A Review of the Past Week in Providence Academy Athletics
PA Athlete Spotlight: Carly Bixby
Carly Bixby is in her first year of high school swimming, but is not your typical rookie! Carly has been competitively swimming for years and has consistently been one of the best for her age for a handful of years.
Currently, Carly is putting up some of the fastest times by any female High School swimmer regardless of grade. Training with Coach Luke is a departure from her typical club training plan, however Carly is receiving guidance well and has been able to translate that guidance to her races. Her hard work and attention to details in and out of the pool serves her well!
Carly is destined to break team records, but the question is: just how many?
We all look forward to see just how fast Carly can swim at sections!
Great job, Carly, and GO LIONS!
Volleyball
The volleyball team won their first game of the season on Thursday versus SPA in 3 straight sets. They came together and showed their resiliency and teamwork overcoming some adverse conditions.
Junior captain, Maria Counts, stepped up and had a great hitting night with 11 kills on 30 attempts. Paige Meadows, returning varsity setter, totaled 26 assists on the night. Freshman, Mary Smyth, had a great first appearance for PA as libero as well. Overall, the team’s serving and hitting led them to victory. The team hit 0.225 for the match and totaled 16 aces.
Coach Erika Greene said, “I was really proud of their mental and emotional maturity while missing some key players. It took the whole team to make it happen, but they showed up and exceeded every expectation.”
Next Up: PA volleyball takes on Minnehaha and West Lutheran next week.
Scoring details can be found at MN Volleyball Hub
Follow @PA_Volleyball to stay up to date with everything Providence Volleyball.
Cross Country
The boys and girls cross country teams competed this week at the IMAC Conference Championship. Due to Covid restrictions, they raced against Breck and MPA and then combined results with Minnehaha Academy, Blake, and SPA. Both boys and girls finished in 6th place. The team was missing a few varsity runners this week but hoping to have them back for Sections.
There were a few stand out performances this week. Junior Captain Jack McElroy ran a great race to finish in the top 15 with a time of 19:12.9 on a very tough course. Grant Heim, Aidan Flynn, and Tomas Palomarez also had great races with times under 21 minutes. The rest of the varsity team was proudly represented by Alex Rynders, Will Wehmann, and Jayden Mersereau.
On the girls’ side, Aly Marshall had a stand out performance to finish 11th overall. Kira Cmiel, Olivia Menzel, Samantha Mahoney, and Sophie Koch also helped to contribute to the varsity score. “These athletes all ran fantastic races on a tough course in unexpected heat. I am so proud of their efforts and perseverance,” says Coach Rachel Fogle.
Next Up: The Varsity Boys will participate in the Section Finals on Thursday, October 15th up in Mora. The Girls will participate on the 16th, times both to be determined.
Girls Tennis
PA’s varsity girls tennis season came to an end this week with a quarterfinal loss to rival St Paul Academy in the team section tournament.
“The team showed up to play but credit to SPA for being tough opponents.”
In spite of the loss, the overall season was one of continuous growth and improvement.
“Having graduated so many seniors last season we knew there would be a learning curve for this current roster. We learned a lot about the makeup of this team and with no graduating seniors, we’re excited for the continuity into next year.”
Captain’s Olivia Eck and Annika Harberts Ott did a great job leading the team. Newcomer to the singles lineup, Koral Horstman, posted a 7-3 overall record at position four.
Go Lions!
Girls Soccer
The Providence Academy Girls Soccer team ended their regular season with an exclamation point this week, beating rival Heritage Christican Academy 4-2 on Tuesday night.
The Lions found the back of the net first as Senior Sofia Caballero slid one past the Heritage goalkeeper. Freshmen Inga Nelson picked up the assist on that one. Then Freshmen Avery Lampe curved a corner kick in giving the Lions a 2-1 lead at half. The battle intensified in the 2nd half as Heritage put the pressure on but nevertheless the Lions found the back of the net two more times. Senior Anna Sanchez connected with a Lampe corner to put the Lions ahead 3-2 and in the last 20 seconds of the game Caballero got the final word as she sniped a ball around the goalkeeper bringing the final score to 4-2.
The team took the rest of the week to recover, finalized a few tactics and made some time for team building and teammate affirmations.
Next Up: With their regular season coming to an end the Lady Lions look forward to their first section competition on Monday, October 12th.
Scoring details can be found at MN Girls Soccer hub
Follow @PA_GirlsSoccer to stay up to date with everything Providence Girls Soccer.
Boys Soccer
Providence boys soccer is on a roll. On Wednesday Oct 7, during the boys Senior Night festivities, the Lions tied Minnehaha Academy 0-0. It was a fair result given that two Lion starters are out for possible exposure to Covid.
“The tie was significant, because it represented the third shutout in a row for the team and Goalkeeper Ben Martin,” said Assistant Coach Brad Fewell. What’s more remarkable is that the Lions “only allowed 1 goal in the last 5 games”, according to Booster President Brad Martin.
In tonight’s game, neither team allowed any significant chances in the first half, although Providence created numerous offensive corner kicks and did not allow a single Minnehaha corner kick the entire game.
With Minnehaha behind Providence in league standing, Minnehaha was pressing hard in the second half, at which point the game got very aggressive and caused several injuries and sloppy play. Both teams created more chances in the second half but no chances were converted. “A tie was a fair result for this contentious game. The tie benefits us more than them, because it solidified our third place in the conference with one game left against the last place team” quotes Coach Lev Buslovich. This has been a remarkable season already and significant improvement from last year.
Next Up: The Lions play the last regular season game away against Mounds Park Academy this Saturday, October 10.
Scoring details can be found at MN Boys Soccer Hub
Follow @PA_BoysSoccer to stay up to date with everything Providence Boys Soccer.
Live Stream Lions Games on the NFHS Network!
If you haven’t already heard, the NFHS Network is your home for live Lions broadcasts for the entire 2020-2021 season! Learn more about signing up for a free account by clicking here!
Scores and Standings
Keep up on all varsity and non-varsity team results on our Scores and Standings page.
Remember to follow @PAheadmaster, @PAcademyATH, @PA_MSathletics, @PALionsAD, and @ProvidenceLions for the most current updates regarding Providence Academy Athletics.