9th GRADERS TRAVEL TO UNION CATHOLIC TO AVENGE 2019 LOSS AT SHS

 The 9th Graders traveled to Union Catholic in a return of a home and home series started back in the Fall of 2019 that saw the Maroon and White lose to the Scotch-Plains team 25-18, 22-25, 10-15 at home in a battle that saw the Vikings take a late 7-0 run in game 2 to snatch victory from the Hilltoppers and then followed up with a 4-0 run in game 3 to get a lead they would not relinquish.

But this is a different year and a different team and the Hilltoppers went on early runs and dominated the UC 9th grade squad in both games, taking game 1 25-16 and finishing it off with a 25-13 game 2 win for the match victory.  Emily Demm was a consistent force behind the service line and helped open up leads that the Hilltoppers would not relinquish.  Demm was a consistent steadying force as well defensively and on offense, seemingly making a play everytime the Hilltoppers needed one.  Teammate Julia Nardino was also a big factor in the match as her consistent serving and positive energy kept the team calm during early moments of each game when things were tense.  More importantly, Nardino has been asked to be the quarterback of the squad and she has deliverd with many great sets and a presence at the net that has shaped the Summit offense.  

Record: 3W-0L

Next up for the 9th Graders,  the Linden Tigers.  

 

9th GRADERS PICK UP WIN #2 VS. THE LANCERS OF GOVERNOR LIVINGSTON

 The young squad took the court against a much more experienced Governor Livingston team who were looking to continue their winning ways against the Hilltoppers after beating them 2-0 in the last encounter in 2019.  The squads finished 1W-1L for the season with Summit taking the early season matchup and the Lancers taking the late season one.

Today though, it was the Summit Hilltoppers who came out ahead with a 25-18, 16-25, 25-20 win versus a tough 9th grade squad of Gov. Livingston.

Game 1 was truly the Emily Demm and the Julia Nardino show as the game was decided from the service line more than any other facet of the game.  The two athletes combined for 9 of the 12 service points the team got in the opening game.  Nardino got the Hilltoppers into control through the middle of the match as the team rallied behind her 4-0 service run which got SHS to 14 points in the game.  Despite a service break,  Summit got another service point from Emily Griffith but the Maroon and White could not keep the service pressure up and saw Governor Livingston crawl back into the match.  

But then Demm came up after Summit had reached 19 points but still only led by 1 after a Lancer service error and proceeded to rattle off 6-0 run that closed out the deciding game and match, 25-20.

The second game saw the Lancers win the battle of the serve, committing less errors and hitting for more aces which was the difference of the game and it showed on the scoreboard as the Governor Livingston squad pushed the match into a third game.

The third game was a game of runs that were very spread apart.  Governor Livingston started the game serving but it was Demm again that settled things down by going on a 6-0 run to lead the Hilltopper attack in rotation 1 and settle the team down.  Unfortunately, the Maroon and White were unable to score 1 service point in the next 5 rotations and that kept the deciding game under the control of Governor Livingston.  The Lancers, however,  were also showing the nerves of a third game and could not capitalize on the Summit serving misses thus keeping SHS in the game.  And eventually, in rotation 7,  Demm hurt the Lancers again with a 4-0 run that pushed Summit to an 18-14 lead and then Nardino followed up with a 3-0 run of her own to get the Top to the crucial 20 point mark (85% win rate if you reach 20 points first).  Griffith again got a crucial point late to push the lead to 24-19 and the rest was academic as SHS closed it out with a tough, well-earned 25-20 game 3 win for the match victory.

RIVALRIES RENEWED IN 2021 WITH MATCHES VS. RAHWAY AND AT LINDEN

 Next Monday and Tuesday,  the Hilltoppers will host rivals Rahway Indians and travel to the Tigers of Linden.

These two upcoming matchups should go a long way in determining the success of this season for JV and Varsity.  Linden was swept by the JV Hilltpoppers but Rahway stunned SHS at Rahway to split the regular season series last year.  Summit did beat the Indians in the first round of the county tournament to take the rubber match in 2019.  

Varsity swept the series with a 2-1 (25-17, 23-25, 25-19) victory on the road and a  2-0 (25-22, 25-22) win at home in tightly contested matches.  In the home match,  SHS out-killed Rahway 23-14, out-blocked the Indians 2-0 and out-aced them 8-6 for a total score of 33-20 yet the match was a 3 point affair each game.  

