9th GRADERS GOT 2-0
The 9th grade Lady Hilltoppers faced off against the Raiders of Scotch-Plains Fanwood and came away with the 2-0 win. Coach Seifert noted improvement in serving consistency and a better serve receive performance as keys in the 2-0 win over the Raiders.
JV CONTINUES TO ROLL DESPITE SET 2 HICCUP
JV came in hot off a 2-0 win vs Rahway to put themselves 3W-0L on the season. SPF has always been a tough opponent for the Top with some historically great battles and classic matches with both sides taking wins. Yesterday was much of the same. Despite an early hot start by the Hilltoppers, SPF made a move late in set one and it looked like the squad had finally begun to compete in the latter stages of the opening stanza. SHS won 25-17 but the Raiders had clearly begun to swing the momentum at the end of set 1.
Set 2 saw a much tighter affair with SPF holding small leads through the set. The Raider serving attack which had shown signs of life at the end of set 1 began to click and the Hilltoppers found it hard to sustain any offensive pressure. SHS kept the score close most of the set but key serving misses and a handful of serving errors sealed the fate of the home side with a 25-19 defeat in set 2.
The decisive set 3 turned on the serve reception of SPF's toughest server who was passed safely by Knight and then Setter Moghal got the ball to Meltzer who put it away with a lefty swing. That turned an early 4-3 deficit into a 7-4 lead as the Top took that point to fuel a 4-0 run that created a cushion the Summit Squad would not give up. Anti-climactically, the Top closed out the set rather easily 15-7 for their 4th win in a row!
VARSITY CONTINUES TO IMPROVE IN A TOUGH 2 SET BATTLE
The matchup with SPF is always one to look forward to historically. Last season, missing star player Barlow, SPF dominated the Hilltoppers 25-10, 25-8 but then dropped 2 of 3 to the Top in the Heal the Children tournament. In 2022, at Summit, SHS took a tough 25-23, 25-23 win over the Raiders. This year proved to be another classic competition.
SET 1
The match began a bit auspiciously for the home side as SPF jumped out to a 3-1 lead off off 2 service aces and a Summit service error. But then the offense and passing began to show up quickly and N Feuerstake and Ge got 2 kills to get the Top moving in the right direction, tied at 4. Henry passed up a perfect 3 pass and which was converted to a kill by N Feuerstake again and that sparked a 7-0 run which gave the Hilltoppers a ton of breathing room (Henry 2 aces, Ge kill, N Feuerstake 2 kills). At 12-6, the Raiders bounced back with a 4-0 run of their own before an attack by A Feuerstake forced a return ball error with a well placed attack and the Senior OH then followed it up with 2 aces to reestablish the lead at 15-10. One rotation later, the Top began top pull away again as Ge continued to be productive notching a kill as well as fellow Senior MB Herring. With the lead at 20-13, it was just a matter of time before Summit would close out the set but SPF went on a 4-0 run down 21-15 to force a TO at 21-18 and still scoring again for a 21-19 deficit but an out of system pass led to a deftly placed shot by A Feuerstake which stemmed the momentum and gave the Top the opportunity to regain a 23-19 lead off Henry's service attack. The set ended on a couple of free ball errors by SPF but the late surge by SPF seemed ominous. SPF out-scored SHS 15-13 off the power of late service aces but the Hilltoppers benefitted from 8 total free ball and hitting errors by the Raiders while Summit yielded only 1.
SET 2
Down 6-3 early in set 2, the Hilltoppers went on a 6-0 run (Deyonge kill and block, Heary ace, Ge kill) to take control at 9-6. Summit continued to pressure the Raiders and by midpoint in the set, the lead had expanded to 13-8 after a N Feuerstake kill. But then a service error by the Top opened the door for the SPF crew and they took the opportunity to go on a 4-0 run and climb back to within one at 13-12. A rotation later, a SHS fault and 2 SPF kills had evened out the score at 15. Time-out Summit. SHS was able to get back on top after a Nowicka kill and a Henry ace but yet again the visitors fought back with another 3 point run forcing a final Summit TO with the scoreboard showing 19-17 SPF. Although SPF got one more point after the TO (20-17), Summit got back within one after a Nowicka kill (20-19). A Summit service error gave a 2 point cushion to the Raiders (21-19) but a dig by Henry not handled by SPF got the score back to 21-20. Kill SPF off a Heary serve. 22-20. Ge with an out system kill and 22-21. Basaman great serve but handled by the Raiders for a kill, 23-21 but SPF dished up a service error followed up by a hitting error to give Summit life, 23-23. TO Raiders.
Welsh had not had a very productive service run this match. 2/6, 0 aces and 4 errors. But that was the server for the Top late in set 2. The Junior Setter came off the TO and got a good serve over which led to an errant attack by the Raiders and suddenly it was 24-23 and match point. Could the Setter deliver when it mattered the most... of course she could, and she did, with an ace to give the Top their 4th win in a row!
MATCH STATS: BEASTS - BY THE NUMBERS:
ACE - Henry 4
SERVE RATING (at least 7% of team attempts) - Basaman 2.71
SERVE % (at least 7% of team attempts) - Basaman, Ge, Heary 100
PASS RATING (1.8 or higher) - Ge 1.94
PERFECT PASSES - Henry 6
KILLS - A Feuerstake 6
EFFICIENCY (at least 10% of team attempts) - Nowicka .286
KILL % (at least 10% of team attempts) - N Feuerstake 50
DIGS - Ge 8
BLOCKS - Deyonge 1
ASSISTS - Welsh 16
***TOP POINT SCORERS (Kills, Aces, Blocks***)
N Feuerstake and Ge 6
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