2016 LADY HILLTOPPERS FULL ROSTERS

2016 LADY HILLTOPPERS VOLLEYBALL

FULL ROSTER WITH NUMBERS AND YEARS

VARSITY

SR-OH Val Guzman-C #6

SR-S Gabby Mejia-C #2

SR-OH Jocelyn Mendes-C #3

SR-MB Casey Nardino-C #18

SR-OH/DS Sammy Auerbach #10

SR-DS Amanda Fonseca #7

SR-OPP Grace Galuppo  #13

JR-OH Christina Gangi #17

SO-MB Georgia Inggs  #12

JR-S Alisha McDonnell #9

JR-OH Katie Samay #20

JR-DS Natalie Schluter #8

SR-MB Sterling Sidebottom #1

JR-OPP/DS Taylor Thompson  #4

SO-MB Lauren Trindell #16

SR-OH Madison Young #11

JUNIOR VARSITY

SO-Carmel Barsh

JR-Bella D'Ambrosi

JR-Camille DellaPiazza

JR-Olivia Elko

JR-Vanessa Elko

SO-Juliana Fiore

SO-Cheryl Liu

SO-Blakely McCann

SO-Micaela Nardino

SO-Anna Makedonska

SO-Eilis McFadden

SO-Katie McPhearson

SO-Isabel Olson

SO-Tessa Pulgar

JR-Emily Ramirez

SO-Olivia Skrobala

SO-Caitlin Thompson

JR-Lharyssa Viana

9TH GRADERS ON JV

Amanda Axtell

Krista Ann Clapp

Abby Doyle

Louisa Esquivel

Julia Gangi

Sylvie Goudreau

Kyra Guenther

Maryam Hamdy

Kate Hanson

Cassandra Hrehorovich

Julissa Lopez

Miranda Mendez

Yuna Oh

Daniella Ospina

LADY HILLTOPPERS RUN INTRA-SQUAD MATCH AFTER CANCELLATION

After a full match was played with 4 different lineups, the highest scoring player was Casey Nardino who led the team with 12 and was the only player in double digits.

Nardino was a perfect 6/6 on attack and added 4 blocks to lead the team in both categories.

Grace Galuppo, Katie Samay and Gabby Mejia led the serving attack with a perfect 25/25 and combined for 12 aces (4 apiece) to lead the team. 

Primary setters Gabby Mejia and Alisha McDonnell had 14 and 12 assists respectively working with various hitters in both sets displaying the versatility of the Hilltopper offense.

Jocelyn Mendez passed at an amazing 2.75 rating to lead the team in the absence of Guzman, the team's second best passer.  

From an offensive perspective,  the team hit for a kill % of 41 at 26% efficiency.  The team also had 10 blocks although that number was somewhat mitigated by 7 blocking errors.

In addition, the team served at an 86% clip with an ace percentage of 35%, a tribute to how hard each team member was playing against each other.

The team's projected first 6 servers -not including Guzman- served 40/45 (89%) with 17 aces (38%) today

A preview of the team's first five matches will soon be up on the blog.

COLONIA SCRIMMAGE HIGHLIGHTS-VARSITY

The numbers did not look good last year versus Colonia in an early scrimmage.  The team struggled to get any rhythm on offense due to inconsistent passing and the blocking was not a factor.

This year, results were quite different for the projected starters.  Team competed with and challenged Colonia this year, a drastic improvement over last year.

Highlights:

Val Guzman led the way with 8 kills in 2 sets, for a .278 hitting efficiency and a kill percentage of 44%. Val added 5 digs on defense. Val scored 8 points for SHS. 

Casey Nardino was second with 5 kills and a kill % of 28% . Casey added 2 blocks and 3 aces to score 10 points for SHS. 


Jocelyn Mendez had an error free match from the front row and hit 2/8. Jocelyn led the team with 9 digs. 


Grace Galuppo filled in nicely as the primary setter for 2 sets and handed out 12 of the 17 team assists on the match. Grace also chipped in 5 digs on defense and hit for an ace.

Jocelyn passed for an incredible 2.66 rating and Val at a 2.07 over 2 sets handling over 50% of the serve receptions.


3rd set: https://www.ustream.tv/recorded/90803099


The team's next scrimmage will be on the 30th versus Morristown-Beard school.  Last year the team scored a 25-22, 25-22 victory but managed only 14 kills.  

2016 LADY HILLTOPPERS VOLLEYBALL CAPTAINS - UPDATED

2016 VARSITY CAPTAINS SELECTED-UPDATED

Due to the performance, commitment, demeanor and leadership displayed by one senior throughout the off-season and pre-season, the decision has been made to increase to four the number of Co-Captains for the 2016 season.  All 4 are listed below in alphabetical order.  Congratulations to the newly added Val Guzman for her dedication, commitment and hard work throughout the entire year.

The 2016 Varsity Captains are:

Outside Hitter - Senior Val Guzman  - MVP Selection in 2015, led team in digs, aces and aces/set - One of 2 SHS players to make a club team in 2015-16 (Impact) and played OH in the Summer League playoffs to lead SHS to its first ever Summer League Title.