Although Summit opened this year with a scrimmage and a regular season victory vs. New Providence,  Rahway fell to the Pioneers in 2 games just this week.  Outstanding serving has helped the Hilltoppers roll to a 2W-0L start this season.  Can it do the the same against the Indians?

The Linden Tigers have had Summit´s number for nearly a decade.  In 2017, Summit dropped both matches to Linden by 2-1 scores, in 2018 the Hilltoppers won only 1 of 3 matches and lost both match-ups last year.  The theme is generally the same for the Hilltoppers lack of success versus the Tigers:  serve receive difficulty or hitting errors.

In 2017, the Top hit for 6 aces but yielded 12 and were out of system more often that not in match 1.  In match 2, the Hilltoppers out-aced Linden 12-8 but had 23 hitting errors in the match.

In 2018, Linden won the season series 2-1 with total scores of 104-92 which showed Linden with a +5 advantage in kills, a -1 deficit in blocks and a +8 advantage in aces.  In the 1 match that Summit won however, a 2-1 result of 24-26, 25-23, 25-23,  Summit took the match by out-scoring their opponents by 45-36 (30-19 on kills).  But Summit did yield 36 points to Linden on faults, serving/passing and hitting errors while the Hilltoppers were the beneficiaries of only 23 of those points from Linden.   Linden tries to limit the Summit offense and counts on errors by their opponent so that they do not have to score as much to win a match.

In 2019 that was very evident as both matches went 3 games with Linden winning both by 2-1 margins.  Summit managed only 37 kills to Linden´s 39.  Linden out-blocked Summit 8-4 but was out-aced by SHS 25-13.  Summit had 54 hitting and service errors however and the Tigers only 36.  That error margin negated any serving advantage earned by the Top.  Should the Hilltoppers continue their current form,  it should pose a real threat the the Linden dominance over the Hilltoppers in recent history.  

HILLTOPPERS DEFEND HOME TURF VERSUS HOME TOWN RIVAL OAK KNOLL

The Junior Varsity and Varsity levels took on the Royals of Oak Knoll yesterday afternoon and came away with 2 resounding victories to improve to 2W-0L on both levels. 

JV POWERS TO SECOND WIN OFF SERVICE LINE

Summit's JV started off a little slow in game one and trailed 7-4 in the third rotation but then DS Victoria MacArthur stepped up on service to score on 8 service points to get Summit to a 13-7 lead and push Oak Knoll into a situation where they would have to get their deficit down to under 5 points in the next two rotations to have a chance at the game 1 win. The Royals did crawl back  to within 5 in the next few rotations (11-16) but then Jaclyn Szabados came up to serve and behind her serve, Summit rattled off five service points to effectively shut the door on their city rivals with the score at 22-11.  

Final score game 1, 25-15.

If the Hilltoppers were able to serve as aggressively as they did in game 1, game 2 should provide a carbon copy result as the Royals struggled to get any serve receive consistency.  Summit served first and that pretty much spelled the end of the game as Oak Knoll failed to score 1 service point in five of their rotations while SHS got at least 4 service points from 4 of their first six rotations to put the game and match essentially out of hand.  

                            SHS        OK

Rotation     1            1            2

                   2            5            3

                   3            6            4

                   4            10          5

                   5            14          6

                   6            19          7

MacArthur's serving was the turning point of the match as it set the tone for the rest of the match and allowed SHS to run their defense much more easily after ther rotation.

JV faces a gauntlet of trials next week with Rahway (one of the few teams to beat SHS in 2019),  Linden,  ALJ and New Providence on their schedule.

VARSITY CONTINUES SERVING WELL,  USES MULTIPLE OFFENSIVE WEAPONS TO CONTROL ROYAL ASSAULT

The Varsity Squad got to see all of its players in the match against Oak Knoll in part because the serving attack is clicking at a rate not seen in Summit Vball history.  The team is serving at an astonishing 94.9% and an ace % of 25.5% and are averaging 12.5 aces per match currently.  The team has 7 players who have notched at least 1 ace.

Summit received the first serve, Kiera Stocks delivered a perfect pass to Kasey Walsh who then set the OH newcomer Vivian Roberts for a kill and that got the Hilltoppers off to a 4-1 run (Walsh ace, Eva Oberhuber block).  Despite a break of serve,  the Royals were not able to convert on their serve and SHS went on 7-0 run to blow open the game early.  DS Sarah Brennan forced multiple Oak Knoll errors with her serves and earned 3 aces to give the Hilltoppers the cushion they needed for the game.  Oak Knoll needed a spark to get them back in the game but Roberts put down another kill to quelch any hope of that and Summit went on another run, 8-0,  in which Erin Vostal got a kill and a stuff block,  Stocks had 2 aces and a kill and Brennan also got a kill to push the score to 19-2.  Although the game was firmly out of hand,  SHS did not want to open the door for any comeback and the message was sent with another 6-1 run that closed the game 25-3.

