HILLTOPPERS FIGHT OFF DRAGONS 2-0 ON JV AND VARSITY

 JUNIOR VARSITY NOTCH FIRST WIN IN HOME OPENER

The season kicked off for JV and Varsity on Thursday, 9/3, against their neighbors Kent Place School.  The Dragons and the Hilltoppers have had many spirited matches over the years with both teams getting ahead of each other depending on the year.  A couple of seasons ago, the SHS program split with the Dragons on JV and saw Varsity go 1W-2L but the road win took SHS to the County Semi-Finals for the first time in quite a while in a major upset.  Last season, the KP side pulled away late in both matchups and controlled each of the sets against Varsity and the JV side dropped 2 matches decided by the serve attack of each squad.  

The 2026 opener gave the fans another close set of matches with the JV taking the Dragons 25-16, 25-19 with late surges to seal the win and Varsity fought back from a 15-22 deficit to take set 1 26-24 and pulled away late from a surging KP side who had fought back from an 11-2 deficit to knot the score at 16 before SHS ripped a 9-1 run to seal the match victory.

JV relied on multiple players to earn the win as it took contributions from multiple facets of the game to beat a very tough Dragon squad.  Sophia S was dangerous and effective out of the middle as was Mel late in each set with key block touches and swings.  Sarah and Elena had key kills in the latter stages of each set as the Top was able to produce kills and good swings when it most needed them.  Lily was solid from the backrow and proved to be dangerous from the service line while Nikki and Rose bailed the team out multiple times keeping out of system plays alive with key swings and Julianna and Michelle ran the ball to their hot hitters at key times... A great team win and a great start for JV!

VARSITY EARN A TOUGH FIRST WIN VERSUS THE KP DRAGONS

The season opened up a bit auspiciously as the Top were a little too amped up over their home opener and the nerves showed on over hits and rushed plays which led to an 2-8 deficit early on.  Madison and Lily broke the momentum with 2 kills but another mini run by Kent Place saw the SHS squad trail 14-7 and mathematically the team would need a huge run to get back into the set.  Claire and Rylen started the run with a kill and an ace and after a Dragon missed serve,  Nadia stepped up with 2 aces and just like that, 13-16 but the Dragons responded with a 5-0 run of their own fueled by 3 SHS errors and it looked like the Summit crew would not be able to maintain a clean run of play to avoid the set loss.  The teams traded points over the next 2 rotations but the math did not favor the Hilltoppers at 15-22.  

Attack error KP after a Rachel serve.... Rachel followed up with 2 aces.... service broken... 18-23...

Alta passed up a perfect ball which Ava attacked but the Dragons dug but the subsequent attack was stuff blocked by Lily to spark the SHS team.  Ava stepped up to serve and dropped 3 aces and 2 more difficult serves which led to errors by KP and a Lily kill after a free ball return and despite 2 Kent Place TOs, Summit saw themselves 24-23 with a set point.  Although KP was able to break serve and knot the score at 24,  Ayina then passed up a perfect ball which Nadia used to throw down a setter dump but it was covered by the Dragons.  Madison then blocked an attack back into the KP side and even though the Dragons covered it,  the ball went right back to the soph who promptly dumped it for a kill and another set point and, to wrap it all up in a neat bow,  it was Madison who then stepped up to the service line to wrap up the set with an ace.  

Summit had completed the massive comeback relying heavily on their serving attack which rated at a 2.46 and included 8 aces to only 4 errors.  

