Playing volleyball at Vaughn Stapleton Gymnasium can be a tall task.
Now try doing that for the first time ever as a varsity starter for the Panthers against one of your chief rivals.
A task as tall as the storied Bridgewater-Raritan High School venue’s rafters, which can easily redirect a volleyball onto the floor towards an unpredictable location. Although there is not a lot of room to sprint outside of the courts’ sidelines, there is plenty of spare ground for players to cover out of bounds behind each corresponding team’s service line.
One strange ricochet on a dig, in other words, can result in a ball out-speeding players who may frantically be dashing to return an opposing team’s hit in the opposite direction.
Mastering a unique environment like this is a difference-maker for a team’s setter, notably Bridgewater-Raritan senior Ella Sorenson, who was tasked with delivering her squad’s assists in her home varsity debut on Tuesday evening.
It inevitably took some time for everyone to settle in against reigning Somerset County Tournament finalist Hillsborough High School, which squared off against the Panthers four times last season.
Bridgewater-Raritan eliminated the Raiders on the road in the second round of the state sectional playoffs when it mattered the most to cap off this stretch, so Hillsborough made the drive up US-206 with revenge on its mind.
Not only did the Panthers get right back up after the visiting Raiders threw the first punch.
Bridgewater-Raritan’s new varsity starters quickly grew up before everyone’s eyes.
Hillsborough (2-1, 1-1) appeared to take complete control of game one after building a late five-point lead over Bridgewater-Raritan (1-1, 1-1). After the Raiders then found themselves just three points away from a game-one victory, the Panthers miraculously stole game one from Hillsborough with eight of its final 11 points, including Sorenson’s go-ahead kill to give Bridgewater-Raritan its first lead of the match on the opening set’s second-to-last point.
Bridgewater-Raritan never trailed again, as the Panthers then cruised to a match-high lead of eight points in game two before closing out a statement 2-0 (25-23, 25-18) victory over Hillsborough on Tuesday, September 9, at Vaughn Stapleton Gymnasium in Bridgewater.
“Volleyball is always a six-person sport,” explained Sorenson after the match, who dished out a match-high 21 assists to go with one kill and five digs in the win for the Panthers. “The girls on the court help you become more confident. When we realized we could start winning this, we all pushed each other to be the best that we could be.”
“We just kept pushing while the other side made errors, and we pulled through in the end.”
Of the six players who made their first home start of 2025 on Bridgewater-Raritan’s side of the court, senior co-captain Jahniah Bishop (seven kills, three blocks, three digs) was the lone returning starter from last season. After dropping nine of their first 14 matches of last season, the Panthers notably recovered to the tune of a 10-4 surge to end it, including a semifinal finish in the Somerset County Tournament after falling in straight sets to Hillsborough.
That made Bridgewater-Raritan’s 2-1 (25-18, 16-25, 25-21) upset victory over the Raiders even sweeter in the second round of the NJSIAA Central New Jersey, Group 4, Girls’ Volleyball Tournament before the Panthers fell to eventual state sectional champion Old Bridge High School in the state sectional semifinals.
Even though the Panthers got off to a slow start on Tuesday evening, Bridgewater-Raritan’s newest varsity members still experiences the thrill of victory against Hillsborough.
Sorenson’s counterpart: Hillsborough senior setter Cynthia Lei (one ace, 20 assists, six digs), entered the match with previous experience at Vaughn Stapleton Gymnasium amongst her 57 total sets played last fall. She quickly dished out passes to sophomores Sophia Baraniecki (three kills, one block, one assist, one dig) and Abigail Fenton (two kills, one ace, five digs) before dealing an ace to help the Raiders settle in.
A point by junior Darshini Wadan (five kills, two digs) put the Raiders ahead, 6-1, with the Panthers’ lone point scored via an error by the Raiders in this burst. With her team trailing by five points, junior Margarita Silvar (four kills, one block, eight digs) and sophomore Camille Hilton (one kill, two assists, 15 digs) both scored before a Hillsborough error cut the Raiders’ lead to 8-6.
The Raiders answered with four straight points to further put the game out of reach, but Sorenson found senior Molly Magner (two kills, two blocks, one assist, one dig) to launch a rally that got Bridgewater-Raritan to within 13-10. Just when Bridgewater-Raritan was primed to be in striking distance, junior Grace Fitzpatrick (nine kills, three aces, nine digs) extended Hillsborough’s lead to 18-12 to force a Panthers timeout.