Game 2 saw the debut of Olivia Lawlor at Setter,  and Rebecca Thompson,  Alexis Barnes and Annabella Yorio saw action as well.  9th Grader Zoe Zacharias led off the game setting from the backrow and served an ace to start which sparked a 3-0 run that saw Catherine Eldridge get a stuff block for the Hilltopper defense.  Eldridge and Vostal were heavily involved in an 8-4 run after a Royal service break (3 kills combined) that had Summit leading 11-5 and looking like another decisive result was imminent.  It quickly became apparent that was the reality in today's outcome for the Blue and White as SHS ripped off a 5-0 run after the Royals made the score 12-6 to essentially put the game out of hand.  Vostal spearheaded the run with 2 aces and constant pressured which caused many errant passes by the Oak Knoll squad. A brief 3-0 run cut the lead to 8 at 9-17 but the Royals gave it back to the Hilltoppers after a service error and Zacharias ripped an ace to get the lead back up to 20-9.  Oak Knoll managed one more point of a stuff block but the Hilltoppers earned a point off a Royal service error and got two more aces by Brennan and an overpass kill by Roberts to close the game and match 25-10.  

Sarah Brennan takes home player of the match honors with a 5 ace, 1 kill, 5 dig performance that tied her for the team lead in points with 6!

The Hilltoppers did not have many offensive opportunities against a team that struggled with their serve receive but still managed 12 kills with only 1 error and out-scored the Royals 28-6 for the match.  Roberts and Vostal combined for 3 kills apiece to lead the team and Vostal led all offensive players with 6 points (3k, 2ace, 1 block).  Stocks and Brennan anchored a solid defense that thwarted most of the Oak Knoll attacks, notching 5 digs apiece.  

Of note, the main serve receivers (Brennan, Meghan Tarashuk, Gabbie Guidetti, Stocks) have been stellar in these first two matches, giving up only 6 aces in 4 games.  The team is also putting up prefect passes off receive at nearly 37% which is allowing them the use of their middle offense.  

VARSITY PREVIEW OF MATCHUP VS. THE OAK KNOLL ROYALS

 The city rivals used to meet twice a year in the Mountain Division until the Royals moved up to the Watchung Division in 2018.  The matchups favored the usually tough Royals who always seemed to have 1 or 2 potent outside hitters to overpower the Hilltoppers.  In 2016, the Hilltoppers shocked the county as the #4 ranked Royals lost at home just prior to their semi-final match in the Union County Tournament to Summit (2-1) after SHS had pushed them to three games in their first matchup at Summit.  

In 2017, the Royals took both matches, 25-12,25-21 and 25-22, 25-21, in which SHS managed to score only 41 points in those 2 events.  In 2018 and 19 the outcomes were vastly different as the Hilltoppers seemed to have the better offensive depth and it showed in the 2 match results, both Hilltopper wins by scores of 25-17, 25-19 and in 2019 by tallies of 25-13, 25-19.  SHS scored 70 points in both matches combined, averaging 19 kills and 13.5 aces per match.  

This will be the first and only meeting in regular season play for the cross-town rivals which will go a long way in showing whether the Summit offense can live up to expectations set by their win versus New Providence.

SUCCESSFUL OPENING DAY - ALL THREE LEVELS SWEEP THE PIONEERS

 In closely contested matches,  the Hilltoppers took 2-0 victories over the Pioneers of New Providence on all three levels yesterday to open the 2021 Winter Season campaign.  

9th GRADERS ESCAPE A CLOSE FIRST GAME, DOMINATE SECOND TO OPEN SEASON

The 9th Grade Squad took their first match of the season 26-24, 25-3 over the Pioneers in a match that the Hilltoppers had to display some resolve in overcoming some service and attacking woes in game 1 but were just dominant from the service line in game 2 to seal the first win of the season.  Anna Joseph was the player of the match as she rattled off double digit service points and had an overall consistent match to lead the Maroon and White to its first victory of the season.

The team will face off against Governor Livingston at home on Friday, 4pm start.

