DESPITE MADISON W. INJURY, VARSITY SHOWS BETTER VBALL, JUST MISSING SOME FINISH

Losing a starting OH is not ideal, especially in the Watchung Division in Union County,  and it will test the depth and talent of any team,  but coming off the outstanding team play versus GL where it looked like the Top had found its identity and rhythm despite a tough 3 set loss at 27-25,  it looked like it could really upend the chemistry which was building in the SHS team.  

Kent Place saw the Top move Lily to the Opp and make Emma one of the starting MBs while Ava moved to OH.  Would the changes work?  Could the team continue its high level play?

KP opened up a 4-0 lead and it looked early on that the answer would be "no" but the team went on an 8-4 run feeding off their serving attack and the score was knotted at 8... Lily, Emma and Ava all got involved offensively in the next few rotations and SHS started to take control at 13-10 forcing a Dragon TO.  That break settled the home side and over the next 4 rotations SHS found themselves tied again at 20-20.  Up 21-20,  Summit missed its serve to allow KP to not only tie the game but also jump ahead 22-21 forcing a Martins TO.  Coming off the TO,  SHS barely managed to keep the serve in play but Claire dug an attack up and then the Dragons were forced into a hitting error to knot the score at 22.  But then again,  SHS misses a serve to swing the advantage back to KP 23-22.  But a solid pass by Ayina led to a Claire kill off Nadia's distribution and 23-23.  The teams slugged it out in the next rotations as SHS earned its first set point at 24-23 but KP fought it off to tie 24-24.  After SHS jumped out to a 25-24 lead,  for the 3rd consecutive serve,  SHS put it into the net to give the Dragons a 25-25 score.  The Top then received a gift with a missed service by KP and yet another set point was produced.  Claire managed to get a good serve over this time which led to a Lily tip kill for the set 1 27-25 win to make it 3 sets in a row by the Top over the Dragons this season.

The 2nd set was a back and forth affair but decided late on a series of miscues by SHS.  Summit saw Rachel get a kill and follow up with 2 aces to go from 18-18 to a 21-18 lead but after a TO by the Dragons,  yeat another missed serve late gave the home side the ball which sparked a 3-0 run by KP to tie the score at 21 and force a Martins TO.  And yet, SHS could not change the momentum as 2 aces and a kill by the Dragons all but sealed the set at 25-21.

Set 3 saaw KP open up a 9-3 lead but SHS cut it down to 4 after a 3-1 run but another SHS serving error then led to a KP ace and another TO by Summit at 6-12.  Coming off the TO,  KP hit for another point thanks to a SHS hitting error which put the Top behind the 8 ball at 6-13.  Things did not get better over the next few rotations and SHS had to call another TO as KP had built a 19-11 lead.  But again, key hitting errors and subsequent serving errors all but sealed the the deal with the Dragons up 23-11.  A Lily and Ava kill combo had the the Top on a 4-0 run and cutting the lead to 23-15.  Unfortunately,  as it had been the case prior,  another service error derailed the momentum and SHS soon fell 25-16.

The team then traveled to New Prov who had gotten off to a tremendous start in the Mountain Division and was looking to take advantage of the situation the Top found itself in at this moment.  To make a long story short,  SHS trailed 14-16 just past the midway point but a Nadia kill and a Claire ace had the score at 16-16.  At 17-17,  A Summit hitting error and 2 aces by NP forced a TO by Martins at 20-17 but coming off the TO,  another point had NP at 21-17.  In the next 2 rotations,  there was a hitting error, a service error and a passing error by the Top and just like that, 24-19 in favor of New Prov.  But this time a Pioneer service error opened the floodgates for the Top with a block by Nadia and 2 kills by Claire and Rachel which forced a New Prov TO to no avail as Claire got another kill to push the score 24-24.  SHS then earned a set point with a long rally which forced a KP error to give SHS a set point.  Another long rally ended with a New Prov point but Liv got a great serve up which forced yet another NP hitting error which the Top took full advantage of, ending the set 1 with a Claire kill at 27-25. 

Set 2 saw the Hilltoppers jump out to a 14-5 lead but SHS had to call a TO at 14-9 after a Pioneer run but NP could not get closer than 17-13 as the Hilltoppers ripped an 8-1 run with Nadia accounting for 3 aces,  Claire 2 kills and Rachel 1 kill to seal the win for the visitors.

