Around the Herd: April 1 to April 6 in Athletics

Women’s Tennis

The No. 16-ranked women’s tennis team earned its fourth consecutive victory on Saturday, delivering a dominant 7-0 sweep of Hamilton. 

In doubles play, all three Amherst pairs delivered efficient wins, with all matches lasting less than 40 minutes. In particular, pairs Katja Jules Viberg ’26 and Cody Huang ’28, as well as Rachel Roth ’28 and  Lily Dounchis ’27, dropped only a point to win 6-1. Sophie Diop ’26 set the tone for the singles round from the one spot, winning 6-1, 6-0 in a near-perfect match. At the two spot, Huang also delivered a quick win, posting a 6-2, 6-1 score. Maddie Swire ’26 showed her resilience at the six spot, winning the second and third sets 6-1 and 6-0 after dropping the first set in a nearly two-hour match. 

Next week, the team will travel to face MIT on Saturday, April 11. 

Men’s Tennis

This week, the men’s tennis team coasted past Hamilton, delivering a 7-0 sweep in an away matchup on Saturday. 

Pairs George Chaidemenos ’26 and Rex Harrison ’27, as well as Albert Hu ’28 and Ronald Gualario ’29, combined to beat their opponents 6-4 and 6-2, respectively, clinching the doubles point for Amherst. In singles play, the Mammoths took all six matches without relenting a single set. At the six spot, Hu dropped only two points in a swift 6-0, 6-2 win. Lukas Frangenberg ’29 ended with similar results from the three spot, posting a 6-0, 6-3 score. In the longest match of the contest, Andreas Sillaste ’27 rallied to win 6-3, 7-6, securing the sweep from the one spot. 

On Friday, April 10, the team will return to their home court to host Babson College.

Men’s Lacrosse

This past week, the No. 14 men’s lacrosse team dropped a contest on the road at No. 9 Wesleyan, before beating Colby narrowly 11-10 in the Mammoths’ One Love Game.

Amherst first traveled to Middletown, CT, to face the Cardinals on Wednesday, April 1. The home team struck first, before Bennett Chow ’26 put one away less than a minute later off an assist from Matthew Sheinberg ’26. Wesleyan then put four straight in the back of the net to go up 5-1. Willie Doyle ’28 cut the lead to three before Brendan Reilly ’27 added a tally of his own off a Doyle assist. Reilly found the back of the net again just two minutes later, before Wesleyan tallied the final goal of the half, sending the contest to break with the Cardinals holding a 7-4 lead. Unfortunately for the Mammoths, the second half continued to be all Wesleyan. The Cardinals added nine goals in the final two quarters, while holding Amherst scoreless on only three shots on goal in the final half of play. The offensive onslaught was too much for Amherst’s defense, and despite two-point days from Sheinberg, Reilly, and Doyle, Wesleyan beat Amherst 16-4.

Determined to bounce back, Amherst refocused and prepared to host a solid Colby team on Saturday, April 4. The Mules came to play, scoring the first four goals of the contest. However, Amherst would not be beaten on its home field. A ground ball scrum landed the ball back in Sheinberg’s stick, who found Ben Wick ’28. Wick sent the ball back up high to Michael Li ’28 on the run, who buried the shot to put the Mammoths on the board. A full-field goalie goal gave the Mules one more to close out the first quarter. In the second frame, Sheinberg got one for himself, off another pass from Wick. Clawing their way back into the game, Bob Gross ’26 tallied off Wick’s third straight assist of the contest. The duo then connected in reverse, with Wick finding the back of the net off a pass from Gross to close out Amherst’s scoring in the first half. Heading into the second half with a 7-4 deficit, Amherst took over. The Mammoths scored five straight and conceded zero goals in the third quarter. Wick recorded a third-quarter hat trick, while Doyle and Alex Vlacich ’26 also tallied, to help Amherst gain a 9-7 lead. Heading into the final quarter, Vlacich scored again before the Mules rattled off three straight to tie the game 10-10. With just under two minutes to play, Gross played hero, scoring off an assist from Chow. Thompson Lau ’26 played lock-down defense, leading both teams with four caused turnovers. Brooks Catlin ’26 posted a 0.545 save percentage, while Wick put on an offensive show, tallying four goals and four assists for a career high eight points. 

