The Hilltoppers took the short trip to New Providence to take on the Pioneers feeling very good about their prospects after their performance versus the Chatham Cougars. But as it has been the case most of the season, the team couldn't sustain its play and fell to the Pioneers 25-9, 25-17.
Game 1 opened up terribly for the Hilltoppers with numerous passing and hitting miscues that buried their chances early. In addition, the team missed missed 2 of its first 4 serves. Summit was down 7-0 after giving up 4 kills and providing 3 hitting errors. It was clear early that the team could not put a ball away easily and the pressure on each pass and serve was palpable.
After Summit broke serve, a hitting error off a free ball opportunity gave the ball right back to the Pioneers. New Providence stretched their lead to 10-1 before Casey Nardino got a kill to stall their momentum. However a serving error returned the ball to New Providence and the Pioneers made the Hilltoppers pay for that mistake going on an 8-4 run with another SHS serving error fueling the run. Summit just couldn't get on track the entire game and lost convincingly 25-9 after another serving error sparked a 4-0 run to close out game 1.
Summit had only 3 kills despite 30 attack attempts and missed 4 of 9 serves. SHS only gave up 2 aces in the game and had 13 digs which was the only silver lining in the game.
Game 2 was a far different contest. Although Summit fell behind 3-0, the Hilltoppers went on a 9-3 run that had SHS up 9-6 thanks to the entrance of Alana Gartenberg who pounded out 4 of the 6 kills in the run for Summit. The Pioneers then went on 6-0 run to get New Providence up 12-9 as the Summit offense sputtered yielding no kills and hitting for 3 errors. Summit responded after a free ball error by New Providence with an Angela Scott kill and a Rau Soares attack that forced the Pioneers to send a free ball astray and get the score tied up at 12.
But then the hitting cooled off yet again as the Hilltoppers were only able to muster 3 kills to 7 errors in the latter part of the match to set up New Providence for a 25-17 game 2 and match win. Summit pounded out 11 kills in the set but also has 12 errors. SHS hit only 1 ace but had only 1 error. The Hilltoppers yielded only 4 aces in the game. Summit out-killed New Providence 11-5 in the set and outscored the Pioneers 12-11 but Summit had a combined 14 errors while New Providence had only 5.
Summit's inconsistency from the service line and hitting area continues to be the obstacle that prevents the team from picking up its 3rd win.
Alana Gartenberg, in only 1 set of work, was the team's leading kill producer with 5 and Angela Scott led the way defensively with 10 digs, had the most receptions with 14 and passed at a 2.07 rating.
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