A great outing at Elizabeth would solidify a good week but Summit found itself down another starter forcing Lily into the OH slot with Rose stepping up from JV to fill in the OPP slot.   The squad responded well despite the adversity but found itself on the wrong side of long rallies where Elizabeth would freeball over to SHS repeatedly and wear down the Summit squad.  At 13-20 down,  Summit looked to be in dire straits but 2 kills by Rachel, and 1 by both Claire and Rose had the Hilltoppers within 3 at 17-20.  After a service break,  long rallies ensued which saw the Minutewomen get a hold of the set again at 22-17 but a Rachel block gave some hope to the visitors.  But the Elizabeth squad had honed in on Summit's major scoring threat and began to hold the Summit offense down with its limited options and took care of the set 25-18.  The 2nd set saw a spirited and hard fighting SHS team but it could not find the answers to the Elizabeth D and it dropped the 2nd set 25-9 to get the Summit record to 2W-6L

3 MATCH STATS 

Team Serving % - 86.1  Team Ace % - 13.9

BEST SERVE RATING - Nadia 2.18,  Ayina 2.17, Claire 2.11

MOST ACES - Claire 8, Nadia 7, Rachel 3

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Liv 1.96, Ayina 1.93,  Rylen 1.72

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Rylen 10, Liv / Alta / Claire 7

MOST KILLS - Claire 18, Rachel 16, Lily 9

BEST EFFICIENCY - Rachel .250,  Lily .226,  Ava .143

BEST KILL % - Rachel 40, Lily 29, Ava 28.6

MOST DIGS - Ayina 26, Claire 20, Nadia 19

MOST BLOCKS - Rachel 3, Nadia / Lily 2

MOST ASSISTS - Nadia 58

JV and FROSH TAKE STEPS FORWARD

 JV played a tremendous match versus Westfield and some key points late in each set settled the match but there was a drastic improvement in the compete level and the execution of the Hilltoppers in the 23-25, 20-25 loss to the Blue Devils.   The contributions of the entire front row,  Sophia, Gabby, Sarah, Mel and Rose were vital against the usual potent Blue Devil attack which constantly forced the squad to score to keep up with the home side.  

Coming off that effort, it was a little surprising that the Hilltoppers opend up versus the Vikings of UC with an 8-25 result.  The team got back on track in the second set but midway through the set the serve receive faltered late and the Top never quite recovered,  dropping a tough 20-25 decision.

Despite a postponed/canceled match versus Governor Livingston,  SHS got right back to it versus Kent Place and Summit bounced back nicely from the UC loss with a dominant serving performance in a 25-16, 25-19 win over their neighbors.  SHS got nearly a flawless contribution from their newcomer Sophia P from a defensive and serving standpoint as the OH trio of Sarah, Nikki and Gabby came up with key kills down the stretch to provide the spark for the win.

SHS ended the week with New Prov and Elizabeth, traditionally tough opponents for the Hilltoppers and this season, at least in the first go around,  proved to be the same tough opponents as always.  New Prov overwhelmed the  SHS serve receive and the Top faltered themselves from the service line as the Pioneers took the match 25-13, 25-15.

Against Elizabeth,  SHS was in each set until just past the midpoint when there was a lack of finish on offense which led to the Minutewomen opening up a gap between the squads which SHS could not close late in a 25-16, 25-19 loss to get JV to a record of 3W-4L.

9th Graders 

The young GOATS got caught up in a tough match versus the Blue Devils and came out on top at the end with tough serving and timely passing in a 25-20, 25-23 win over Westfield.  Rana had some key controlled kills late in the sets and Emilie was key on serve receive and defense as her play saved some balls which in transition led to Hilltopper kills.

Coming off that great win with consistent serving and defense,  the Top was able to carry it over to UC but this time it was an entire team effort as multiple athletes scored key points or stopped them from happening as the team took care of UC 25-21, 18-25, 15-11 with Natalia being the most consistent from the serving line which proved to be the difference in the latter part of the sets.

Although the squad played a tough and competitive match versus the Highlanders of Gov Livingston but inconsistency from the service line cost the squad an opportunity for the week sweep as the team dropped a 25-19, 25-21 due to numerous missed serves at key times to get their record to 3W-3L.

WESTFIELD, UC and GL - GAUNTLET OF A WEEK WITH MIXED RESULTS

 

The Program had the usual tough task this week in the Watchung Division with matches versus the top 3 teams in the conference.  Currently, Westfield sits in first with a top 10 ranking in the state, Union Catholic sits 2nd and GL sits 3rd early in the conference schedule.  

