Lady Vikings Bowling Avenge Loss against Ambridge

Update From the Coach and focus on education prevails!

“As I watched the news this morning seeing the city of Pittsburgh increase its athletic GPA’s to 2.0 in order for athletes to compete it’s refreshing to see that for our Hopewell Bowling team that the standards for education are being far exceeded, more than half of these amazing athletes are making the honor roll or above lead by Joe Bulebush, Zach Hughes, Annabeth Sembower, and Jenna Willy with the Highest Honor Roll Level! Here at HSN nothing is more important in our mission than supporting athletes but more importantly the education they are receiving over their sports performance. It’s a pivotal requirement of the scholarship provided to seniors every year and will continue to be one of our primary focuses as we continue to support our great town of Hopewell” – Carl Santamaria

The Vikings travelled to Fair Oaks for their last regular season away match of the year for a big matchup against the Ambridge Bridgers celebrating their senior night.

In their biggest match of the year the Lady Vikings did their part and now will need to catch a break next week to qualify for the post-season. The Lady Vikings defeated the Ambridge Bridgers 5-2, avenging an earlier loss this season to take their record to 5-4 on the season and give themselves a chance at the postseason.

The Lady Vikings rolled a tough match to win 5-2 and were led by sophomore Annabeth Sembower who tied for the high game of the match with a 162 and tied for the high series of the match with a 434. “AB” was a steady hand in the first game the Lady Vikings won easily to take a 1-0 lead in the match.  The story of the second game for the Lady Vikings was shared between senior captain Marissa Platko and sophomore Danica Jackson. Each shot their career high game and series today to help the Lady Vikings take the much-needed win. Platko contributed a 162 game and 415 series while Jackson added her own 154 game and 383 series. Senior Desiree Shepherd added a career high 114 game to the Vikings win. This win keeps the Lady Vikings alive for the playoff hunt – they’ll need to win next week and see the Bridgers lose their match to the West Allegheny Indians in order to secure a playoff berth.  A win for Hopewell next week will give the Lady Vikings their first winning season since 2018.

The Viking Boys continued their season with a 4-3 win over the Bridgers to bring their season record to 9-0. The Vikings were led by senior captain Daniel Earley with a match leading 536 series. Earley also added a 205 game. Vikings sophomore Aidan Heppner also added a 211 to the effort which saw the Vikings win the first two games of the match in straight-forward fashion.

The JV Boys continued their season with a 7-0 win over the Bridgers. Senior Cade McIlvain shot hit first 200 game and his first 500 series to lead all scorers in the match. Senior Lucas Gielata added his career high of 143 to the effort and freshman Sam Bologna added his career high 127 game as well. Finally, senior Zach Hughes added his career high game 162 and career high series of 443 to the JV Vikings win.

Indicative of the team effort today, team MVPs were awarded to Marissa Platko and Danica Jackson for each shooting their high score and high series in a must-win match for the Lady Vikings and shared between Cade McIlvain, Will Holland, Aiden Klette and Thomas Turino for the Viking Boys.

The Vikings are in action next week on Wednesday for their last regular season match of the season where they’ll celebrate their seniors. The match begins at 3:15 and the senior recognition event will take place immediately following the match.

Finally, but absolutely NOT the least important part of this recap – the Vikings Bowling program would like to acknowledge our student athletes who also exceeded in the classroom during the bowling season.

Congratulations to Joe Bulebush (Highest Honors), Max Butter (Honor Roll), Bayley Carmichael (Honor Roll), Daniel Earley (High Honors), Ayden Gault (High Honors), Lucas Gielata (Honor Roll), Will Holland (Honor Roll), Zach Hughes (Highest Honors), Danica Jackson (Honor Roll), Brayden Mowry (High Honors), Annabeth Sembower (Highest Honors), Thomas Turino (Honor Roll) and Jenna Willy (Highest Honors).

Of our 25 bowlers, 13 reported making honor roll or better.

Viking Boys Varsity

Viking Boys Junior Varsity

Lady Vikings Varsity