With one win and one loss on the week, the team returns tonight as they travel to Connecticut College to play the Camels. They then return to Amherst to host NESCAC rival No. 15 Williams on Saturday, April 11th, on senior day.

Women’s Lacrosse

The No. 5 women’s lacrosse team dropped its first contest of the season to No. 2 Wesleyan this past Wednesday, before traveling to Waterville, ME on Saturday, April 4, and defeating No. 12 Colby 11-7.

In a battle of two undefeated top-5 ranked teams, the Cardinals prevailed. The Mammoths tallied first on the first possession, with Kate Becker ’26 finding Emma Crotty ’27 inside for the finish. Wesleyan equalized before back-to-back free-position goals from Emily Petersen ’26 helped the Mammoths gain a 3-1 lead at the end of the first frame. Wesleyan started the second quarter with two goals of their own, before Becker found a cutting Petersen who buried the ball in the back of the net. Clara Sosa ’26 had the Amherst play of the game to close out the half, putting her defender on skates and spinning past other Wesleyan players before backhanding the ball into the goal with under 15 seconds to play. Thanks to Sosa’s highlight reel tally, the Mammoths headed to halftime with a narrow 5-4 lead. However, the Cardinals came out hot in the third, rattling off three consecutive goals to take the lead. Becker found a cutting Bridget Darcy ’27 for Amherst’s only score of the third frame, before Wesleyan added one more for the 8-6 lead heading into the final quarter, in which Amherst was unable to come back from the deficit. The Cardinals added two more before the Becker-Darcy connection tallied one more time for Amherst. With under seven minutes left in the game, both defenses stepped up big, with neither team scoring. As time expired, Wesleyan bested Amherst 9-7.

Determined to bounce back from the narrow loss, the Mammoths traveled to Waterville, ME, where they beat Colby on their senior day. Amherst struck first, with Sosa finding a cutting Bridget Finley ’26 for the finish. Two minutes later, it was Finley again, this time from Petersen, who drew two defenders. Rounding out the first frame, Becker drove and hit Sosa, who bounced one past the Colby keeper. Then, in the second, the Mammoths kept up the pressure, with Becker finding Petersen for her first score of the game. Caroline Curtis ’28 joined in on the scoring action before Petersen potted two more to put Amherst up 8-2. The Mules found the back of the net twice to narrow the gap before Becker scored on the woman-up play. After halftime, it again was a defensive clinic. Both teams held the other to two goals total, with the Mammoths getting tallies from Finley and Curtis. The Amherst lead from the first half was too much to overcome for the Mules, who fell in the contest 11-7. Becker finished the day with six points, while Petersen and Finley both recorded hat tricks. Jordan Kauftheil ’29 led the way on the defensive end with three caused turnovers, while Lily Samoska ’28 added eight saves. 

With the win and loss, the Mammoths improve to 9-1 on the season. They take on Connecticut College tonight in their Faculty Appreciation game, before traveling to Williamstown, MA, on Saturday, April 11, to battle the No. 19 Ephs.

Baseball

This past week, baseball faced two formidable opponents and finished 3-1. They bested Springfield College 10-2 on Wednesday, before playing in a three-game series against Middlebury over the weekend, losing 4-3 on Friday and winning 6-3 and 9-1 on Saturday. 

