Rise to the Top
Over these past two weeks, the landscape at the top of New Jersey HS girl’s volleyball has started to crystallize. The Princeton girls have been fearless and have taken down many of the NJ elite, now establishing themselves as a clear favorite to be the NJP State Champion for 2024. There is still a lot of volleyball to play as the state playoffs commence, but no one can deny the unprecedented run of the Tigers this season. This past two weeks saw wins over Old Bridge, Williamstown, Paul VI, and Union Catholic coupled with earlier season wins over Southern, IHA, Notre Dame and Westfield. They are leaving no doubt as they press on this season toward a state championship.
NJP sat down with Kaelin Bobetich a key player for the Tigers this week. Her interview is at this link.
Undefeated Teams
Old Tappan remains NJ’s only undefeated team. They have a showdown with Immaculate Heart Academy in the Bergen County tournament championship on 11/2. If they win, they will enter the state championship tournament at 20-0. They have the possibility of winning a group 2 championship for sure and will be a favorite to do so. But there schedule strength is not close to Princeton. They would need an early exit in the group 3 bracket for Princeton and convincing wins in all of their tournament games to even get close in the computer algorithm. Their best wins this season are over #18 Morristown, #15 Pascack Valley, #21 Demarest, and #7 Ramapo, while Princeton has nailed down wins against the #1, #2, #5, #6, and #7 teams.
Top 102 Overall Players in the NJP Rater representing the 98th percentile
Park Ridge 2025 Mia Izzo 1 100%
Montville 2025 Cassandra Chauhan 2 100%
Delaware Valley 2025 Abbey Bivona 3 100%
Morristown 2025 Gwen Atkins 4 100%
Teaneck 2025 Amali Johnson 5 100%
Union Catholic 2025 Rachel Williams 6 100%
Old Tappan 2025 Samantha Kranzler 7 100%
Verona 2028 Brynn Mack 8 100%
Lyndhurst 2026 Sofia Hechavarria 9 100%
Pascack Valley 2025 Jillian Feeley 10 100%
Teaneck 2027 Sophia McCullough 11 100%
Mountain Lakes 2025 Natasha Clark 12 100%
Ramsey 2025 Eiley Schneider 13 100%
Southern 2025 Jessica Smart 14 100%
Gov. Livingston 2026 Abby Kim 15 100%
Watchung Hills 2025 Emma Jubin 16 100%
Dover 2026 Sara Canaveral 17 100%
Old Tappan 2025 Addison Gioffre 18 100%
Princeton 2026 Naomi Lygas 19 100%
Williamstown 2025 Gab Titus 20 100%
Immaculate Heart 2025 Julia Sobilo 21 100%
Donovan Catholic 2025 Brooke Bowbliss 22 99%
Delaware Valley 2026 Maggie Simpson 23 99%
Bridgewater-Raritan 2025 Irene Papanastasiou 24 99%
Montville 2025 Lena Unice 25 99%
Rutherford 2026 Mackenzie Vellis 26 99%
Montgomery 2025 Izzie Swain 27 99%
Paul VI 2026 Maggie Carcillo 28 99%
Hunterdon Central 2025 Reagan Dyba 29 99%
Hillsborough 2025 Neha Tolpadi 30 99%
Phillipsburg 2027 Alexa Megjugorac 31 99%
Princeton 2025 Lois Matsukawa 32 99%
Ramapo 2027 Sara Wingfield 33 99%
Kingsway 2025 Mackenzie Layton 34 99%
Tenafly 2028 Lexi McGinty 35 99%
Bogota 2026 Emma Fowler 36 99%
Demarest 2027 Deana Finkelstein 37 99%
Woodbridge 2025 Ashley Torok 38 99%
Piscataway 2026 Milani Washington 39 99%
Ramapo 2026 Ella Petrevski 40 99%
Pascack Valley 2026 Celia Torres 41 99%
Mount Olive 2025 Mishka Fernandez 42 99%
Atlantic Tech Jadyn Clinkscale 43 99%
Notre Dame 2025 Cassady Smith 44 99%
Williamstown 2025 Cassie Guim 45 99%
Brick Memorial 2025 Isabella McKelvey 46 99%
Central Regional 2025 Halee Smentkowski 47 99%
Montclair Kimberley 2027 Layla Lynch 48 99%
Southern 2025 Bailey Adams 49 99%
Hunterdon Central 2025 Emma Kovacs 50 99%
Summit 2026 MacKenna Welsh 51 99%
South Brunswick 2025 Giselle Parker 52 99%
Bogota 2025 Isabella Cruz 53 99%
Westfield 2026 Ava Gaspard 54 99%
Memorial 2025 Bella Kavanagh 55 99%
Union Catholic 2025 Ryan Gorski 56 99%
Paramus 2025 Tiana Holeviczki 57 99%
Ridgewood 2026 Saige Rogers 58 99%
Sparta 2025 Aralyn Saulys 59 99%
Madison 2026 Sophia Christoffers 60 99%
Williamstown 2026 Stella Eberly 61 99%
Park Ridge 2025.60051 Mia Izzo 62 98%
Montville 2025.602663 Cassandra Chauhan 63 98%
Delaware Valley 2025.604816 Abbey Bivona 64 98%
Morristown 2025.60697 Gwen Atkins 65 98%
Princeton 2026 Kaelin Bobetich 66 98%
Northern Highlands 2026 Allie Reilly 67 98%
Montclair Kimberley 2026 Mahala Weintraub 68 98%
Bridgewater-Raritan 2025 Emily Evaristo 69 98%
Pascack Valley 2026 Addison Demyen 70 98%
Linden 2025 Neika Michel 71 98%
Verona 2025 Riley Kenrick 72 98%
Nutley 2026 Sydney Tramontana 73 98%
Northern Highlands 2025 Delia van der Heide 74 98%
Montclair Kimberley 2026 Ava Wheeler 75 98%
Pinelands 2025 Olivia Shertenlieb 76 98%
Paramus Catholic 2027 Kalia Coles 77 98%
Union City 2025 Molly Brown 78 98%