Set 2 saw the continuation of the end of the first as SHS went on an 11-2 to open the second set.  But a KP time-out flipped the script as the Dragons went on an 8-1 run to get to within 2 at 12-10 and in a few rotations the Hilltoppers were hanging on with a 14-13 lead.  After getting the serve back however,  Claire put down a kill and after Nadia served up 2 very difficult serves which forced 2 KP attacking errors,  SHS seemed to have righted the ship leading 17-13 but that was not quite the case as the visitors responded again with a 2-0 run and SHS was yet again clinging to a 2 point lead at 17-15.  But yet again it was the serving of the Top late which made the difference as Claire dropped a service run which yielded 2 aces, 3 KP errors and 2 kills from Rachel to put the set almost out of reach at 24-16.  The 9-1 run to seal the set and match was completed when Alta not only put up a great ball off serve receive for the Top to attack but also got the subsequent free ball which led to Nadia finding Lily who made no mistake on match point and delivered the victory at 25-16.

MATCH STATS 2-0 

Team Serving % - 84.3   Team Ace % - 21.6

BEST SERVE RATING - Rachel- 2.58 (3 aces),  Ava 2.56 (2 aces)

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Alta 2.00, Ava 2.00

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Alta 2

MOST KILLS - Madison 7, Claire and Lily 3

BEST EFFICIENCY - Lily .600,  Madison .158

BEST KILL % - Lily 60,  Madison 36.8

MOST DIGS - Claire 6, Madison 4, Nadia 4

MOST BLOCKS - Lily and Ava 1

MOST ASSISTS - Nadia 15

VARSITY GOES 5-0 VS LINDEN - FINISHES PRESEASON 10 SET WINS - 5 SET LOSSES

  

HILLTOPPERS 5 - TIGERS 0

SET        SHS        WOODBRIDGE

1                25                  13

2                25                  20

3                25                  16

4                25                  21

5                15                  3

The Lady Hilltoppers traveled to the Tigers of Linden to close out the Scrimmage Season.  The Tigers and the Top always have great matches with the Top experiencing some success over the last few seasons after a couple of years of Tiger success. The results today in 5 sets indicate that the team has definitely improved in 2 over the scrimmage season although more consistency is needed over various aspects of the team system. 

The team won 63.7% of all their service points and scored 4.2 aces/set showing an effective serving attack which kept the Tigers off balance with a serve % of 93.8% which was a drastic improvement from last 2 scrimmages.  The team also hit at a kill percentage of 39.3% while tallying a .175 efficiency rate on offense which helped the squad achieve an impressive sideout % of 57.3%.  

But as good as those number looked,  the team's goal was to improve its pass rating for the match mainly due to the aces it had given up the past 2 scrimmages and they accomplished that feat,  improving to a pre-season best 1.81 while only giving up 6 aces in 5 sec ts of play.  

The team also tallied a 25.4% perfect pass number which was not as crisp as the Madison scrimmage but it also tallied a much more important number, a 10.2% error rate which is the lowest error rate of the scrimmage season in any given scrimmage match going back to 2024.  

