Hopewell Valley Central High School
This week, the Hopewell Valley Girls Volleyball team played four exciting games, winning two and losing two. On Monday the Bulldogs played against Princeton, losing in three sets, 25-23, 12-25, 21-25. While the girls came out strong in the first set, they unfortunately fell short in the second and third sets. Despite the tough loss, the game featured some great blocks from Faith Dunham and Sydney Brown, as well as serving runs from Sofie Ragins and Emilie Sawicki.
On Tuesday, Hopewell faced Moorestown, unfortunately taking another three-set loss, 25-18, 13-25, 22-25. Once again the girls came out strong in the first set with great hitting by Ragins and some impressive passing from Michaela Kwak and Megan Silberberger in the back row, but sadly they were unable to pull through with a win.
On Thursday, the Bulldogs ended their two-game losing streak with a two-set win on their senior night against West Windsor-Plainsboro North, 25-15, 25-18. The game featured some great back-row play from seniors Ayla Mauk, Gillian Lee and Megan Silberberger as well as strong setting from Zoe Kitson and great front-row play from Charlotte Catlett and Faith Dunham. Overall, the girls played a great game with high energy.
On Friday the girls pulled off another win against Rancocas Valley, 26-24, 21-25, 25-17. The game was continually tight, fast-paced and a great match-up, featuring some great back row hits from Ragins and Kwak and more blocks from Dunham, all of which helped the girls secure the win. The Bulldogs finished the week with a record of 10-6. -Emilie Sawicki
This week, Hopewell Valley Boys Soccer played two more exciting games. Their first was against Princeton on Tuesday. The game started slowly, without many scoring opportunities and with both teams having difficulty controlling the ball beyond midfield. The first goal came for Hopewell, off an assist from Nick Tagliareni and a beautiful back heel into the bottom corner by Tom Hooks. This goal increased the tempo of the game a bit, with the score remaining 1-0 at halftime. The Bulldogs got the ball rolling not too long into the second half. Tom Hooks scored again (assisted by Nick Tagliareni) with an amazing goal off of a volley from 25 yards out that clattered off the crossbar in the top right corner of the goal, bouncing into the net. This goal fired up the Bulldogs even more, and Hopewell scored two additional goals within the next 3 minutes. Both goals were crosses, the first by Chris Turnbull and the second by Nick Tagliareni, both of which were finished off with headers by Alex Tagliareni. The game ended 4-0 in favor of the Bulldogs.
Hopewell’s second game was against Robbinsville on Thursday, and the Bulldogs had another strong performance. This time they brought the intensity from the start and scored three goals within the first ten minutes of the game, with goals by Nick Tagliareni, Kamil Mosionek and Alex Tagliareni. Robbinsville scored a goal later in the first half and won a penalty kick that was saved by Hopewell goalie Austin Roell to keep the score 3-1 at the half. The Bulldogs kept pushing, with Nick Tagliareni and Kamil Mosionek each scoring again in the second half to end the game 5-1 in Hopewell’s favor. -Christopher Sawicki