Setter - Senior Gabby Mejia - Co-#2 in school history for most setting assists and assists per set in a season and and was the Setter in the Summer League playoffs to lead SHS to its first ever Summer League Title.


Outside Hitter/Libero - Senior Jocelyn Mendez - One of 2 SHS players to make a club team in 2015-16 (Impact) and played 2 positions (L/OH) in the Summer League playoffs to lead SHS to its first ever Summer League Title


Middle Blocker/Outside Hitter - Senior Casey Nardino - 2-Time Max Prep Player of the Year for SHS and Union County Conference Mountain Division All-Star Selection 2016 and and played Middle Blocker  in the Summer League playoffs to lead SHS to its first ever Summer League Title.

9TH GRADE LADY HILLTOPPERS UNVEILED

After a week of of clinics,  twenty 9th graders tried out for the 2016 Lady Hilltoppers Volleyball Team.  Despite not officially having a 9th grade team,  the goal is to give these young ladies the opportunity to develop as players, teach them the game and see them in action against other 9th graders.

Thank you to all the 9th graders who gave of their time, their effort and their heart to try to make this team.  This was not an easy process for the girls and the emphasis and goal for the entire week was IMPROVEMENT!  I am happy to say that goal was achieved in spades by every 9th grader who participated.

However,  not having a dedicated 9th grade coach forces the current staff to make the season's experience as fruitful as possible for the incoming 9th graders with limited practice time as they will be expected to contribute significantly next year for the program.  To achieve this,  the number of touches in a practice and competition need to maximized and therefore, the number of athletes restricted.

After a careful assessment of the current skill set of the incoming 9th graders, the following young women have been selected to represent the Lady Hilltoppers Volleyball Team at the 9th grade level.
(letters after name represent potential positions)

Amanda Axtell - OH/MB
Krista Ann Clapp - S/OPP
Abby Doyle - S/DS
Louisa Esquivel - DS
Julia Gangi - OPP/S
Sylvie Goudreau - OPP/OH
Kyra Guenther - OH
Maryam Hamdy - DS/S
Kate Hanson - OH/DS
Cassandra Hrehorovich - DS/S
Julissa Lopez - DS
Miranda Mendez - MB/OH
Yuna Oh - DS
Daniella Ospina - OH/DS

*** for those that did not make it on the list, THANK YOU! for all your hard work and for giving it all you had this past week***

2016 LADY HILLTOPPERS VARSITY AND JV SQUAD

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FOLLOWING STUDENT-ATHLETES FOR MAKING THE 

2016 VARSITY AND JV SQUAD

Thank you to all those that tried out.  I really appreciated your efforts, dedication and heart.  Everyone showed much improvement but as we discussed at length in practice, the specific positional needs of the team -especially at the Varsity level- and the fact that most of JV in 2016 will have to be the 2017 Varsity Team,  decisions needed to be made based on those factors and your performance today during the scrimmages.

Please contact me if you want your specific evaluation of today's scrimmage and overall performance.  I can do that via email, text, phone or in person, your choice.

If you are on the list below, please double check your name for any misspellings. 

VARSITY

Gabby Mejia-C

Jocelyn Mendes-C

Casey Nardino-C

Sammy Auerbach

Amanda Fonseca

Grace Galuppo

Christina Gangi

Val Guzman
Georgia Inggs

Alisha McDonnell

Katie Samay

Natalie Schluter

Sterling Sidebottom

Taylor Thompson

Lauren Trindell

Madison Young

JUNIOR VARSITY
Carmel Barsh
Bella D'Ambrosi

Camille DellaPiazza

Olivia Elko

Vanessa Elko

Juliana Fiore

Cheryl Liu

Blakely McCann

Micaela Nardino

Anna Makedonska

Eilis McFadden

Katie McPhearson

Isabel Olson

Tessa Pulgar

Emily Ramirez

Olivia Skrobala
Caitlin Thompson

Lharyssa Viana

2016 VARSITY CAPTAINS SELECTED-UPDATED

Due to the performance, commitment, demeanor and leadership displayed by one senior throughout the off-season and pre-season, the decision has been made to increase to four the number of Co-Captains for the 2016 season.  All 4 are listed below in alphabetical order.  Congratulations to the newly added Val Guzman for her dedication, commitment and hard work throughout the entire year.

The 2016 Varsity Captains are:

Outside Hitter - Senior Val Guzman  - MVP Selection in 2015, led team in digs, aces and aces/set - One of 2 SHS players to make a club team in 2015-16 (Impact) and played OH in the Summer League playoffs to lead SHS to its first ever Summer League Title.


Setter - Senior Gabby Mejia - Co-#2 in school history for most setting assists and assists per set in a season


Outside Hitter/Libero - Senior Jocelyn Mendez - One of 2 SHS players to make a club team in 2015-16 (Impact) and played 2 positions (L/OH) in the Summer League playoffs to lead SHS to its first ever Summer League Title


Middle Blocker/Outside Hitter - Senior Casey Nardino - 2-Time Max Prep Player of the Year for SHS and Union County Conference Mountain Division All-Star Selection 2016