SET 1 - 25-13

Summit 

Team Serving % - 92    Team Ace % - 20

BEST SERVE RATING - Madison- 3.0

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Madison- 2.17

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Madison - 2

MOST KILLS - Claire, Lily, Madison - 2

BEST EFFICIENCY - Lily - 0.500

BEST KILL % - Lily, Madison - 50%

MOST DIGS - Rylen - 3

MOST BLOCKS - 

MOST ASSISTS - Nadia - 8

SET 2 - 25-20

Summit 

Team Serving % - 91.7    Team Ace % - 12.5

BEST SERVE RATING - Maddie, Madison - 2.25 

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Alta - 2.00 

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Alta, Madison - 1

MOST KILLS - Madison - 3

BEST EFFICIENCY - Lily - .333

BEST KILL % - Madison - 50

MOST DIGS - Maddie and Madison- 3

MOST BLOCKS - Lily - 1

MOST ASSISTS - Izzy and Maddie - 3

SET 3 - 25-16

Summit 

Team Serving % - 92   Team Ace % - 20

BEST SERVE RATING - Nadia - 3.13

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Rylen- 2.17

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Rylen - 2

MOST KILLS - Claire, Madison - 3

BEST EFFICIENCY - Lily - 0.333

BEST KILL % - Lily - 66.7%

MOST DIGS - Nadia - 4

MOST BLOCKS - Emma and Nadia - 1

MOST ASSISTS - Nadia - 7

SET 4 - 25-21

Summit 

Team Serving % - 100   Team Ace % - 25

BEST SERVE RATING - Izzy- 2.88

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Alta, Madison- 2.25 

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Alta, Madison- 3

MOST KILLS - Madison - 3

BEST EFFICIENCY - Ava K - .333

BEST KILL % - Ava K - 66.7%

MOST DIGS - Ayina - 3 

MOST BLOCKS - 

MOST ASSISTS - Maddie - 5

SET 5 - 15-3

Summit 

Team Serving % - 93.3  Team Ace % - 13.3

BEST SERVE RATING - Claire- 2.33

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Claire and Madison - 2.00 

MOST PERFECT PASSES -

MOST KILLS - Madison - 4

BEST EFFICIENCY - Madison - .800

BEST KILL % - Madison - 80%

MOST DIGS - Alta - 2 

MOST BLOCKS - 

MOST ASSISTS - Nadia - 6

MATCH STATS 5-0 

Team Serving % - 93.8   Team Ace % - 18.6

BEST SERVE RATING - Izzy- 2.88 (4 aces),  Nadia 2.58 (4 aces)

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Alta 2.18, Rylen 2.17

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Madison 6, Alta 4

MOST KILLS - Madison 15, Claire 9

BEST EFFICIENCY - Lily .455,  Madison .290

BEST KILL % - Lily 58.5,  Madison .48.4

MOST DIGS - Claire 6, Madison 6, Nadia 6

MOST BLOCKS - Lily 1

MOST ASSISTS - Nadia 21, Maddie 8

SUB VARSITY SWEEP OF THE ALWAYS TOUGH LINDEN TIGERS

 9th Graders

The young GOATS swept the Tigers by 25-10, 25-14 and 15-9 tallies.  The team serving attack was excellent according to Coach Leventhal and in specific Lila and Natalia stepped up nicely in the second set and set very well to lead the squad and its offense to victory.  

Scrimmage Season Set Record 5W-3L

Junior Varsity

JV also swept Linden 2-0 in 2 tighter sets decided late by the squad.  Coach Ross thought the team had taken steps forward as a team and looked more in sync offensively and their serve receive improved at stretches of the match.  Of note,  Juliana and Michelle had a great match as setters and impacted the game from the service line as well as the offense generated successful termination plays to give the Top the victory.  

Scrimmage Season Set Record 3W-4L

MADISON DODGERS PROVIDE TOUGH TEST FOR HILLTOPPERS

In the second scrimmage match of the season, the Summit crew took on the Madison Dodgers,  Varsity at 10am on the road and Frosh and JV at home at 3pm.

9th Graders notch first 2 set sweep

The young Hilltoppers had a highly competitive match against the Dodgers and came away with a 25-21, 25-22 victory as the young team is starting to learn how to play together as they get more comfortable with the system and each other.  The blending of players of club experience with athletes of limited or no organized experience always leads to a period of learning and transition and this young group of kids is starting to pick up some important lessons as a group,  none more important than how to win close games.  Natalia was an anchor from a passing perspective and competed for every ball while Adya ran a smart offense, finding the right hitters in critical situations and passing out of system very effectively.

           

JV Summit v JV Madison - Instant Classic

The JV were looking to bounce back from a couple of close set losses to the Woodbridge Barrons and found themselves in one of the most exciting battles of recent times versus the Madison Dodgers.  Set 1 went the distance, the LONG distance with Madison earning a 32-30 set win but SHS bounced back nicely off that loss to take set 2 25-20.  The team did struggle with serving consistency though and saw that come back to hurt the squad in the decisive 3rd set as Madison took it 15-7.  Sophia S and Sarah B were outstanding offensive threats for the squad today.

