Fitchburg's Team A-Moore hits the ball during a game at Leominster on April 5. (Sentinel & Enterprise/Gary Fournier)
Four local teams will continue their spring season and have a chance to compete for the boys volleyball title.
As announced Tuesday, Leominster High School and South Lancaster Academy have each qualified for the Division I tournament, while North Middlesex Regional and Fitchburg High School have been placed in the Division II bracket.
South Lancaster (14-6), seeded 35th in the Division I tournament, has drawn a preliminary round match against No. 30 Springfield Central (15-4) on Thursday at 5 p.m. The No. 36 seeded Blue Devils (10-9) will travel to No. 29 Newton South (6-11) on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
North Middlesex will not have to play in the preliminary round of the D2 tournament because it earned the No. 4 seed with a 16-4 record. The Patriots will face the winner of the preliminary round match between No. 29 Billerica (5-15) and No. 36 South High (11-5).
Similarly, 14th-seeded Fitchburg (13-6) will skip the preliminaries and host the winner of 19th-seeded Lynn Classical (14-6) and 46th-seeded South Shore Charter (5-5) in the opening round.
Times and dates for the Division 2 contests were not immediately available.
Heffernan excels at regional tournament
Nashoba Area golfer Kylie Heffernan performed well at the MIAA North/Central/West Girls Golf Regional Tournament on Tuesday.
The sophomore finished in seventh place at East Mountain Country Club in Westfield with a four-over 74. The tournament was won by Lillian Guleserian of Westwood High School with a six-under 64.
Heffernan will next compete in the state championships on Monday at Ledges Country Club in South Hadley.
Falcons take home the honor
Fitchburg State University baseball player Jacob Harrell was recently named to the D3baseball.com All-Region Third Team and the ACBA/Rawlings NCAA Division III Region 2 All-Region Second Team, while teammate Adam Koza was also named to the D3baseball.com All-Region Second Team.
Harrell, a catcher from Haverhill, batted .329 with 10 home runs and 41 RBIs this spring. He appeared in 38 games and hit nine doubles during his junior season with the Falcons.
Koza, an outfielder from Windham, New Hampshire, batted .368 with seven home runs and 31 RBIs as a sophomore. He also had 11 doubles and 28 walks in 35 games for a .439 on-base percentage.
The 2024 ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Div. III All-Region Team was voted on by members of the American Baseball Coaches Association, a process led by the ABCA NCAA Div. III All-America and Coach of the Year Committee, while members of the D3baseball.com Team were nominated by each school's Sports Information Director.
Both players were named MASCAC All-Conference for the first time for their contributions to the Falcons this season.
