The Maroon and White used a lethal service attack spearheaded by seniors Alisha McDonnell and Camille Della Piazza to quiet the Cougar roar in its tracks by a 25-9, 23-25, 25-12 result, the first win by Summit over Cranford in 6 years.
Summit dominated set 1 and set the tone early on their Senior Night as all 4 seniors (McDonnell, Thompson, Della Piazza and Samay) feasted on the Cranford serve receive, hitting for 8 of the team's 10 aces in the set to give the Hilltoppers complete control of the set through the first 6 rotations. Summit also pounded out 7 kills with a .357 hitting efficiency and a .500 kill % to snuff out any Cranford momentum during the set. The set was essentially over by rotation 6 as the Maroon and White led the Cougars 16-7 after a Katie Samay ace.
Set 2 saw a number of changes for SHS as Olivia Skrobala spelled Lauren Trindell, Katie Samay took over on the outside for Kate MacPherson and Sylvie Goudreau substituted in the middle for Carmel Barsh. The defense also had some changes as Kiera Stocks took over on the weak side for Samay on the front row switch. Although the team controlled most of the set, a rash of hitting and serving errors emblematic of many of this team's set losses this year reared their ugly head and cost the team the second set.
Summit jumped out to an 8-3 lead early and it looked like the large crowd was going to see another repeat of set 1. By rotation 7, a rare McDonnell service error had Cranford within 1 at 11-10 but the Hilltoppers got 2 quick points from Cougar errors and added a kill by Skrobala to seemingly gain control again at 14-10. But Cranford responded with a couple of kills and a block to knot up the score at 14. Goudreau got the Maroon and White even with the Cougars at 18 all but the good feeling was short lived soon thereafter as the Cougar ripped off 2 kills and an ace to get control at 22-19. Summit crawled to within 1 at 23-22 forcing Cranford into 2 errors but that was as close as they got as Cranford closed it out on a left-side kill for a 25-23 win. Although SHS hit for 7 kills again, the team also had 7 errors and managed only 3 aces (all by McDonnell in the first rotation) and served 4 errors to spot Cranford 11 points in that set. How anemic was the Hilltoppers offense in this set? McDonnell, the setter, was the leading scorer with 3 aces.
Coach Martins went back to set 1 lineup looking for that magic once again and the seniors again did not disappoint, coming through in the clutch and getting the Hilltoppers the 25-12 dominant set 3 win. Summit nailed 8 kills but the 8 errors that accompanied that production had SHS at .000 efficiency again. But the team got back to its service dominance, hitting for 7 aces with the seniors combining for 6 of them.
By the time McDonnell was done in rotation 1, the Hilltoppers had a 5-1 lead thanks to kills by MacPherson, Trindell and Thompson. Trindell nailed another kill to get SHS the ball back leading 6-1 and the team never looked back as Inggs rattled off a few more service points to get the Maroon and White a 9-1 lead, capped by an ace by the aforementioned Inggs. Although Cranford broke serve, a MacPherson kill followed by 2 Thompson kills had all but sealed the deal that early in the set with Summit leading 12-2.
The Cougars went on a 3-0 run which had the team down 5-12 but again SHS used its service attack to squash any momentum thanks to 2 consecutive aces by Della Piazza, giving the Hilltoppers a 15-5 lead. Summit's intensity dropped and began to suffer unforced errors but Cranford only got as close as 20-12 before McDonnell came up again and slammed the door on Cranford's chances with a 5-0 run that saw the setter rip 2 aces and Inggs nail an overpass kill to give the team its first victory over Cranford in 6 years, 25-12.
Nine different players contributed to a 22 kill performance by SHS led by Thompson and Inggs who combined for 10 kills (5 apiece) but the offense was driven by middles Skrobala/Inggs/Goudreau/Trindell/Barsh who combined for 12 kills- 4 errors- 25 att for a .480 kill % and a .320 hitting efficiency for the match. Tessa Pulgar and McDonnell were the defensive rocks for the squad, digging up 15 balls, half of the team's total digs. Pulgar was instrumental to the team's success on this day as she took on the Libero duties for an ill Ava Williamson and was a perfect 15/15 on serve receptions with a 2.0 pass rating and was 7/8 from dig opportunities. But in a match dominated by serving, McDonnell was brilliant, the setter serving at a 91% rate with an astounding ace % of 26% (6 aces) while the team scored 17 points on her 23 serves. She also orchestrated an offense that hit for 22 kills and was the team leader in digs with 8.
JV STUNS COUGARS FOR 15th WIN
The JV Squad had perhaps its most impressive victory of the campaign with a 18-25, 25-21, 25-23 victory over the Cougars after a 2-0 loss in Cranford a mere week ago. The difference of the 2 matches was the Maroon and White's serve receive which was solid in this match, preventing long runs from developing on the Cougar service attack.
Summit nailed 6 aces in set 1 but only got 3 kills from Annabella Yorio to pace their 18-25 set loss. But most impressive were the 7 digs that were point saving plays in the set and yielded swings in momentum in the match that just didn't translate into kills.
Set 2 was a much different affair as the Hilltoppers rattled off 8 kills and added another 6 aces to pace the team to a 25-21 win. Summit was led offensively again by Yorio who hit for 4 kills but Isabel Berkeley and Megan Gregory had key kills and error free swings late in the set to seal the deal for the squad. Not to be underestimated was the defensive effort of the team who notched 18 digs in the win. Cassandra Hrehorovich was responsible for 5 of those herself facing Cranford's best offensive set. The deciding point in the set occurred with Summit leading 12-9 and Abby Doyle serving. Doyle served up 8 consecutive service points (5 aces) which blew the set open and gave the squad a 20-9 lead by the time it was over. The only worrying thing was that Cranford outscored SHS 12-5 from that point on and the momentum, despite the set loss, was on the Cougars' side.
Looking at a deciding set 3, the Maroon and White knew it needed timely hitting, another high ace production from its servers and a mammoth defensive performance. Summit and Cranford were locked in a great battle 6 rotations in with SHS holding on to a slim 13-11 lead through 6 rotations. Cranford got a 7-2 run through the next few rotations and led 18-15 heading into the latter stages of the set but then Kasey Walsh stepped up and ran off 4 points (3 aces) to get the Maroon and White a lead late at 20-19 after her service rotation was over. Summit broke serve on the next ball and rattled off another point to take what looked to be an unsurmountable 22-19 lead but the Cougars did not yield and using their serving power, Cranford crawled to within 1 at 22-23.
A Hilltopper hitter that had been kept quiet up to that point got her chance to shine and, with the pressure of the moment on her shoulders, Sarah Maldonado delivered a key kill that got the team to 24-22. The Cougars scored 1 more point but the Hilltoppers closed the door on their comeback and earned a hard-fought set 3 win by a 25-23 tally, the first victory of this program at the JV level over the Cougars.
The Hilltoppers will try to end their 2017 campaign with a win over cross town rival Oak Knoll on Monday, November 6th. Varsity will try to get its 9th victory of the season, a 4 year best if earned. JV will try to get its 16th win which will be the 2nd best winning % and 2nd most wins in program history.
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