Summit traveled to Rahway High School in search of their first win but saw another set of spectacular efforts fall short as key errors submarined the Hilltopper effort. In game 1, SHS trailed 4-8 early but inconsistent hitting (4 hitting errors out of first 6 attempts) became the undoing of the squad as Rahway held a 16-9 lead after the first 6 rotations. Trailing 18-10, Captain Jocelyn Mendez's serving yielded an ace and got 3 total points to bring back SHS to within 5 at 18-13. Rahway responded with a 3-0 run of their own and the Hilltoppers just could not get on track the rest of the game and fell to the Indians 25-19.
Game 2 was a serving masterpiece by the Hilltoppers as the team continued to struggle for hitting consistency. Summit only had 6 kills in the game but pounded out 10 aces to help take the match to 3 games. Down 10-7, Summit's ace leader from 2015, Captain Val Guzman rattled off 8 service points including 5 aces to give the team a 15-10 lead they would never relinquish. The Hilltoppers outlasted Rahway 25-21 in game 2 to earn a deciding game 3.
Game 3 however was not to be kind for the Summit squad as the serving errors crept up at the key moments of the game to swing momentum to the home team. SHS managed only 2 aces to 4 errors and despite hitting for a game high 9 kills in game 3, the team also saw 4 of their 6 hitting errors in the game come late in the match. Summit held a 13-10 lead after the first 6 rotations and looked to be in control but after a missed serve gave the ball to the Indians down 11-14, Rahway rattled off 6 more points to turn the game on its head. SHS went from 13-10 up to trailing 14-16 in 1 rotation.
SHS responded with Katie Samay, getting the team back to within 1 at 15-16. But this is when Summit's errors reared up and what had been anyone's match turned into a Rahway rout in game 3 with the Indians going on a 6-0 run that had the Hilltoppers down 15-22 after another rotation. Summit got no closer than 5 at 17-22 before bowing out 17-25 to Rahway.
Despite the disappointing finish, Summit hit for another 23 kills led by Nardino's 9 kills (.222 hitting %, .500 kill %) and Guzman's 6 kills. Guzman was stellar from behind the service line, especially in the second set, as the Captain hit for 9 aces on 17 attempts to pace the 16 ace barrage by the Summit squad. Captain Gabby Mejia was also solid, getting 20 assists and scoring with 2 aces and 1 kill. Captain Jocelyn Mendez had a team leading 10 digs and Guzman chipped in with 8 to lead the team as Summit racked up 31 digs on the afternoon. More impressively, Mendez passed at a 2.53 rating off 13 serve receptions.
The team will continue its tough opening of the season with ALJ at home on Monday after participating in the Raider Tournament this Saturday.
JV Stumbles and drops a match to Rahway 16-25, 17-25
Despite the efforts of KAte McPherson (5 kills) and Olivia Elko (4 aces), Summit just had no answers for the defense and serving of the Indians. Summit trailed 22-10 after 6 rotations in game 1 but showed some life with a 6-3 run that gave the team hope for game 2.
The team bounced back and seemed energized in game 2 as the first 6 rotations had SHS up 13-10 but the team ran into a serving buzzsaw the 2nd time through the rotation and Rahway went on 2 separate runs of 5-0 to take command of the game and match, finishing Summit off by a 25-17 score.
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