UPDATED: TMHS Golfers Rally; Volleyball Bounces Back

The game of golf is widely considered to be an individual sport, except in high school, where any and all of the eight players in the line-up can make a big difference.

Eric Hunter and Ryan Muise proved that point at Methuen's expense on Monday, taking four of the final five points of the match to give the Tewksbury High Redmen a dramatic, 11-9 Merrimack Valley Conference win over the Rangers at

No. 7 Hunter and No. 8 Muise, both juniors with little or no prior varsity golf experience, needed to make up a lot of ground playing in the final foursome of the day. But the two varsity newcomers did just that.

Muise, playing in his first-ever varsity match, easily handled Methuen's Curtlis LeBlanc, four and three. His stellar play also helped his group secure the best ball point after the seventh hole, leaving everything up to Hunter. Down a hole after six, Hunter, who was playing in only his second varsity match, won number seven and halved eight and nine to halve his match with Methuen's Tyler Murphy and give the Redmen the decisive points they needed.

"We had two rookies in Eric Hunter and Ryan Muise step in and play like veterans and get the match winning and clinching points for us," "Right now we have a handful of guys that are working in at the seven and eight spots for us and guys are stepping up and making the most of their opportunities."

Tewksbury fell behind early in the match as Methuen took all five points in the first group. Tyler Slavin lost to the Rangers' Jake Hulme, five and four, and Mike Casey lost to John Pierce by the same score. Methuen took the best ball point to go up, 5-0.

Methuen exended its lead to 8-2 after two groups when Pat Hambleton beat Tewksbury's Pat Doherty, two and one. Derek Petti finally got the Redmen on the board when he topped Pat Hamelowicz, three and two, with a huge birdie putt on the seventh hole.

But the second half of the TMHS line-up came through in the clutch, sweeping all five points in the third group to put the Redmen right back into the match.

Sophomore Jeff Giasullo won his match, four and three, against Matt Corsaro, and senior Pat Grinley made short work of  Dale Armstrong, beating him five and four. Giasullo and Grinley took the best ball point for a 5-0 sweep that pulled the Redmen to within one at 8-7 with one foursome left on the course.

"Those two guys are playing very well together as a team and as individuals. We are ecstatic what we are getting from Jeffrey and Pat," Sullivan said. "Both guys have come up from playing in junior varsity matches all last year and have stepped in like they were veterans."

Grinely and Giasullo's handiwork set the stage for Hunter and Muise, who got the job done by the narrowest of margins.

The win improves Tewksbury's record to 2-0 overall, 1-0 in the MVC, and looms as another big step forward in the team's quest to qualify for the state tournament. The Redmen tee it up again on Wednesday against Lawrence at Garrison Golf Course in Haverhill in a match that was rained out from last week.

Volleyball knocks off Winchester, 3-1

The Tewksbury High girls volleyball team bounced back in a big way from its disappointing opening day loss to Notre Dame Academy on Thursday, rolling over Winchester, 3-1, to earn its first victory of the season. Tewksbury took the first set 25-15, but dropped the second set, 25-11.

The Redmen roared back in the third with a 25-18 win and closed out the match with a 25-12 win in the fourth set. Senior hitter Alina Rosmarinofski led the TMHS effort with 12 kills and four aces, while senior hitter Allie Luppi had nine kills and two aces.

“Alina had a tremendously impressive match,” Tewksbury coach Jim Ray said. “She played some great back row defense for us.”

Junior hitter Kelli Sugrue and senior hitter Jenn Ianacci had five kills and four blocks each, while senior setters jess Bridle and Liz McVeigh had nine assists each. Aly Mulloy and Shannon Shikles also played well.

“It was a good win,” Ray said. “We needed to rebound from that loss to Notre Dame. The girls are talking about that loss and they’re committed to playing hard and trying to put teams away.”

Tewksbury had led Notre Dame by two sets on Friday only to see the visiting Lancers roar back with three straight set victories to steal a 3-2 win.

“The girls wanted to get right back onto the practice court after that one,” Ray said. “They’re a good, hard working group of kids.”

The road doesn’t get any easier for the Redmen, however. They host top-ranked Andover on Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. in the Tewksbury High gym.

“We needed this win to build some confidence going into the Andover match,” Ray said. “Andover is one of the top three teams in the state. it’s going to be a very tough game.”