Westfield on the road proved to be a rough start for the Hilltoppers as the squad started off slow and fell to the Blue Devils 25-11 in set 1.  Set 2 was much more emblematic of what the team can do despite another slow start that saw the squad go down 8-1 early but fight back to 5-9 and got as close as 12-15 after a 5-0 run started with a Claire kill, 2 Rachel aces and a Lily tip kill and block.  But WF responded with a mini run of their own which kept the Summit girls at bay and the closest SHS got the rest of the way was 15-20 after another Lily kill and a hitting error by the Blue Devils before succumbing 25-16.

Union Catholic visited the Hilltoppers on Wednesday and for the 2nd straight match SHS got off to a slow start, looking at a deficit of 7-1 early on.  Midway through the set,  UC still held an 11-3 lead and a late run by Summit made the final score 12-25, a very similar result to the WF match.  But the 2nd set proved to be a bit of a different script as the Hilltoppers found themselves in an even battle in the early rotations, down only 5-7 and with the ball in their hands.  An 8-0 run however switched that around and the Top saw a close match turn to a 5-15 score line which would be difficult to overcome.  But overcome it they almost did with a 9-2 run which saw Rachel hit for 2 kills, Claire for 1 and Madison hurt the UC side with 3 aces and force a TO by the visitors at 14-17.  UC broke serve and extended the lead to 19-14 but yet again the Top got back into it with a Claire kill and a Nadia ace to get to within 3 at 16-19.  But again,  the consistency of the Vikings was too much in the end and the early 8-0 run did the damage late as the Hilltoppers fell 25-16.

Governor Livingston hosted the Hilltoppers for the final regular season match of the week and the home side must have taken the Hilltoppers lightly as SHS jumped on the Highlanders early holding a 9-3 lead with a full team effort as Claire and Madison notched a couple of kills and Rachel added another later in the run along with an ace by Madison to get SHS off to a great start.  GL called a TO and it seemed to settle the squad as the home side went on a 3-1 run but this time the Hilltoppers responded rather than faltering and a few rotations later,  Summit extended the lead to 16-8 and later 19-10 off the attacks of Madison, Ava and Claire (3 kills), the serving of Nadia (1 ace) and the defense of Rylen, Liv and Nadia (4 digs).  The set seemed seemingly over at that point but GL lived up to its top 3 ranking and won 7 of the next 9 points to crawl back to within 4 at 17-21.  Madison got a tip kill to see the lead go to 22-17 but another GL run of 4-1 had the home side all the way back at 23-22 down.  SHS needed a play and they got it with a perfect serve reception pass by Madison which led to a good attack by Lily.  GL dug it but could not muster much in return and Lily yet again got involved with a dig off a roll shot which Nadia quickly ran to Claire for a kill that led to set point for the Top.  A Rylen serve led to a hitting error by GL and set 1 was in the books at 25-22.  The only concerning thing was that GL had out-scored the Hilltoppers 14-9 in the back end of the set so would that trend continue into set 2? In short, yes.

Set 2 saw the Hilltoppers go down early 10-2 but SHS got it back to reasonable range at 5-15 but another GL run forced another TO by Summit at 7-20.  The emphasis was already on the 3rd set and to assert the game play that had carried them into a set 1 victory.

Early on it seemed that the set 1 team was back.  A kill by Madison and a hitting error by GL had the team only down by 2 at 7-9 but a burst by GL saw that lead expand to 13-8 and froce a Martins TO.  Off the time-out,  SHS began to play even with the GL side but at 13-19, Summit would need more than just match the home side.  Unfortunately,  a Summit hitting error and a suffered ace by the squad seemed to be the final nails in the match as GL built a 21-13 lead.  And then Lily got a kill which led to Madison serving and forcing an errant attack by the Highlanders.  Still a long way to go especially after a kill by the home side to see SHS trail 15-22 but then the squad found itself again.  Rylen stepped up and served GL into trouble forcing 3 hitting errors and then a long rally ensued which saw Madison and Liv dig 3 balls which led to a Madison kill and just like that,  19-22 was on the scoreboard.  A controversial call erased a point for the Top and the subsequent play had GL up 23-19 and another kill by the Highlanders looked like it was going to take the fight out of the GOATS at 24-19 but this squad has not wilted all season and would not now.  

