Mike Vukovcan Hopewell Township– A competitive volleyball match is one of the more nerve-wracking things that you can watch in person and that was certainly the case tonight as the Hopewell Girls Volleyball team opened the 2025 season against Central Valley.
Hopewell came away with a 4-set win, but each set was close as the ladies from Central Valley played a tough match, found a way to hang around and gave Hopewell everything they could handle.
Credit to both programs for playing a very entertaining match to start the season.
My Three Stars of the Match: 1) Bella Ceccarelli 2) Briana Inderelst 3) Mikayla Kurta
Here’s a recap of the big points of the match:
1st Set:
*Ceccarelli solid serve, Mikayla Kurta with eventual kill. Hopewell 3-1
*Ceccarelli with a quick flop shot in the middle of court, which was wide open, Hopewell 4-3
*Long rally, Sky Ross with the tip for the winner, Hopewell 5-3
*Addison Davis with the serve nice rally but Inderelst with the winner up the line, Hopewell 6-3
*Following a rally, Hannah McDowell with a slam and winner at the net, Hopewell 10-5
*Inderelst with an ace, Hopewell 12-5
*Mariana Pinchotti with an ace, Hopewell 14-7
*Ceccarelli sets up Kurta for the kill down the middle, Hopewell 16-10
*Ceccarelli with an across the court set for McDowell who puts it away down the line, Hopewell 23-19
*CV has match point but Kurta comes up with a big kill, 26-26
Central Valley wins set 26-24
2nd Set:
*Kurta and Ceccarelli with a double-team block at net, 1-1
*Kurta with a kill down the middle, 2-2
*Nice rally and eventually Inderelst with the winner down the line, Hopewell 4-2
*A lob in the middle and McDowell with a gentle flip over the net, Hopewell 7-4
*Ceccarelli with a nice serve, rally and eventually Ross with the winner, Hopewell 12-9
*Ceccarelli with the ace, Hopewell 13-9
*Ceccarelli with the serve, CV with unforced error, Hopewell 14-9
*Kurta with a powerful kill down the middle of the court, Hopewell 15-10
*Addison Davis with a nice serve which leads to CV unforced error, Hopewell 16-10
*Davis still on serve, Avery Boyd with a great dig and then eventually comes up with winner, Hopewell 17-10
*Addison Davis with an ace, Hopewell 19-10
*Davis with the serve eventually Boyd and Lahna Murray with a double-team block at net, Hopewell 20-10
*Set Point- Hopewell wins 25-19
3rd Set:
*McDowell with an ace
*Inderelst sets up Kurta for the kill, Hopewell 2-1
*Ceccarelli sets up Murray for the kill, Hopewell 4-2
*Addison Davis with an ace, Hopewell 6-2
*Inderelst with great backcourt dig and eventually CV with unforced error, Hopewell 9-4
*Inderelst with another nice dig, then Ceccarelli sets up Murray for the kill, Hopewell 12-5
*Inderelst with an ace, Hopewell 21-17
*Inderelst with a hard, deep serve leads to CV unforced error, Hopewell 22-17
*Nice rally, Ceccarelli sets up Inderelst for the winner down middle of court, Hopewell 23-17
*Set Point- Hopewell wins 25-18
4th Set:
*Hopewell played the final set without McDowell (lower body injury)
*Boyd nice play at the net leads to CV error, Hopewell 3-2
*Addison Blosnick with a hard return lead to CV error, Hopewell 7-4
*Murray sets up Blosnick for the kill, Hopewell 9-4
*Kurta with a one-handed flop shot over the net, Hopewell 11-8
*Kurta and Ceccarelli with a nice double-team block at the net, Hopewell 12-8
*Davis with a nice serve, eventually with a nice kill down the middle, Hopewell 17-10
*Pinchotti with an ace, Hopewell 22-13
*Ceccarelli with a nice set to Blosnick, who blasts a winner down the line, Hopewell 24-20
*Match Point!!
After the match, Viking Sports Now talked with Hopewell captains Ceccarelli and Inderelst about tonight’s opening night win.
