The Hilltoppers traveled to Cranford to take on one of the best teams in the county (#3) as the squad prepares for the start of the Union County Tournament later on this week. Although the squad played well, a lack of offensive punch did the Hilltoppers in as the team fell to the Cougars 25-12, 25-18.
SHS trailed early in game 1 5-0 despite passing the ball well but a Casey Nardino kill started a 2-0 run capped by an Angela Scott ace that had Summit only down by 3 at 5-2. Cranford responded with a 6-2 run of their own to open up an 11-4 lead. Despite kills by Nardino and Alana Gartenberg, Summit found themselves down 15-7 and unable to eat into the Cougar lead. Cranford closed out the game with another 10-5 run that sealed the deal at 25-12. Summit only hit for 3 kills but served exceptionally well going 12/13 with 1 ace. The team also added 11 digs led by Gabby Mejia's 3 digs and gave up only 4 aces. Val Guzman, Scott and Rau Soares anchored a very effective serve receive with a team 1.95 rating for game 1 as these 3 ladies passed for a 2.04 combined (Guzman 2.37).
SHS reacted well off the loss as missed offensive and defensive opportunities were a factor in the lopsided score. Guzman started Summit off right with a tough serving performance that sparked a 6-0 run to open up game 2. Summit got 2 kills during the run by Nardino to fuel the offense. After a Cranford time-out, the Cougars were able to side-out and proceeded to erase the Hilltopper lead with an 8-0 run that was halted after a Scott and Nardino block off a right side attack. Trailing 7-8, Summit won the next 7 points 4-3 to see themselves tied at 11 nearly halfway through the game.
Gartenberg stalled another Cougar run that had pushed Cranford to 15-11 lead with a kill of her own but Cranford used a mixture of attacks and aces to go on a 5-2 run that had the Cougars up 20-13. Summit reacted well though to the setback and got another block from Nardino and Scott and an ace from Guzman to cut the lead to 4 at 16-20. An unfortunate service error from SHS was the start of another Cranford run, this time 4-2, that had the Hilltoppers out of the game and match 25-18.
Nardino led the way in the game with 2 kills but Summit only got 1 ace in a game where they went 15/18 from the line. SHS again only gave up 4 aces but were only able to dig up 8 balls. The 2 blocks were a season high in a game but the passing was not as effective as game 1 as the team passed only at a 1.57.
JV was also seeing this match as an opportunity to measure up against one of the best JV teams in the county and the athletes faired really well. Despite the height advantage the Cougars enjoyed over the Hilltoppers, Summit faired well, losing 2 tough games 25-17, 25-18. The Cougar offensive game was the key to the loss as Summit was unable to match the kill numbers of the Cranford squad.
Summit's record dropped to 8W-5L.
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