The regular season has ended for all spring sports, and the postseason is in full swing. Tennis gets going on Monday, while the volleyball championship will be the first decided when Salesianum meets Cape Henlopen on Tuesday night.
All tickets for DIAA tournament action are sold online only at https://gofan.co/app/school/DIAA.
Volleyball
Tuesday
No. 2 Cape Henlopen (16-1) vs. No. 1 Salesianum (17-0), approximately 7 p.m., Smyrna High School. The Sals and Vikings will play for the inaugural DIAA state championship. These teams met in April, with Salesianum winning in a sweep, but the first two sets were really close before the Sals pulled away in the third. The Vikings feature nine seniors and are coached by Salesianum graduate Tyler Coupe. The Sals have lost just one set all season, in the semifinals against Delaware Military Academy.
Baseball
Thursday
No. 17 Appoquinimink (8-10) at No. 16 Archmere (11-7), 4 p.m. Appoquinimink may be two games under .500, but this is a tough start in the tournament for the Auks. The Jaguars won the state title in 2019 and lost in the state championship game the next three seasons, including last year. (There was no season in 2020.) They have played a very tough schedule. The Auks enter the tournament with wins over tournament teams Tower Hill and Conrad. Their nonconference schedule included several teams in the postseason.
No. 18 St. Elizabeth (11-7) at No. 15 Wilmington Charter (12-6), 4 p.m. The Force and Vikings opened the season against each other at Canby Park, with Charter coming back for a 6-5 victory. St. Elizabeth rebounded from a 1-3 start to win 10 of their last 14 games. The Force have their highest win total since 2013.
No. 23 Caesar Rodney (10-8) at No. 10 Salesianum (10-8), 4 p.m. The Riders enter the tournament on a three-game losing streak, but they do have wins over three tournament teams. The Sals won three of their last four, all over tournament teams. They played a challenging schedule, with 15 of their 16 games against Delaware opponents coming against teams that made the postseason. (Two of those were against Saint Mark’s.)
Saturday
Winner of Appoquinimink-Archmere at No. 1 Saint Mark’s (16-2), 1 p.m. The Spartans put a consistent product on the field this year against a demanding schedule. They played 13 tournament teams (and Salesianum twice), including the second, fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth seeds. Saint Mark’s defense and pitching has helped it win some low-scoring games.
Winner of St. Elizabeth-Wilmington Charter vs. No. 2 Delaware Military (16-2), 1 p.m. at Newark National Little League.
Winner of Caesar Rodney-Salesianum at No. 7 Sanford (16-1), 1 p.m.
Lacrosse
Tuesday
No. 15 St. Andrew’s (7-8) at No. 2 Archmere (12-3), 4:30 p.m. The Saints enter this one a game under .500, a testament to the strength of schedule, particularly in the Independent Conference. They’ll face a tough task at Archmere, where the Auks have played one of the toughest schedules in Delaware. The Auks have an offense that puts a lot of pressure on their opponents, with a defense that did not allow more than seven goals in any of their wins.
No. 16 Delaware Military (7-8) at No. 1 Salesianum (10-4), 7 p.m. The Sals took the top seed despite four losses, all of which came to out-of-state powers. They do have wins over rival Malvern Prep (Pa.), along with the five Delaware teams they played, all of which are in the tournament field.
Wednesday
No. 12 Saint Mark’s (10-5) at No. 5 Tatnall (12-3), 5 p.m. The Spartans are back in the tournament for the first time since 2015, while the Hornets return after a one-year absence. Saint Mark’s played a challenging schedule, with all of its losses coming against tournament teams, including a 13-7 decision against Tatnall.
Saturday
Winner of No. 10 Indian River-No. 2 Cape Henlopen at winner of St. Andrew’s-Archmere, time TBA.
Winner of No. 9 Caravel-No. 8 Tower Hill vs. winner of Delaware Military-Salesianum, time TBA.
Tennis
Monday
First two rounds of state tournament, various locations. Archmere junior Andy Zhu, the two-time defending state champion at first singles, has a bye into the second round, where he will face either Carter Watson of Dickinson or Anthony Climie of Dover.
Other Catholic school players in action include Jacob Randall, Salesianum, first singles; No. 4 Charles Rittereiser, Archmere, and Ryan Miranda, Salesianum, second singles; No. 7 Tyler Vanson, Archmere and Elias Martin, Salesianum third singles.
Also, No. 4 Benjamin Li and Gavin Nguyen, Archmere, and Jonathan Ransom and Christian Demeglio, Salesianum, first doubles; and No. 6 Andres Ramos and Anthony DeCamp, Archmere, and Luke Housey and Vincent Dell’Oso, Salesianum, second doubles.
The first and second rounds were delayed by two days because of rain on May 20. An updated schedule has not been released by DIAA. Go to education.delaware.gov/diaa for more information.
