Hopewell seeking improvement
The three words that best describe the Hopewell boys volleyball team are “experienced but young.”
“We have almost everybody back from last year’s squad, but we’re still a young team,” said Jonathan Jones, now in his third season as the Vikings coach. “We had only one senior on last year’s team. Almost everybody on the team was either a freshman or a sophomore. Now most of the team is made up of sophomores and juniors. So we are still young, but we have experience.”
Hopewell entered the week with a 2-3 record, including a 1-2 mark in Class AA Section 1. The Vikings two wins were against Bishop Canevin, in a nonsection match, and Trinity, in Section 1.
The Vikings three losses were to teams in the WPIAL Class AA rankings, No. 3 Beaver County Christian, No. 8 Seton-LaSalle and No. 10 Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
“We’ve made tremendous strides in the last couple years,” said Jones, referring to the fact that Hopewell went winless in section play the past two years. “And it shows on the court. We’ve significantly improved.”
Hopewell (2-4 through Wednesday) lost a home match to Montour, 3-0, on Tuesday. The Vikings traveled to Ambridge Thursday, concluding the first half of their section schedule.
“We’ve been competitive in almost every set,” Jones said. “We’ve had a few 25-23 games. We play well, but have too many unforced errors. Unforced errors are killing us at times. An unforced error could be the difference in those close matches.”
Jones has built his team around three underclassmen who all play club ball, Adam Barkman, Dakota Forrest and Benjamin Nero.
Barkman is a 6-foot-1 junior opposite who has been starting since his freshman year. Forrest is a 6-3 sophomore middle hitter. Nero is a 6-4 sophomore middle hitter.
“Adam is a captain and one of our top hitters,” Jones said. “Dakota and Benjamin give us good size in the middle.”
Alex Hunt, a 6-0 junior, is the setter.
“Alex is doing a good job of running our offense,” Jones said. “And he’s still a junior.”
The other six players who see playing time on the varsity are 5-10 sophomore outside hitter Anthony Falletta, 5-10 junior back-row specialist Joseph Josefbatvinskas, 60 senior outside hitter Christian Martine, 5-7 senior defensive specialist Benjamin Bucek, 5-8 junior defensive specialist Logan Palochak and 5-6 senior defensive specialist John Houston.
“The kids are feeling more comfortable on the court and are enjoying playing the game,” Jones said. “That shows me we are moving in the right direction. The next step is to win the close matches by cutting down on the unforced errors. If we can do that, we can be a threat to qualify for the WPIAL playoffs.”
The top four teams in each section qualify for the WPIAL playoffs.