The Summit Volleyball Team was looking to get a taste of victory as the squad traveled to Plainfield to take on the Cardinals. After less than one game, SHS had lost its Libero, Co-Captain Jocelyn Mendez, to illness and had to finish game 1 and play game 2 without its best defensive player and top rated passer. In a season of near wins and key mistakes, this just seemed like destiny's wheel turning against Summit. The team, however, showed great resiliency and determination, got key performances from its bench players and walked out of the Cardinal gym with a 26-24, 25-23 victory.
Coach Martins knew that his Libero was on borrowed time and he had hoped the team could roll through the first set using its superior passing and hitting attack but, as has been the case many times this season, the best laid plans were not going to come to fruition. Summit led 11-5 after its 4th rotation but could not hold the lead as the team gave up a 4-0 run to see its lead shrink to 11-9 on a series of hitting errors and mis-communication gaffes. Although Summit regained control after Mendez's serving put the team up 16-11, a free ball mistake opened the door for a 3-0 run in the seventh rotation that had the Cardinals within 2 at 15-17. It was at this point that Mendez retired from the match, unable to continue due to illness. Plainfield took advantage and a few rotations later were looking at 3 game points leading 24-21. Summit rallied behind a Madison Young kill to pull to within 2 at 22-24 and regain serve. Young stepped up and delivered 5 pressure packed quality serves (1 ace) to give the Hilltoppers the win at 26-24. Val Guzman also contributed with a kill during the defining run.
Summit ended with 9 kills but also 9 errors and served 24/26 (92.3%) and hit for 5 aces 19%) while passing at a 1.82 rating, led by Val Guzman who passed 10/23 receptions at a 2.20 rating.
Game 2 was another tight affair and Summit used 11 players in an effort to secure a game 2 win despite the loss of Mendez. Summit trailed briefly 13-12 entering the 6th rotation but key serving by Gabby Mejia brought the lead back to 15-12 in rotation 7. The lead seemed safe because of the quality of play of the squad but unfortunately, the Cardinals began to target an area normally covered by Mendez and the team just could not handle it cleanly. Within 2 rotations, Summit had seen a 3 point lead evaporate and morph into a 17-18 deficit despite the team being nearly perfect with a 9 kill, 1 error offensive effort and a perfect 17/17 from the service line with 1 ace. Taylor Thompson stepped up though and ripped a quick ace and earned 2 other service points to get SHS a 21-19 lead late in the match. After a couple of SHS errors got the Cardinals knotted at 21-21, a Val Guzman kill settled the team and got the Hilltoppers closer to the victory at 22-21. After the Cardinals tied it back up at 22, Sammy Auerbach took the ball from the service line and ripped 3 consecutive pressure serves to lead Summit to its first win at 25-23.
Val Guzman was outstanding in the game, hitting on 5 of 11 attack attempts with 0 errors. The other OHs -Katie Samay and Maddie Young- combined for 4 kills on 11 attempts with 3 errors. The team also went a perfect 24/24 from the service line with 2 aces. For the match, Mendez and Guzman combined for 24 of the team's reception attempts and passed at an outstanding 2.31 pass rating. Guzman also led the team in digs with 9 and was by far the best hitter with 8 kills and an outstanding 30% hitting % and a 40% kill %. Katie Samay nailed 5 kills in the match for a 12.5% hitting % and a 31.2% kill %. Lauren Trindell had an outstanding day putting down 2 kills with 0 errors and adding 2 blocks. Taylor Thompson led the way from the service line with 3 aces (.250) and a 92% serving %. Thompson and Guzman combined for 15 of the team's 26 digs.
JV SWEEPS PLAINFIELD DESPITE POOR SERVING START
If the Hilltoppers get far in the County Tournament, it will be in no small part to their lethal serving attack. However, if they don't get too far, it will also be their undoing. Summit missed 9 of its first 12 serves and miraculously, thanks to Plainfield errors and Summit's own receiving game, SHS actually led 10-8 after 7 rotations. It wasn't until Olivia Elko ripped 12 service points (4 aces) and the Maroon and White defense got 3 kills from Katie McPhearson that the team settled down and began to look more like itself. The 25-13 score was reflective of the serving Hilltopper dominance.
Game 2 showed the promise of a more competitive match until Juliana Fiore ripped 7 straight service points (4 aces) to blow the game open at 15-9. The Cardinals could get no closer than 3 points at 14-17. Summit kept Plainfield at bay with key kills and serving pressure and at 22-19, SHS looked to be in total control. The Hilltoppers finished the match off with an ace by Olivia Elko, her 5th of the match, after a Cardinal error opened the door for the defining point of the game.
Katie McPhearson led the way offensively with 5 kills and Camille Della Piazza distributed an effective offense with 5 assists. Olivia Elko's 5 aces led the squad and she added 1 kill to her match total. Juliana Fiore had the best serving day of her career with 4 aces. Tessa Pulgar had 2 digs to lead the pack defensively.
JV sits at 5W-2L
No comments:
Post a Comment