gather some momentum in October prior to their respective Region XX tournaments.
The CSM volleyball team has enjoyed the most success this fall, overcoming a slow start in several tough nonconference matches to win its last four outings and improve to 8-4 overall, including a 3-0 mark in the Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference. The Hawks are among the early favorites for a Region XX title this fall.
On Tuesday, CSM made quick work of Chesapeake College in a 25-8, 25-16, 25-15 sweep for its fourth straight victory. Freshman setter Kianna Bopp, a Northern High School graduate from Chesapeake Beach, led the way with 24 assists, while Ashley Hall (La Plata High School graduate from Hughesville) had eight kills, Elizabeth Ravancho (Westlake High School graduate from Waldorf) had six and Taylor Hagen (Huntingtown High School graduate from Huntingtown) added five. Freshman Sabrina Driver, a McDonough High School from White Plains, had 13 digs and Brandie Todd, a La Plata High School graduate from Charlotte Hall, added eight.
Last week against Northern Virginia, the Hawks needed five sets to extend their win streak to three as they eventually prevailed 25-18, 15-25, 25-21, 21-25, 15-12. Bopp again led the charge with 27 assists, while Hagen had 15 kills, Hall added nine and Ravancho had six. Todd recorded 34 digs, while Driver had 22 and Hall and Ravancho posted 20 digs each.
Earlier in the week against Anne Arundel Community College, CSM made quick work of that squad as well en route to a 25-17, 25-8, 25-11 sweep. Bopp had 21 assists, while Hagen had 15 kills and Hall added six. Todd recorded five digs, while Bopp had four and both Driver and Ravancho added three digs each.
CSM’s win streak began Sept. 9 at Howard Community College when the Hawks prevailed in five sets despite being outscored 106-100 over the course of the match. CSM narrowly won the first two sets, 26-24 and 25-23, dropped the next two then prevailed in the fifth, 15-9. Bopp had 23 assists, Hagen and Ravancho both had nine kills each and Todd recorded 24 digs.
The CSM men’s and women’s soccer teams sit squarely at .500 following Tuesday’s home contests against Harford Community College. The men improved to 3-3-1 (33-1 MDJUCO) with a 3-2 victory, while the women slipped to 5-5 (1-4 MDJUCO) courtesy of a 5-0 setback.
Tuesday, the CSM men edged Harford on a day when sophomore Jehoshua Otuya, a St. Mary’s Ryken High School graduate from Hollywood, recorded a hat trick. Otuya scored the first goal of the game and the last to break the 2-2 deadlock and propel the Hawks to their third win of the season.
“A lot of the schools that we face get players from a broad range of places, but we’re basically fielding a team from the tri-county area,” CSM first-year head men’s soccer coach Tom Pollert said. “We’re coming together really well and I think the guys are buying into what we want to accomplish on the field.”
In addition the three goals from Otuya, who leads the team with 10 this fall, Pollert was quick to praise the efforts of goalie Ben Kelly, a Great Mills High School graduate from Lexington Park, and his suppor ting cast of defenders that includes Dilan Bingham (Thomas Stone High School graduate from Waldorf), Will Parr (Huntingtown High School graduate from Huntingtown), Spencer Ramirez (La Plata High School graduate from La Plata), Brandon Herscher (North Point High School graduate from Waldorf) and Matt Dzeidzic (Northern High School graduate from Owings).
“Other than the game we had against [CCBC] Essex (an 8-1 loss on Sept. 20), we’ve been playing well,” Pollert said. “At 3-3-1 we’re right where we thought we would be at this point. I think we’ll find out more next week when we travel to Chesapeake College for a game and then we play Cape Fear (N.C.), but we’re really starting to jell as a team.”
In an earlier contest Tuesday, the CSM women were not as fortunate. The Hawks suffered their second straight setback and their fourth defeat in their last five contests, with each of the four losses coming via shutouts.
The women defeated CCBC-Catonsville 4-2 on Sept. 22 when the Hawks overcame a 2-0 deficit with one goal each from Taya Stith, Jazmin Summers (Chopticon High School graduate from Mechanicsville), Julia Lesko (McDonough High School graduate from La Plata) and Elizabeth Schwenk (Northern High School graduate from Dunkirk). Alexis Porterfield, a Gwynn Park High School graduate from Welcome, had two assists that day.
The CSM women’s cross country team opened the season last Saturday by competing in the Hornet Harrier Invitational at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va. Hannah Hall, a King’s Christian Academy graduate from California, had the best showing for the Hawks, completing the course in 26 minutes 46.1 seconds, good for 66th overall. Destiny Smith (35:34.2) was 84th.
The women’s cross country team will head to Goucher College on Oct. 8 and Hood College in Frederick on Oct. 15 before ending the fall in the Region XX Championships in Hagerstown on Oct. 29.