JV SURVIVE EARLY SERVICE WOES, RELY ON OFFENSE TO CARRY THEM TO WIN

The New Providence and Summit volleyball battles on the JV Level tend to be classics.  Summit usually has the size advantage while the Pioneers always manage to bring tough serving and defense that will keep numerous balls alive and extend rallies.  This matchup to open up the 2021 Winter season campaign was no different as the Hilltoppers seemed to dominate early but had to survive a game 2 scare to take the match 25-10, 26-24.

Summit was going to have a power advantage in the front row as the team was clearly taller and could generate more power off its attack.  New Prov was clearly more consistent from the service line and scrambled out of system effectively, keeping balls alive on serve receive and transition that seemed destined for a Hilltopper point, until they did not.  However, the relentless offense the Hilltoppers generated had New Providence merely managing to survive as they could not mount any type of offensive sets to trouble the SHS defense.  Quickly the tide turned and Summit took control the second time through the rotation and won game 1 convincingly 25-10.

Despite the early offensive frustration in game 2, it was the serving inconsistency (nerves? jitters?) that doomed the Maroon and White early.  Summit trailed by 6, 15-9, in game 2, primarily due to the fact that SHS missed, at one point, five of six serves (4 in a row!) which led to points for the Green and White that they did not have to work for in the game.  Once Summit got through the second time in rotation, the serving began to come to life and, with the offense still effective,  Summit erased that deficit and took control late in the game with an 11-4 run that seemed to break the Pioneer spirit (20-19) until another missed serve gave the Green and White hope at 20-20.  Summit leaned on its offense from this point on to claw their way to a 22-23 lead and closer to a match point but another unforced service error seemed to say that this was not going to be their game.  

But the mainstay of the match had been the steady and predictable serve receive of the Hilltoppers and yet again, in these crucial points, it was the serve receive which provided Summit with the opportunity to use its advantage on offense to close out the game and match at 26-24.

Sara Noa was stellar in the match despite early struggles from the service line.  She was a defensive rock for the squad and provided the team with a spark from the service line late in the games to help lift Summit to its first win of the campaign.

VARSITY SIDEOUT AT NEARLY 50%, SERVE UP 12 ACES, SCORE 34 POINTS, TAKE WIN

Since 2017, the Hilltoppers have come out on the short side of any matchup with the Pioneers more often than not, losing 6 of 7 matches, most of them tight battles but, despite the grit and fight, the Maroon and White usuallly lack the firepower from the service line or the front line to outscore the Pioneers.

In 2017, Summit dropped a 24-26, 18-25 decision and a 23-25, 17-25 decision in which the Hilltoppers scored 36 points in 2 matches and the Pioneers scored 58.  In 2018, New Prov wins 25-14, 25-16 outscoring Summit 39-19 but Summit stunned the Pioneers 13-25, 27-25, 25-17 getting outscored by a mere 3 points (36-39) for the match but outscoring New Providence by 29-23 in the closing two games for the unlikely victory.  In 2019 however,  the losing trend continued, with SHS dropping a 23-25, 16-25 decision in the county tournament match, a thrilling and heartbreaking 17-25, 26-24, 23-25 loss and a 10-25, 8-25 non-competitive outing in early September.  Summit was outscored 34-21, 42-34 and 33-8 respectively in those matchups.

Since 2010,  the best offensive output by the Hilltoppers had been in 2011, the year of best team in SHS history (21W-4L, Division Champs, County Semi-Finalists, State-Sectional Semi-Finalists).  That squad, led by Lindsey Leiter (First Team All-County and Conference),  averaged 13.51 points per game (kills+aces+blocks), just a shade over 27 per match.  If match 1 of the 2021 season is any indication,  the losing trend to New Providence may be reversing itself and there is the very real potential of a very special year.  Summit out-scored the Pioneers 34-17 in a 25-20, 25-15 match win to open the 2021 Winter campaign with 17 points in each of the games.  

