The Summit Hilltoppers traveled to Linden to take on the Tigers who sat on top of the Mountain Division with a 3W-0L record. Summit had not beaten Linden since 2011 when the team beat Linden 2-0 in each of the 2 meetings that year. After the 25-16 score this past weekend at the Raider Tournament, Summit had very little to hang onto coming into this regular season matchup with Linden. But new serve receive rotations and a tweak of the receiving personnel made all the difference today as Summit upset Linden on the road by a 25-22, 21-25, 25-20 score.
Summit had the best start of the season behind Val Guzman's serving as the Hilltoppers jumped on the Tigers 6-1 early. Linden clawed back to tie the score at 11-11 after an ace but Summit regained the lead at 12-11 after an Angela Scott kill. The teams battled back and forth without gaining any advantage. Casey Nardino had a kill late to knot things at 17 but a Summit error and a kill out of the middle by the Tigers had SHS down 19-17 late. Summit came out of a Martins time-out and forced a Linden middle attack error, saw Grace Galuppo hit for a kill and Rau Soares sent the team into a frenzy with a solo block and a kill that had Summit up 21-19 and in control. To Linden's credit, the Tigers did not buckle and roared back to tie the score at 21 but a Guzman kill changed the tone of the game as Summit rattled off 3 more points behind a Soares ace and a Scott kill to seal game 1 25-21.
Summit hit for 9 kills and 5 aces in a 15 point game performance while Linden hit for only 14.
In game 2, It was Linden who got off to a quick start as the Tigers got on Summit early 3-0. Guzman hit for an ace, Scott and Nardino added kills to bring Summit back to 3 all and the game settled down at that point as neither team could get a run going. At 8-8, Nardino slammed an ace and Linden added a few errors as the Hilltoppers jumped out to an 11-8 lead. Summit held that 3 point cushion until 17-14 when the Tigers took advantage of 4 SHS errors to tie the score at 18. The teams remained deadlocked at 21 but 3 straight aces by Linden sealed the deal at 25-21, forcing the 3rd set.
Summit hit for only 7 kills and 12 points total while Linden scored 15.
In the deciding game 3, Summit again took off to a 4-1 lead after Guzman serves forced Linden into 3 consecutive errors. but much like the other 2 prior sets, Linden clawed back and nearly halfway through the match, the teams were deadlocked at 10 after kills by Guzman and Scott. But much like the adversity the team faced in Plainfield, SHS saw themselves down by 4 at 14-10 before a hitting error by Linden gave the Hilltoppers the ball back. Guzman nailed a kill and hit for an ace in a 4-0 run that brought Summit back to a 14-14 tie. The teams traded points and found themselves knotted up at 20 late. Guzman stepped up as she had done all match and had Summit's next 2 kills to help open up a 22-20 lead. Behind a perfect 4 service points by Soares, Summit forced Linden into 2 hitting errors and scored an ace to close out game 3 and the match 25-20.
Summit outscored Linden 16-11 in the last set and hit for a match high 12 kills and a .218 hitting % to take the match. Val Guzman led the Hilltoppers with 6 kills in 8 attempts for the set and added 1 ace to lead the Summit scoring.
The team's record is now 2W-1L and Summit sits in 3rd place in the division behind 2nd place Kent Place and leader Linden.
1st- Linden 3W-1L
2nd- Kent Place 2W-0L
3rd- SHS 2W-1L
4th- Union 2W-1L
5th- New Providence 1W-1L
6th- Plainfield 0W-3L
7th- Rahway 0W-3L
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