Varsity earns a come from behind 3-2 Victory versus the Dodgers

SHS 3 - DODGERS 2

SET        SHS        WOODBRIDGE

1                17                    25

2                25                    21

3                20                    25

4                27                    25

5                15                    9

The Lady Hilltoppers traveled to Madison to take on the Dodgers looking to improve on their hitting and passing efficiency while looking to improve their ace production and blocking eficacy.

This was not going to be an easy task as the Madison squad provided a much bigger test than Woodbridge in terms of their physicality in the front row and their generally consistent and effective serving attack.

SET 1 - 17-25

The Top started off a little slow and found themselves 8-2 down early. Behind the serving of Madison, the team rallied to within one at 8-9 but 4 of the next 5 points went to the Dodgers and the Hilltoppers could never overcome that deficit and actually trailed 14-22 late before dropping set one 17-25.

Summit 

Team Serving % - 91.7    Team Ace % - 8.3

BEST SERVE RATING - Madison 2.20 (1 ace)

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Madison 1.56

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Madison 2

MOST KILLS - Claire 4

BEST EFFICIENCY - Claire 0.083

BEST KILL % - Madison and Claire - 33.3%

MOST DIGS - Nadia 6

MOST BLOCKS - Claire 2

MOST ASSISTS - Nadia - 9

SET 2 - 25-21

The Top yet again trailed early 5-0 but fought back to within 1 at 8-9.  Madison went on a run again though and re-established a 6 point lead at 14-8 just to see SHS go on a 10-2 run to jump ahead 22-19 and not look back as they closed out the set 25-21.

Summit 

Team Serving % - 84%    Team Ace % - 24%

BEST SERVE RATING - Claire - 2.43 (2 aces)

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Madison - 2.33 

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Madison - 3

MOST KILLS - Ava and Claire - 3

BEST EFFICIENCY - Ava - .283

BEST KILL % - Claire - 60%

MOST DIGS - Rylen- 7

MOST BLOCKS - Emma, Izzy, Claire, Madison and Lily - 1

MOST ASSISTS - Izzy - 6

SET 3 - 20-25

Set 3 saw the Top head out to a 7-4 lead just to give up a 5-0 run to see it evaporate.  SHS fought back though and by the midpoint of the set,  the Maroon and White had themselves a 13-11 lead.  The teams exchanged runs and late in the set, the scoreboard showed 19-19.  Unfortunately,  the Madison crew dropped a 6-1 run fueled by 5 SHS attack errors at the end to take set 3 going away.

Summit 

Team Serving % - 80   Team Ace % - 20

BEST SERVE RATING - Claire and Ayina - 3.00 (4 aces)

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Alta- 1.60

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Alta, Ayina and Claire - 1

MOST KILLS - Lily, Ava and Madison - 2

BEST EFFICIENCY - Ava - 0.500

BEST KILL % - Madison - 66.7%

MOST DIGS - Ayina and Nadia - 2

MOST BLOCKS - 

MOST ASSISTS - Nadia - 9

SET 4 - 27-25

Another slow start by the Top saw them down 6-2 but as has been the trend every set, the team starts to find its rhythm and often has fought back to take the lead or come close to it in that same set.  Nothing was different here as the SHS side go to within one at 10-11 and had tied it at 13 a rotation later.  At that point, both teams slugged it out and there was no daylight between them at 20-20.  The squads traded points and at 22-22 Madison got a kill and an ace to earn 2 match points.  A Summit kill and an attack error forced by tough SHS serving had the score knotted at 24 but a Madison kill gave the home side a third match point.  A timely dig by the Top saved the match and the Hilltoppers wrapped up the comeback with 2 thunderous kills and a block to take the set.

