Summit was feeling very confident after the 3 set victory over Rahway 2 days earlier as they got ready to face off against the Oak Knoll Royals. Summit had demonstrated how far they had come this season with their performances against #5 Union, #7 Roselle Catholic, #10 Kent Place, #11 Dayton and #14 Rahway in the final 2 weeks of the season. SHS had been overwhelmed by Union but came back and dominated Roselle Catholic a few days later. Kent Place survived versus the Hilltoppers in a match that saw Summit swing for the win at 25-24 but unable to close it out and a day later, Dayton's offense proved to be too much for a Hilltopper squad that played competitively but was unable to match Dayton's firepower. Summit bounced back on the road against Rahway in a tight 3 set win and the team was looking to finish out the season on another road win at Oak Knoll.
Despite playing outstanding volleyball for the most of the match, the Hilltoppers were unable to maintain their amazing play from set 1 and fell to the Royals 25-21, 22-25 and 12-25. The difference in the match was the Hilltopper offensive production as Summit got 14 kills with a .281 hitting % in set 1, dropped to 10 kills and a .024 in set 2 and a mere 5 kills with a .000 in set 3.
Summit was down 5-10 early in set 1 but 2 aces by Rau Soares and 2 kills by Val Guzman had the Hilltoppers within 1 at 9-10. Angela Scott hit for a kill and Grace Galuppo nailed an ace a few points later which had SHS up for the first time in the set 12-11. Oak Knoll reacted to this setback by going on a 6-3 run that had the Royals up late 17-15 but a Casey Nardino kill and a Royal hitting error had Summit knotted up at 17. SHS allowed Oak Knoll to take control back at 20-18 and it looked like the Royals would finish off the Hilltoppers quickly enough. A serving error by the Royals gave Summit the opening it needed and Jocelyn Mendez got a crucial dig/kill to tie up the score at 20. But as had been the pattern all set long, the Royals didn't allow SHS to continue its momentum and after a free ball passing error by the Hilltoppers, Oak Knoll had its lead back at 21-20. The Summit serving attack came to the rescue though as Galuppo served out the last 4 balls as Scott and Guzman hit for 3 kills to give Summit a 25-21 set win after a 5-1 run.
Summit scored a whopping 19 points in the set and hit for a .281 average led by Val Guzman who hit for a .455 with 5 kills and 0 errors. Summit also had 5 aces spread out through 4 servers and had only 2 errors. Most importantly, SHS gave up only 5 aces and out-killed Oak Knoll 14-6.
Set 2 was a microcosm of the entire Hilltopper season. Summit was at times dominant in the set, to the point that the Royals did not look like they had an answer for anything Summit had to give. At other times, Summit looked flawed and unsure of itself as the team got numerous opportunities to re-establish its dominance but could not convert when it mattered. And on brief stretches, SHS did not look like it belonged on the court with the Royals.
Summit took a 6-0 lead behind Val Guzman's serving as the Royals were kept out of system and forced into numerous errors. Once Oak Knoll broke serve though, Summit couldn't get its offense and passing in gear and the Royals took advantage, going on a 10-4 run that had both teams tied at 10 thanks to 3 hitting errors, 2 passing errors and a serving error by the Hilltoppers. Summit reacted well to the setback though and went on a 9-4 run of its own fueled by 6 kills (3 by Nardino) and 1 ace by the Hilltoppers to give SHS a 19-14 lead that forced a time-out by the Royals and had Summit seemingly ready to win a 2nd match this season versus a top 10 opponent.
But the Hilltoppers could not close the deal as the team allowed the Royals to go on a 11-3 run that gave the set to Oak Knoll 25-22. During this run, Oak Knoll hit for 4 kills and 0 errors with 2 aces. Oak Knoll had only 1 error overall during this stretch. In contrast, Summit had only 1 kill but added 4 hitting errors and 1 free ball passing error. Up until this point in the match, Summit had played nearly a perfect game but this last stretch ruined an otherwise outstanding effort.
The deciding set was not quite as exciting as the first 2 sets. Summit trailed 8-1 early and never really got in gear as the Royals kept the pressure on throughout the set, getting the lead up to 14-5 and 20-10 before closing Summit out 25-12. Oak Knoll out-killed SHS 12-5 in the set and out-aced the Hilltoppers 5-1, scoring a total of 19 points in the set versus Summit's 6.
A great effort versus the #6 team in the county which showed the growth in the team over the last 2 years.
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