Summit traveled to Rahway to take on the Indians to close out the divisional match-ups for the year. Rahway had handled the Hilltoppers at Summit earlier in October rather easily in a 25-21, 25-16 with Summit not being able to muster much offense, hitting for 11 kills but also tallying 14 errors. The team had also only served at 83.3%. The combined lack of serving accuracy with the lack of offense spelled the end for the Hilltoppers in game 1. However, in the return match, Summit served at 94% and hit for 29 kills while only committing 19 errors. The improved serving and offensive performance was the spark that fueled the 25-23, 20-25, 25-21 SHS victory.
In set 1, Summit won a tight 25-23 set in large part because of the 12 kills the team generated in the set while also hitting .193 for the set led by Val Guzman's 4 kills. The team also served at an 92% clip with 3 aces and dug up 18 balls.
The set was close throughout with neither team being able to get more than a 4 point lead at any point in the set. An Angela Scott kill had Summit knotted up at 9 but Rahway went won a 4-2 run fueled by 2 kills and 2 Summit errors. A Rau Soares kill trimmed the lead to 12-14 and a Guzman kill had Summit tied at 14. A 5-1 Indian run had Summit on its heels (19-15) but a service error gave the ball back to Summit to spark a 7-1 run in which the Hilltopper serving caused many hitting errors by Rahway.
Casey Nardino pounded a kill and Angela Scott hit another key ball after a long rally to get Summit to 23-21. Scott followed up with an ace and a Soares attack got the Indians all out of system and led to a free ball error which gave the set win the the Hilltoppers 25-23.
Set 2 saw the Hilltoppers hit for only 7 kills - 4 by Nardino- and despite a 5 ace output with 0 serving errors, the squad just could not muster enough offense to overcome some poor passing in a few rotations. Summit opened up set 2 much the same way set 1 ended. A Rau Soares kill capped off a run that had Summit up 7-2. Soares nailed an ace later on to get SHS up 10-7 after a brief Rahway run. The good feeling lasted briefly as the Indians ran off 6 points before an Angela Scott kill stopped the damage. Rahway hit for 3 aces in the stretch that saw Rahway jump to a 13-12 lead.
Two aces by Scott got Summit knotted again at 17 and SHS went up by 1 at 20-19 after a Rahway hitting error . However, that was the last point scored by Summit as Rahway hit for 2 aces and 2 kills to spark a 6-0 run that closed out the set 25-20.
In the deciding set Summit hit for double digits in kills again (10) as 5 different players registered at least 1 kill. Summit also hit for 2 aces and dug up 17 balls in a set which the Hilltoppers passed as a 2.05 as a team.
A Casey Nardino ace had the Hilltoppers up 8-4 early and Angela Scott kept the Hilltoppers on top 12-6 with 2 kills at the midpoint in the match. Rahway kept pressuring the Hilltoppers but the squad responded each time preventing a run by Rahway. Summit was enjoying a 16-9 lead after an Indian hitting error when Rahway called a time-out.
The time-out worked as Rahway fought for every point and forced the Hilltoppers into multiple hitting and passing errors that pushed Rahway to a 16-16 tie. Nardino got a crucial kill to give SHS an 18-17 lead. Although the Indians tied it back up, a hitting error and a key kill by Rau Soares had Summit up 20-18. A Val Guzman kill got Summit closer to the win at 22-19 but a kill out of the middle by the Indians got them the ball back at 22-20. A perfect serve receive by Emani Miles who played in her first match of the year today allowed SHS to run an offensive set to Guzman again who hit again to increase the lead to 23-20. Both teams exchanged points and the Hilltoppers could taste the victory at 24-21. But the match ended on the next point as Summit did what it had been doing all set, making good plays out of bad situations. A less than perfect pass by Guzman forced Nardino to set the ball back to the middle where Scott placed a perfect ball to the sideline for the final kill of the match and the Summit win 25-21.
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