Summit 

Team Serving % - 88.9   Team Ace % - 11.1

BEST SERVE RATING - Madison- 3.00 (1 aces)

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Madison - 2.07 

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Rylen and Madison - 2

MOST KILLS - Madison - 4

BEST EFFICIENCY - Ava - .600

BEST KILL % - Ava - 60%

MOST DIGS - Madison - 6 

MOST BLOCKS - Emma, Lily, Claire - 1

MOST ASSISTS - Maddie - 7

SET 5 - 15-9

In the decisive set 5,  for the first time in the match,  SHS jumped out to a lead at 7-2.  Could this squad learn the lesson of Woodbridge and finish out a match?  No one was sure in the gym as the Dodgers fought back twice to within one at 7-6 and 9-8 before seeing the Hilltoppers hit for 3 kills and a perfect 3-3 from the service line to win the set and match 15-9.  

Summit 

Team Serving % - 92.9   Team Ace % - 0

BEST SERVE RATING - Rachel- 2.33

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Alta - 2.25 

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Alta - 1

MOST KILLS - Madison - 4

BEST EFFICIENCY - Madison - .500

BEST KILL % - Ava - 100%

MOST DIGS - Alta - 4 

MOST BLOCKS - Emma, Lily, Claire - 1

MOST ASSISTS - Nadia - 9

MATCH STATS 3-2

Team Serving % - 85.4   Team Ace % - 14.6

BEST SERVE RATING - Madison 2.29, Claire 2.25 (10 aces)

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Madison 1.80, Claire 1.69

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Madison 7, Alta 3, Rylen 3

MOST KILLS - Madison 15, Claire 11

BEST EFFICIENCY - Madison .242,  Ava .179

BEST KILL % - Madison 45.5%,  Lily 42.9%

MOST DIGS - Madison 13, Alta, Rylen and Nadia -9

MOST BLOCKS - Claire 4, Lily 3

MOST ASSISTS - Nadia 27

VARSITY RUN 5 LINEUPS AND TAKE 2 SETS VS WOODBRIDGE

 BARONS 3 - HILLTOPPERS 2

SET        SHS        WOODBRIDGE

1                25                    19

2                20                    25

3                23                    25

4                25                    19

5                13                    15

The Lady Hilltoppers hosted the Woodbridge Barrons at home to open up the Scrimmage Season.  Since 2024, between scrimmages and regular season matches,  the Top has not won any sets from the Barrons (0W- 15L). The results today in 5 sets indicate that the team is definitely improved in 2 of the major areas which were a problem last year, offensive and serving efficiency.  

The team won 50.5% of all their service points and scored 2.8 aces/set showing an effective serving attack which kept the Barrons at bay with a serve % of 86.9% which was a drastic improvement from 2025.  The team also hit at a kill percentage of 31.3% while tallying a .170 efficiency rate on offense which helped the squad achieve an impressive sideout % of 51%.  

But as good as those number looked,  the team's goal will be to improve its 1.55 pass rating for the match mainly due to the 24 aces it gave up.  The paradox is that the team also tallied a 31% perfect pass number which is far better than the 24.9% achieved in '25 and it allowed the squad to win the sideout battle for the match but the 3.8 hitting errors per set are still too high when combined with the reception errors.  

SET 1 - 25-19

Summit 

Team Serving % - 91.7    Team Ace % - 8.3

BEST SERVE RATING - Claire - 2.60 (1 aces - 0 err)

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Claire- 2.75

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Rylen - 4

MOST KILLS - Madison - 4

BEST EFFICIENCY - Madison - 1.000

BEST KILL % - Madison - 100%

MOST DIGS - Claire - 3

MOST BLOCKS - Lily - 3

MOST ASSISTS - Nadia - 8

SET 2 - 20-25

Summit 

Team Serving % - 85.7    Team Ace % - 14.3

BEST SERVE RATING - Madison - 3.00 (2 aces - 0 err)

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Madison - 3.00 

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Madison - 3

MOST KILLS - Madison - 3

BEST EFFICIENCY - Madison - .429

BEST KILL % - Madison - 42.9

MOST DIGS - Claire and Liv- 3

MOST BLOCKS - 

MOST ASSISTS - Maddie - 3

SET 3 - 23-25

Summit 

Team Serving % - 82.6    Team Ace % - 17.4

BEST SERVE RATING - Nadia - 2.50 (1 aces - 0 err)