Nadia setter dump, 20-24.  Nadia serves up a good serve and Madison got a dig which Ava attacked but GL dug.  GL generated a good attack but Madison dug it again and this time Claire tried to put it down to no avail but it did lead to a Claire and Rachel attacks which GL could not do anything with and after Claire dug a hard driven dump,  Madison put it away from the backrow, 21-24.  Nadia ace and Nadia again forcing GL into a hitting error, 23-24 and GL TO.  Off the TO, a Nadia ace like a dagger to GL, 24 all.  The next serve was handled well by the Highlanders and they ran a good option but Rachel stifled it at the point of attack.  No point yet but the next sequence is what the Top's strength is at this point.  Rylen dug a ball which was attacked by Claire, defended and Madison dug the next attack which was then funneled to Ava for the kill and SHS had just fought off 4 match points and earned one of their own.  Although the team could not close it out,  the team proved to itself that it had the depth and the talent to not only compete but win against top competition.  Will this lesson stick?  We will all find out this week with Kent Place,  New Providence and Elizabeth on the road this week.  

3 MATCH STATS 

Team Serving % - 90.7   Team Ace % - 15.3

BEST SERVE RATING - Nadia 2.32,  Madison 2.28, Rachel 2.18

MOST ACES - Nadia 8, Rachel 4, Madison 3

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Rylen 1.81, Madison 1.78,  Alta 1.68

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Madison 17, Alta 8, Rylen 7

MOST KILLS - Claire 14, Madison 13, Lily 10

BEST EFFICIENCY - Lily .276,  Rachel .250,  Claire .125

BEST KILL % - Lily 34.5, Rachel 33.3, Madison 29.5

MOST DIGS - Claire 19, Nadia 16, Madison 15

MOST BLOCKS - Ava 3, Lily 2, Rachel/Claire 1

MOST ASSISTS - Nadia 46

HEALING THE CHILDREN TOURNAMENT - 6W-3L - Great Day

 A great cause and a great tourney that we have been attending for at least 15 years now.  It has served us well in terms of giving us an opportunity to work on some structures and get everyone work in a high stress environment.  

MATCH 1 - RAHWAY 

Split 25-20 and 22-25

Madison ripped 4 aces and Claire led the offense with 3 kills while Nadia orchestrated an 6 assist offensive symphony getting all 5 hitters involved in the win.

In the 2nd set,  SHS managed only a handful of kills and tallied 10 serving, attacking and blocking fault errors combined to seal the deal 22-25.

MATCH 2 - ROSELLE CATHOLIC

Win 25-21 and 25-12

Ava was key in the match with a total of 4 kills on offense to provide the balance to the offense with Claire adding another 4 for the match.  Ayina stepped up and got the team 4 points on aces to help the squad overcome 7 attacking and serving errors in the first set while Madison stepped up with 4 aces of her own to help the squad control the 2nd set from start to finish. Liv had a couple of key digs and perfect free ball coverages which turned an early 2nd set close match to a comfortable win.  

MATCH 3 - NORTH PLAINFIELD

Win 25-12 and 25-16

Madison led the Top with 5 kills and 2 aces, Nadia added  in the 2 set win while Maddie M and Izzy QBd the offense in the 2nd set to 9 assists with Emma/Lily/Rachel tallying 5 kills out of the middle to fly past the NP squad. Alta and Rylen were perfect on serve receive to help the squad run their offense.

MATCH 4 - ROSELLE CATHOLIC

Split 25-14 and 18-25

5 of the 8 aces the squad hit and 10 of the 17 kills were all built in set 1 as the squad sputtered in its consistency in the last set of the matchup as the workload of the 3 pin players started to take its toll.  Ava and Madison combined for 11 kills in the match and 4 players had at least 1 ace while Ava, Rachel, Lily and Izzy all tallied a block apiece as the squad secured the #2 seed in the playoffs with the split...

SEMIS - ROSELLE PARK 18-25

The rubber match against RP was a good match but another slow start plagued the Top but yet again the team got back into position past the the midpoint of the set and had a shot to get to the finals but key errors late in the set, tired errors to be sure, cost the squad the win.  Nadia ran a very balanced offense tallying 8 assists and seeing Claire and Madison combine for 9 kills while Lily added 2 more out of the middle.  But the lack of serving attack was the difference as RP was able to fend off the usual productive offense of the Hilltoppers, limiting the squad to one ace, a Rachel special,  and the overall D by Roselle Park who saved many attacks that had been kills earlier in the tourney for the Top.  Roselle Park scored 15 points in the set with 2 blocks, 11 kills and 2 aces while SHS tallied 11 kills, 1 ace for 12 points but lost the error battle with RP giving up only 6 points while the Hilltoppers tallied 9 errors, 4 of those in the first 10 points of the set,  to set up the eventual score.  