Not to plan ahead for game two, but to try rebound and win game one.
“I wasn’t making the best setting decisions in the beginning,” reflected Sorenson of her performance. “I started trusting our girls a bit more, started to understand the court better, and started to understand the whole game even more in the end. I just started setting the middle a bit more like our coaches wanted.”
“You really have to collect yourself as a setter, put yourself out there, and show dominance on the court.”
It was then rally-time for Bridgewater-Raritan, which had junior Reese Albano (one ace, one dig) serve up three straight rockets to disrupt Hillsborough’s side of the court. After one ball was hit out of bounds by the Raiders, a block by Magner followed by a kill by senior co-captain Ava Marvuglio (three kills, one ace, nine digs) immediately cut the Panthers’ deficit in half to 18-15. Trailing by three points again after a service error, Bridgewater-Raritan was then charged with a foot fault before an ace by Fitzpatrick put Hillsborough back in position to close out game one with a 22-17 lead.
After the ensuing timeout, Bridgewater-Raritan finished the job instead.
“We listened to our coach,” revealed Bishop of those moments inside of the huddle. “We decided we needed to switch things up, bring our energy back, and put in more effort.”
“Especially during those last eight points.”
Trailing 23-20, Bridgewater-Raritan and its home crowd witnessed the first of what will be many more Sorenson-to-Bishop combos to cap off an epic rally by the Panthers. After back-to-back points by Bishop tied the opening set, Sorenson’s go-ahead kill gave Bridgewater-Raritan its first lead, 24-23, before a ball hit out of bounds by the Raiders sealed the Panthers’ epic comeback win in game one.
“After the first couple of blocks, we decided to fix our timing,” Bishop went on to say. “We talked to each other a lot, and we would point to where the next ball would go to help each other out.”
“If we missed a block, we would just figure out what to do next.”
The next objective being a miraculous win for Bridgewater-Raritan in straight sets.
In fact, the Panthers never trailed in game two, and an ace by senior Katelyn Phan (six kills, one block, two aces, eight digs) followed by an error against Hillsborough helped Bridgewater-Raritan build an early 9-3 advantage in game two. Although the Raiders got to within four points midway in game two, Bridgewater-Raritan ultimately left no doubt in its 25-18 victory to seal the match.
“They finally just started focusing on one point at a time,” praised Bridgewater-Raritan head coach Josh Everett of his team’s huge first win of the 2025 season. “Whatever point it is, you can’t worry about what happened previously. You just have to keep playing.”
“There’s always work to be done, and we’ll get right back to it tomorrow.”
Junior Aalya Kapoor (two kills, two aces), senior Ashley Fenton (two kills, eight digs), senior Kallahan Lewis (two digs), and senior Ava Psemeneki (nine digs) rounded out the scoring in defeat for Hillsborough (2-1, 1-1), which will try to bounce back next at reigning Somerset County Tournament champion Watchung Hills Regional High School (0-2, 0-2) at 5:15 p.m. Thursday, September 11, in Warren.
Next up for Bridgewater-Raritan (2-1, 1-1) is a critical trip to another Skyland Conference Delaware Division Rival’s court in North Hunterdon Regional High School (0-2, 0-2), which will be seeking its first win after opening the 2025 season ranked No. 15 overall in New Jersey.
The first serve between the Panthers and Lions will be at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, September 11, in Annandale.
Bridgewater-Raritan will then travel to undefeated Phillipsburg High School (3-0) at 5:15 p.m. Friday, September 12, before rounding out a busy first full week of school with a tri-match against Harrison High School and Jefferson Township High School at 10 a.m. Saturday, September 13, at Jefferson.
But under the leadership of Everett, a Bridgewater-Raritan High School graduate and former boys’ volleyball state champion as both a coach and player for the Panthers, you can bet his new-look squad will be ready to tackle any challenge thrown its way.
“Everyone is growing into this role, and we’re replacing five starters from last year,” Everett concluded. “If you take a step back, some of these girls have been here a long time, but they have not been given this opportunity yet. It’s pretty cool just thinking about where they came from, being on the freshman team, being on [junior varsity], and then to today. They have to make these plays and set the tempo, but they are doing these things right now.”
“It’s their team now, and the program is in their hands.”