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Claire- 1.63

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Claire - 3

MOST KILLS - Claire - 3

BEST EFFICIENCY - Madison - 0.333

BEST KILL % - Rachel - 33.3%

MOST DIGS - Emma - 4

MOST BLOCKS - Emma and Nadia - 1

MOST ASSISTS - Nadia - 7

SET 4 - 25-19

Summit 

Team Serving % - 88.0   Team Ace % - 16.0

BEST SERVE RATING - Ava K - 2.50 (1 aces - 0 err)

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Liv - 1.50 

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Liv - 1

MOST KILLS - Madison and Claire - 2

BEST EFFICIENCY - Madison - .250

BEST KILL % - Madison - 50%

MOST DIGS - Claire and Madison - 4 

MOST BLOCKS - 

MOST ASSISTS - Nadia - 4

SET 5 - 15-13

Summit 

Team Serving % - 85.7   Team Ace % - 7.1

BEST SERVE RATING - Rylen- 3.00 (1 aces - 0 err)

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Claire - 2.17 

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Claire - 2

MOST KILLS - Claire - 3

BEST EFFICIENCY - Ava K - .333

BEST KILL % - Madison - 66.7%

MOST DIGS - Claire - 3 

MOST BLOCKS - 

MOST ASSISTS - Nadia - 7

MATCH STATS 2-3 

Team Serving % - 86.9   Team Ace % - 13.1

BEST SERVE RATING - Rylen- 2.38 (1 ace),  Claire 2.21 (3 aces)

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Madison 2.04, Claire 1.71

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Claire 9, Madison 5

MOST KILLS - Madison 13, Claire 10

BEST EFFICIENCY - Madison .458,  Nadia .200

BEST KILL % - Madison 54.2%,  Claire 30.3%

MOST DIGS - Claire 14, Madison 10

MOST BLOCKS - Lily 3,  Nadia 2

MOST ASSISTS - Nadia 26

FIRST SCRIMMAGE ON THE ROAD FOR JV AND 9TH GRADERS SHOWS PROMISE

 FROSH FIRST STEPS INTO SEASON LEAD TO OPTIMISM

9th Graders lost a close 3 set match by 20-25, 26-24 and 10-15 tallies.  For many of the young GOATS this was the first organized match of their careers and Coach Leventhal thought the squad took some real steps forward as a unit although some things need improvement.  Of note, Emma D and Anna D had solid outings, impacting very positively the passing, serving and offensive game of the team.  Emilie B was all over the court,  played outstanding defense and showed great movement to the ball.

JUNIOR VARSITY PLAYED BARONS TOUGH BUT NEED TO GEL AS A UNIT

The JV Squad showed moments of offensive threat and defensive brilliance but the consistency was lacking in this new group which Coach Ross believes will get better as they get more familiar with each other and trust their teammates and their own roles in the offense/defense.  The Barons have been dominant over the JV Top but today's effort left Coach Ross very optimistic about the season.  Specifically, Lily B had an amazing day from the service line with double digit service points and nearly 50% ace production to go along with her overall solid defense.

2026 VARSITY OUTLOOK IS OPTIMISTIC BUT A LOT YET TO BE PROVEN

 The 2025 season saw the Top struggle to string together wins on all levels as a rebuild was underway and despite having impact returners at key positions,  injuries, youth and a gauntlet of a schedule (6 matches vs top 20 teams in NJ) early set the Top on a very arduous season.  But there were some key highlights which set the team up for a possible run in the state sectional tourney.   The Team repeated as Healing the Children Champions, reached the semis at the Millburn Classic and had much improved performances vs. Governor Livingston and Westfield 2nd time around the schedule but still struggled with Rahway, Dayton and Madison, teams of the caliber they would need to beat in states.