The first contest on Saturday was an exciting back-and-forth that ended in a key win over a NESCAC opponent for the Mammoths. The Panthers scored first in the bottom of the second inning, and the Mammoths trailed 1-0 until the top of the fourth, when they were able to get a slew of runners on base. The hitting began when Aiden Dubensky ’28 singled to right field, which was followed by another single from Leo Foust ’28. A huge double from Tyler McCord ’26 then sent Dubensky home and advanced Foust to third, putting the Mammoths on the board and evening the score at one apiece. Next up to the plate was Charlie LaFreniere ’27, who grounded out, but was able to earn an RBI with Foust scoring and McCord advancing to third. To finish the rally, Zander Carnahan ’29 singled to left center and finally sent McCord home to put Amherst up 3-1 at the end of the fourth. Middlebury was able to answer with one of their own in the bottom of the fifth, but it came just before another monster inning for the Mammoths. The scoring run was initially generated when Foust and Dubensky both got onto base: one walk and one hit by pitch, which opened an opportunity seized by McCord, whose grounder allowed Dubensky to reach third. Another pitching misfire allowed LaFreniere to reach first, and — with the bases loaded — first-year Carnahan rose to the occasion and slapped a double into right-center. The hit put Amherst up 6-2 to close out the inning and earned Carnahan a three-RBI double. The stellar defensive efforts on the mound by another first-year Saahi Jetti ’29, who recorded a whopping ten strikeouts over seven innings, sealed the deal for the Mammoths’ win after Middlebury could only answer with one more run, closing out the game 6-3 in favor of Amherst. Despite the first match against Middlebury ending in a loss, Nick Fassert ’28 pitched an impressive six and a half innings of no-hit baseball and ended his eight-inning stretch with eleven KOs and only one earned run. His glowing stat sheet earned him NESCAC Pitcher of the Week honors. 

The Mammoths are set to host all five of their next games. They face out-of-conference opponent Brandeis University today, before their next NESCAC showdown with three games against Tufts on Friday, April 10, and Saturday, April 11. 

Softball

This week, the softball team faced Little Three rival Wesleyan in a doubleheader on Saturday, winning the first game 3-0 and dropping the second 6-5.

In the top of the second inning of game one, pitcher Abby Moravek ’26 blanked the Cardinals, striking out two consecutive Wesleyan batters. At the bottom of the second, the Mammoths were the first on the scoreboard when a two-RBI single from Abby Rebhan ’28 scored Jayla Adkins ’29 and Lauren Ro ’28. Moravek did not relent from the mound as she earned two more strikeouts in the top of the third to keep the Cardinals hitless for another frame. In the bottom of the fifth, Lulu Leppard ’28 delivered a lead-off home run to extend the lead to 3-0 for Amherst. Moravek punched out 13 batters over the seven innings for the Mammoths in the win. 

Wesleyan, though, found its footing during the second game. In the top of the second, a Cardinal batter hit a three-run home run. An RBI double to center, soon after, brought the score to 4-0. Amherst responded in the third inning, however, scoring three runs on five hits. After leading with a double down the line, Dylan Briggs ’26 reached home from a single up the middle from Leppard. With the bases loaded, Moravek singled to center field, which scored Samantha Portz ’29. Ro added another single — with the bases loaded again — that let Leppard score, bringing the deficit to 4-3. In the top of the fourth, a double from Wesleyan widened the score to 6-3. The Mammoths found a lifeline in the sixth inning, when a double to left center from Moravek plated Emma Nordstrom ’27 and Abby Kong ’26. Unfortunately, the Cardinals’ pitcher kept Amherst hitless in the seventh, closing the contest 6-5 for a split series.

On Wednesday, April 8, the team will face local opponent Smith College. 

Head of the Herd: Abby Moravek

Senior pitcher Abby Moravek ’26 pitched all seven innings of the 3-0 victory against Wesleyan. The starter only gave up two hits the entire game, while striking out 13 Cardinals. She also recorded two hits in three at-bats on the offensive end. During the shutout game, she registered her 250th career strikeout, earning her NESCAC Softball Pitcher of the Week honors. On the season, Moravek leads the team in innings pitched with 41. For this performance, helping the Mammoths beat Wesleyan in their first game of the weekend, Moravek earns this week’s head of the herd.