The Roselle Park Squad then went on to the FINALS vs the #1 Rahway Indians and upset them as well with a clean serving and offensive attack while the Rahway side suffered a few passing and hitting woes late in the set.  

Congrats to ROSELLE PARK and Ray Candiloro (Head Coach of RP) who will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for his 25 years of service to the Healing the Children Organization!  I believe this win was a nice bow to a great day for Coach Candiloro!

COUGARS TAME HILLTOPPERS DESPITE GREAT EFFORT

 9th Graders Lose Opener in Heartbreaker

The young GOATS opened up on the road versus the Cranford Cougars and came away with a 28-26, 28-26 hard-fought but heart-breaking loss.  Coach Leventhal was very pleased with the team effort and thought many players stepped up in the loss to push SHS to a good showing!  Congrats 9th Graders! Westfield next!

JV Fights Hard in Loss to Cranford

2026 saw the JV take their first win versus their neighbors Kent Place and the squad was looking to take the next step versus the Cranford Cougars, a squad the Hilltoppers have had very little success in recent history.  The Top had a great start versus the Cougars and saw themselves up near the midpoint of the set but Cranford pulled away in the later stages of the set with key serving and attacks and SHS fell just short 21-25.  The 2nd set started off much the same way as the opener but the Cougars started to put some serving pressure on the Top which kept the home offense at bay in the midpoint of the set creating a 6 point gat (19-13) that Summit could not close and thus fell 16-25 for their first loss of the season.  Sara and Sophia anchored an effective offense and both Lillian and Lily helped stabilize the passing and defense throughout the match.  

Varsity Pushes Cougars But Come Up Short 

22-25, 18-25

Set 1 set the tone for the Top as the Hilltoppers were not intimidated by the Cougars and saw early success versus their rivals with SHS jumping to a 12-10 lead after trailing 10-8 thanks to a kill and 2 aces by Madison.  With the team trailing by just one at 15-16 after a Rachel kill,  Cranford responded with a 3-0 run to jump ahead 19-15 and seemingly have control of the set.  Summit however did not give in and after being the beneficiary of a Cranford service error,  SHS got a kill from Lily and 2 aces by Rachel to knot the score at 19.  After a service break by Cranford, Ava got her first kill of the set to see SHS tie the score at 20 but then a 3-0 run by the Cougars due to 3 SHS errors had the home team on the ropes.  A block my Madison stopped the Cougar run and it sparked the SHS squad as the team then got a big serve by the soph which Claire slammed down to crawl within one at 23-22.  But that was as close as Summit got and Cranford closed out the set 25-22.

 Summit had confidence that they could play with the visitors and it showed in set 2.  Yet again,  SHS was right there early on with Summit up one 7-6 after another Madison block but Cranford then went on a 7-1 run (6 kills) to open up a lead at 13-8 which Summit just couldn't close.  The home side got 3 kills by Claire to get to within 3 at 14-11 and after a kill by the visitors had Cranford up 15-11,  SHS ran a 3-0 run (Madison kill) to get within one at 15-14 but another error at a free play at the net gave the ball back to the Cougars and they ran off a 6-2 run (2 SHS net faults, 1 serve error, 1 attack error, 2 Cranford kills that saw the Top down 16-22.  SHS rallied with 2 kills (Madison and Claire) to get within shouting distance at 18-22 but a service error ended that momentum and the Cougars took full advantage of the gift,  rolling through the next few points for a 25-18 set and match win.

MATCH STATS 

Team Serving % - 87.8   Team Ace % - 12.2

BEST SERVE RATING - Rachel- 2.44 (3 aces),  Madison 2.00 (2 aces)

BEST RECEIVE RATING- Rylen 2.67, Claire 2.50

MOST PERFECT PASSES - Rylen 4

MOST KILLS - Claire 8, Madison 7

BEST EFFICIENCY - Lily .333,  Claire .222

BEST KILL % - Claire 44.4,  Madison 35

MOST DIGS - Nadia 5, Ayina-Madison-Claire 3

MOST BLOCKS - Lily 3, Madison 2

MOST ASSISTS - Nadia 16

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