The state playoff run saw SHS upset the #3 team on the road from the 14th ranked position on the road in a 3-0 win and then traveled in the Quarter-Finals to #11 seed Belleville who had upset the #6 seed for a spot in the Semis.  Unfortunately, Summit's inconsistency reared its head again and key errors and average serve receive did the squad in at the QF spot.

In the final analysis of the season,  there were some strengths and areas which will need to improve in 2026 to change the squad's fortunes.

Serving

Serve is a consistent weapon, averaging 2.71 aces per set and scoring on 47.9% of service attempts. The aggressive serving approach is working—the serve-to-error ratio of roughly 1:1 reflects a team willing to take calculated risks. Opponents are siding out at 52.1%, which indicates your serve is creating enough pressure to disrupt their transition game. Continue leveraging this strength to force difficult first-contact situations.

SHS 2026 - The team has put together a squad which could be dangerous in all 6 rotations from the service line and if they are anywhere close to the Covid Spring 2021 season in terms of numbers, the squad could see a tremendous upswing in their record

Receive

Receiving is an area where consistency needs improvement. A pass rating of 1.63 is acceptable, but receiving errors at 3.48 per set are pushing above the ideal threshold of 3.0. These errors directly limit your ability to run your offense and convert side-outs. Tightening up first-contact consistency will unlock more transition opportunities and improve your overall side-out percentage of 44.1%.

SHS 2026 - The team put the focus of tryouts to find the best serve receivers at all levels and this was to address the area which was a key factor in last year's record.  SHS is carrying 4 DS to address the defensive and serve receiving needs of the squad and all athletes will need to contribute every match for a successful season.

Attacking

The offense is generating opportunities but leaving points on the table through execution errors. Hitting efficiency of 0.096 is within range, yet attack errors at 5.29 per set are at the win threshold. This suggests your hitters are being aggressive and taking chances, but precision and decision-making need refinement. Reducing unforced errors while maintaining offensive aggression will improve your conversion rate and overall match control.

SHS 2026 - The team's youth showed itself in this category as the squad featured sophomores, a 9th grader and a senior with no varsity experience at the pins at the start of the season and needed their all-county setter to step into the role of oh to help produce offense.  However the 5+ attack error rate prevented the squad from ever getting comfortable in any match as the team would often get many offensive attempts but would not be able to score and cost themselves points with unforced errors.

Defense

DEFENSE

Defensive effort is solid overall. Dig errors at 3.31 per set are well-managed and below the win threshold of 4.0, showing your back-row players are making plays and keeping balls alive. This foundation allows your team to extend rallies and create counterattack opportunities. Maintaining this defensive discipline while working to reduce receiving errors will strengthen your overall transition game.

SHS 2026 - The team has selected a squad which should be able to improve in their dig output and create more opportunities for transition defense as well as eliminating serve receive errors.  This should help the squad be more competitive and a tougher team to play against...

Blocking

BLOCKING

Blocking is a clear strength for your team. With only 0.75 errors per set—well below the win threshold of 1.5—your front row is executing disciplined, efficient blocks. This low error rate reflects good positioning and decision-making at the net. Continue to build on this foundation as a key component of your defensive identity.

SHS 2026 - The team did not hurt itself with the blocking as the combination of seniors with experience and some youth at the position led to a good balance when it came to limiting errors.  However, injuries weakened this position during the season both offensively and defensively.  Despite the low error rate, the team also did not generate very many blocks or block touches during the season which was a reflection of the squad's inconsistencies due to injuries throughout the year.

CONCLUSION

Tryouts were designed to address current and future issues as they pertained to the Watch Items and improving on our strengths.  Scrimmage Season will give us some answers and will show us what we can be happy about and what we still need to work on this season.  One thing is certain though,  there is a lot of talent across all levels and there is a different vibe this year and a lot of excitement top to bottom.