Hopewell Girls JH Volleyball Team Battles South Fayette and Avonworth

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Last week, Vikings Sports Now’s Lillian Otto gave you a preview of the 2025 Hopewell Girls Junior High Volleyball team.

For the 7th grade team, it’s been their first opportunity to compete in junior high volleyball, while the 8th graders are in their second season and are preparing to join Coach Borkovic and the Hopewell High School program.

This past week, the Lady Vikings have competed in two matches against two quality programs and fared well.

HOPEWELL VS. AVONWORTH:

On Monday, Hopewell took on Avonworth and here are some details from that match.

7th Grade Team– Avonworth won the match, 2 sets to one. Avonworth won the first set, 25-9. However, the Vikings bounced back to win set No. 2 by the score of 25-15. But in the 3rd and deciding set, Avonworth defeated Hopewell, 15-3.

In that match, Brook Otto led Hopewell with 5 aces, followed by Afton Budris with 2 aces, Alyssa Phillips with 1, Amiyah Shell with 1 and Sam Holsinger 1 ace.

8th Grade Team– Congrats to the 8th grade squad as they defeated Avonworth, 2 sets to none. Both sets were intense and well played with Hopewell coming out on top, 25-23 and then 27-25. Great job ladies!

In that match, Gianna Rossi finished with 4 aces, Abby Babinsack with 3 aces, Bella Cipolla had 2 aces, while Lillian Otto and Liliana Katcher each served one ace.

HOPEWELL VS. SOUTH FAYETTE:

Yesterday afternoon, the girls junior high program hosted South Fayette, and this was a tightly contested match.

7th Grade Team– The Lady Vikings battled a talented South Fayette program to 3 sets but came up short, 2 sets to 1. South Fayette won the first set, 25-16, with Hopewell rebounding in the second set, 25-20. In the 3rd set, South Fayette came out ahead, 15-11.

Sam Holsinger led the way with 4 aces, followed by Leah Buettner with 3, Amiyah Shell, Arionna Shell, Alyssa Phillips and Brooke Otto each had 2 aces, with Lily Cain recording one.

8th Grade Team– As was the case with the 7th grade contest, this one also went 3 sets with South Fayette coming out ahead 2-1. South Fayette won the opening set, 25-16, with Hopewell responding in set two, 25-22. But in set three, South Fayette was the better team, 15-9.

Lillian Otto was outstanding, leading the way with 5 aces, followed by Bella Cipolla with 3, Abby Baninsack with 2 and Liliana Katcher and Gianna Rossi, each served one.

Despite losing this match, this team made huge year to year growth as South Fayette soundly defeated this same team one year ago.

Next up for the Girls JH Volleyball team is a match on Monday against Quaker Valley.