Summit entered the last week of the season looking to end on a high note with 2 matches against Roselle -whom the team beat on Senior Night by a 2-1 margin- and Roselle Catholic, the #4 seeded team in Union County.
Anyone following the stories on this blog will know that the Hilltoppers' fate in 3 set matches this year went a long way in contributing to the team's record. SHS went 4W-6L in 3 set matches but were 1W-5L during the midpoint of the season which impacted Summit's overall record tremendously for seeding purposes in county and state brackets.
On Wednesday, against Roselle, Summit dominated in the first set, scoring 16 points and hitting for a .333 hitting % in a 25-18 set victory. Summit scored only 12 points in set 2 and hit for only 8 kills and a .103 hitting % as the team dropped a 19-25 decision in the set although SHS led 16-14 in the latter part of the set.
In set 3, Summit fought from a 10-14 deficit to tie the score at 16 and lead late 20-19 but it gave up the last 6 points to lose 25-19 in a set that had the team scoring only 12 points with 9 kills and a .136 hitting %.
The result was a match where Summit out-scored Roselle 40-38, out-killed their opponents 29-17 (Roselle out-aced Summit 20-7) but Summit's errors, especially in sets 2 and 3 (16 of them) decided the match.
On Thursday, against the #4 team in the county, Summit's fans could not be very hopeful of the outcome after Wednesday's collapse. The Hilltoppers gave forth their best effort of the year however, much to the surprise of the RC faithful.
Summit lost the first set 25-15 but the story of the set wasn't RC's dominance but rather Summit's errors. Summit scored only 9 points and hit for a -.187 yet the team was only outscored by 2 (11-9) for the set. Summit's 12 unforced hitting errors were the difference in the set as RC yielded only 6 errors to the Hilltoppers.
Summit's senior Nicole Bazalar came in for Casey Nardino in the second set and much like an earlier match versus Scotch Plains, the OH/MB had an immediate emotional and playing impact on the team. Summit's defense was outstanding, digging up 22 RC attacks and forcing the RC offense into many bad swings due to their relentless offensive pressure. Summit actually led 10-3 at one point in the set but the team saw RC come roaring back on a 16-4 run to take what looked like an insurmountable lead at 19-14 thanks to Summit's poor passing and hitting errors. With their backs against the wall, the Hilltoppers fought back, didn't give in and went on a 8-4 run that had Summit within 1 at 23-22 against the #4 team in the county.
But just when the Hilltoppers were at the brink of an amazing performance and a set win, a service error halted the momentum and opened the door for RC to take the set, taking the wind out of the Hilltopper sails.
It was, in many ways, a testament to how good this team could have been this year and will be in the future without some crucial spells of errors. Summit took on one of the big 4 in the county on their home court and could have easily taken the match but the errors that have been a major problem all year became the reason the team fell short yet again.
The Summit 2014 version of the volleyball team has learned many a lesson on how hard it is to win and how easily a match can be lost in a game where all points matter. The JV squad has been learning that lesson all season as they learn how to play the game itself, an equally difficult task. Summit JV started the season 2W-8L and finished the 2014 campaign on a 8W-4L run that saw the team beat teams it had not beaten in over 5 years in Rahway, Scotch-Plains, Kent Place and Roselle Catholic and reach double digit wins (10) in only the 3rd time in program history!!
JV Hilltoppers defeated Wardlaw-Hartridge and Linden early, then beat Plainfield, Scotch-Plains Fanwood, Kent Place, Rahway, Dayton, Roselle twice and finally, Roselle Catholic.
No comments:
Post a Comment