vikingssportsn The Hopewell Vikings competed in a fun match against the Beaver Bobcats on Wednesday at Sheffield Lanes.
This marks the second to last home match for this year’s Vikings and involved a complete and total team effort to get huge wins for both teams.
The Vikings defeated the Bobcats 7-0. In what is becoming a theme for this season, the Bobcats rolled significantly above their team average for the match and made the match a very competitive one.
The Vikings were led by junior Ayden Gault who continues his hot streak with a match high game of 234 and match high series of 214. This marks the fourth consecutive incredible match for Gault who leads all Vikings with an average of 200.52 through 7 weeks of the season.
While Gault led the scoreboard he was followed very closely by his teammates in a great team effort. Senior captain Brayden Mowry added 212 and 224 games. Sophomores Max Butter and Nolan Houy added 201, 203, and 204 games. And junior Will Holland, making the first varsity start of his career added 195 and 204 games filling in as the sixth man and making a huge impact in a tough situation. Holland has managed to average over 180 when coming in for varsity duty this year and has given the team serious competitive depth when needed.
This takes the Vikings record to 7-0 as they head into the toughest part of their schedule. The next two weeks will determine if the Vikings will be making a third consecutive playoff appearance and what their positioning will look like.
The Lady Vikings were led by junior captain Annabeth Sembower who shot a match high game of 176 and a match high series of 447. Sembower was followed very closely by junior Krysten Clary who shot a career high 147 game and career high 422 series.
MVP honors went to junior Marlee Page who shot a 134 game in the match deciding game.
While this marks the first time the Lady Vikings have lost a point all season, the Lady Vikings remain undefeated and have all but clinched a playoff berth for the second straight year. While last year’s Lady Vikings waited until the last day of the season to qualify for the playoffs via the wild card, these ladies are set to clinch their spot early and claim a playoff spot in back-to-back years.
The JV Boys lost the first game of their match before battling back to win their match 5-2.
The Vikings were led by sophomore Joe Bulebush absolutely exploding for a career high 208 game and career high 519 series. This marks both the first 200 game and 500 series for Bulebush who has made a giant leap year over year. Sophomore Sam Bologna also contributed a career high 166 game in a season that is seeing him put up some higher-than-average scores as well. Freshman Desmond Sembower contributed a consistent 140-145-147 box score adding a 432 series.
The Vikings voted to award team MVP honors to Bulebush for both accomplishments.
The Vikings will be back in action next Wednesday in the first of two enormous back-to-back matches against Beaver Falls at Sims Lanes.
Hope to see you Sunday, Roll Vikes!
