Saturday, September 13, 2014

HILLTOPPERS LATE SURGE NOT ENOUGH TO OVERCOME LINDEN

Summit took on the Linden Tigers in a divisional match yesterday and came away with a 25-11, 25-22 defeat despite a great effort by the offense on the second set.

Summit was locked up in a tight battle early on in the first set when the serve receive failed again and allowed Linden to go on a 8-0 run to open up a 13-4 lead.  Although the team rallied back  and played fairly even from that point on (8-7 run to an 11-20 deficit) a late serving push by Linden sealed the set at 20-11.

Margo Reigle and Cassidy O’Malley clicked for 4 kills and no errors and Angela Scott  led the team with 3 digs in a set that didn’t yield many positives for the Hilltoppers.

The 2nd set was a completely different set.  Summit’s passing was steady and the Hilltoppers displayed a much more potent offense.

After trailing 1-5 early, a kill by Casy Nardino sparked a 4-0 run that saw the Hilltoppers knot up the score at 5.  The teams traded shots in the next few points and with the score 8-10 Linden, a service error by the Tigers and another kill by Nardino had Summit tied up again.

A kill by Nardino and Kathleen Morano had the Hilltoppers for the first time at 13-12 and Gabby Mejia hit for an ace that had the team up by 2.  Linden made a quick 2-0 run to knot up the score at 14 but Angela Scott pounded out an ace to give Summit a lead at 16-14. 

After a few points, an attack error by the Linden had Summit up 20-19 but the Summit serve faltered and couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity.  Down 21-22,  Summit’s captain Julianne Smolyn got a crucial kill to even the score at 22. An attack and ball handling error later however, Linden closed out the set 25-22.

7 players combined for 10 kills led by Casey Nardino’s 3 kills out of the middle.  Julianne Smolyn notched 2 aces in the defeat. 


For the match, Cassidy O’Malley led the squad with 4 kills as the team hit for a season high 15 kills.  Gabby Mejia distributed 6 aces and Emani Miles dug up 4 balls in the losing effort.

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