Scotch Plains-Fanwood 2026 Madelyn Byrne 79 98%
Bishop Eustace 2026 Hailey Mack 80 98%
St. John Vianney 2026 Taylor Sofilkanich 81 98%
Roxbury 2025 Bianca Jackson 82 98%
Lakewood 2025 Nathalie Arguedas 83 98%
Immaculate Heart 2025 Eve Roman 84 98%
Garfield 2025 Emily Tepale 85 98%
Westfield 2025 Catie Carayannopoulos 86 98%
Ridgewood 2025 Sude Otaner 87 98%
Paul VI 2026 Megan Evans 88 98%
West Morris 2026 Elizabeth Murphy 89 98%
Eastern 2025 Rienna Kohen 90 98%
Pinelands 2025 Jill Becker 91 98%
Livingston 2026 Cadence Sturt 92 98%
Jefferson 2025 Carsyn Giessuebel 93 98%
Cliffside Park 2025 Wendy Palaguachi 94 98%
Wall 2025 Gemma Ferris 95 98%
Paramus Catholic 2026 Chidinma Onwuchekwa 96 98%
Lyndhurst 2025 Asya Akar 97 98%
Mount Olive 2028 Izabella Osoria 98 98%
Notre Dame 2025 Maia Cinca 99 98%
New Milford 2025 Natalya Polkowski 100 98%
Lyndhurst 2025 Yasemin Ugurlu 101 98%
Bridgewater-Raritan 2026 Jahniah Bishop 102 98%
This is an elite group of players representing the top 2 % deserving of special kudos, and certainly consideration for D1 recruitment for 2025 grads.
Congrats to our NJ County Tournament Champs
Bergen County – TBD (Old Tappan vs Immaculate Heart 11/2)
Hudson County – Secaucus
Passaic – Wayne Valley
Shore Conference – Southern Regional
Essex County – Millburn
BCSL – Princeton
GMC – Old Bridge
Somerset – Watchung Hills
Cape Atlantic – Cedar Creek
Tri-County – TBD (Williamstown vs Gloucester Tech 11/1) vs (Timber Creek vs. Kingsway 11/1)
Morris County – Montville
Union – Union Catholic
Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex – Sparta
Bergen Invitational – TBD (Rutherford vs. Pascack Hills, 11/2)
Noooooooooooooooo!!!!!
Two season ending injuries to announce for some top players in NJ.
Our hearts are breaking for:
Senior Howell Rebel Keira Mullen (Career 453 kills, 366 digs, 106 aces)
Senior Colts Neck Colt Kendra Thor (333 kills, 405 digs, 75 aces)
Although your high school volleyball careers have come to end, we know we will see you back on the floor soon at the college or club level. We spent some time learning more about Keira in an NJP player interview. We will follow her at D2 Daemen and wish her the very best. As for Kendra, the beloved daughter of NJ’s best volleyball play by play announcer Ira Thor, we hope she will be mended enough to play for her club volleyball team this winter and spring before departing for her pre-med journey in college.
Accolades
Congratulations to Williamstown! The Braves won their 20th Conference championship this season. Go Braves!
Congratulations to Sofia D’Arcangelo of Donovan Catholic. Sofia pushed past 750 career digs this past week. She is only a junior. Congrats Sofia, you are one of NJ’s best diggers!
Olivia Shertenlieb, the senior setter for Pineland, broke the single season record for assists and now has 649 for this campaign. The senior is set to surpass 1,400 for her career as state playoffs begin.
Lyndhurst wins conference Championship…
River Dell’s Addison Viscardi is fast approaching 700 assists in her second varsity season. Great job by this Hawk senior.
Maggie Simpson, a junior for Delaware Valley, in creeping up to 800 career assists as well as surpassing 375 career digs. She set the school record for career assists previously held by Terrier assistant coach Madison Brogan. A great team player, we look forward to seeing what Maggie can do in state playoffs and as a senior!
Abbey Bivona, also from DelVal, broke the school record for kills in a single season as well as achieving 600 career kills in the same game. Two great Terrier accomplishments.
Donovan Catholic senior Bri Klohn surpassed 200 career digs & kills as the Griffins ready for state playoffs.
Senior setter Ella Selfon of Mahwah has surpassed 550 career assists. Great job by this Thunderbird.
We have been trying to get in touch with Cate Finan all season for an interview. The Rutherford junior has already blown past 1,000 assists in her third season. The Bulldogs have quite a talented setter for sure.
Seneca libero Grace Yaeger now has 500 career digs in her four year varsity career. Ironically, she hit 100 career aces on the same night. Congrats Grace!!
Clearview junior Alyssa Pierson has reached 300 career digs. Alyssa is shown below celebrating with her Pioneer teammates.
Congrats to Waldwick senior Pola Wepseic on her breakout season. Pola has put up 279 kills in her senior year, along with 51 aces and 71 digs.
Mackenna Walsh from Summit has had an amazing season for the Hilltoppers. For her junior campaign she has reached 500 assists, 58 aces, and 110 digs while ripping 55 kills and 13 blocks. Super!
Halloween Fun from NJ Volleyball Teams