Kasey Walsh kicked off the campaign in game 1 with 2 quick aces and it set the tone for the game as the Maroon and White seemed to always get the key serve at crucial times to bail themselves out of trouble.  Summit however suffered a 1-6 run early on to trail 3-6 but a New Prov hitting error with 2 aces by Captain Kiera Stocks knotted the match back up again.  Erin Vostal got a tip kill and a quick attack out of the middle scored as well to soon have the Top up 10-7 nearing the midpoint of the game.  Vostal got involved a bit later again, this time defensively, with a solo block while adding another kill from the outside sandwiched between a New Prov service error and Gabbie Guidetti ace to give Summit a 12-9 lead.  The Hilltoppers then went on a 8-4 run culminated by a down ball kill by newcomer Vivian Roberts gave Summit a 20-13 lead which seemed secure at that point.  Two net faults by the Maroon and White gave New Prov a glimmer of hope which was made more like a floodlight after 3 consecutive hitting errors that followed a controversial no call on a thunderous Catherine Eldridge quick attack that seemed to go down but, no whistle blew, which led to a subsequent hitting error by the Top.  The frustration led to a couple of more hitting errors and forced Coach Martins to call a time out to settle the troops.  Coming out of the time-out still leading 22-19, the Top still gave up another point on a New Providence ace but the home team made a crucial serving error and that sent Meghan Tarashuk to the line and she hammered home 2 jump float aces to end the game 25-20.

Game 2 seemed to be a continuation of the opening game as the Pioneers, buyoed by their performance in the opening game, felt they could take a game from the Hilltoppers despite being out-scored 17-10 because the Top had only out-killed them 8-6.  The Pioneers were the aggressors from the service line early, jumping out to a 6-4 lead after an ace and a tough serve which forced an errant return ball by the Top.  But Summit got an unlikely kill by Stocks and an Eldridge hammer out of the middle to knot things up again which led to the Vostal show with 2 kills and a block to extend the lead to 10-7.  To their credit and history, New Providence has always played like they believe they can overcome the Maroon and White, a fact laid out by the results of the last 3 seasons, but, this year, it seems that the Hilltoppers have a more balanced offense and Vostal was at the center of it yet again as the home squad tied up the score at 10 just to see Vostal get another block and one more kill to give Summit another three point lead as part of a 6-2 run that sealed the game outcome and match.  In the run,  Vostal got a dig on defense and an ace while Roberts pounded two thunderous kills between the double block she was facing to get Summit to a 19-11 advantage.  It seemed that Eva Oberhuber had pushed the lead to 20-11 but another controversial call gave the ball back to New Providence and ended the run.  Summit closed out the game and match on a 5-0 run after the Pioneers had clawed to within 5 at 20-15 led by a perfect 3 pass-set-quick attack kill executed by Rebecca Thompson, Zoe Zacharias and Eldridge which put Sarah Brennan at the line to close the game out as it had started, with two back to back aces.

Of note, the team served at a perfect 100% (49/49) with 12 aces for the match (24.5%), a key reason for their success.

Erin Vostal earned Player of the Match, leading the squad with 10 points (6 kills, 3 blocks, 1 ace), scoring 6 of those points in the crucial moments of the second and decisive game 2.

  

NEW PROVIDENCE VARSITY PREVIEW

 In 2019, the Hilltoppers lost the first match 2-0 in a dominant 25-10, 25-8 win for the Pioneers which saw Summit only manage 4 kills out of 47 attempts and 11 errors.  

In match 2, Summit hosted the Pioneers and the difference of the match was stark.  The Hilltoppers hit for 23 kills in the match in a nail biter that had the Maroon and White down 17-25, rebound for a 26-24 set 2 win and fell just short in the last set, 25-23.  

The last matchup was back at New Providence in the County Quarterfinals and the Green and White was able to win another 2-0 match but in a very different manner.  The Hilltoppers came close but could not seal set 1 and dropped it late 23-25 and the offense went dry in the second as Summit dropped a 16-25 decision.  SHS hit for .275 efficiency, the highest of the 3 matches, but only tallied 15 kills, most of those in set 1 (10k) , a number the Hilltoppers needed to be much better.  

In this 2021 Winter Season, the 2-1 Scrimmage decision saw a pattern not seen last year, the consistent kill production of the squad.  With 2 more matchups this season versus the Pioneers, the team´s ability to produce consistent offense will determine much of their success. 

By end of September 2019, the Hilltoppers had a 6W-5L record, the first time in nearly a decade that the team was nearly out of September with a .500 record.  The squad then had a difficult week against rival Linden (2-1 Loss),  Blair Academy (2-0 Loss), Kent Place (2-0 Loss) and Columbia (2-0 Loss) which plummeted the squad to a 6W-9L record.  Despite going 5W-5L the rest of the way, the damage of that 4 game stretch was done and the team was yet again out of the Group 3 Tournament picture.  

With the State Sectional Tournament back for the first time in just about a decade,  the prospect for post season play is very exciting this year and the goal is to see the return of the Hilltoppers to the state tournament stage.