Thursday, September 29, 2016

HILLTOPPERS AVENGE LOSSES TO RAHWAY ON BOTH LEVELS

Summit got Casey Nardino back for the match versus Rahway and the team responded with their best performance of the season, beating Rahway 25-6, 25-19 to earn their 2nd victory of the season.  JV cruised past the Indians with a straight game sweep of 25-18, 25-16.

Varsity had just come off one of their worst matches versus Union earlier in the week, having played without Casey Nardino and without Sammy Auerbach due to illness.  Getting Nardino back gave the team a boost and with contributions from the rest of the squad, Summit looked like the dominant team they expected to be all season.  Summit hit for 19 kills and a dominant .292 hitting efficiency while also ripping 11 aces and adding 2 blocks for a season high 32 points in a 2 game match.

In game 1, SHS started off fast and never took their foot off the gas in a 25-6 victory.  Val Guzman ran off 7 consecutive service points (3 aces) in rotation 2 and the team jumped out to a 10-1 lead.  Casey Nardino took over in the next rotation and proceeded to rip off 6 service points (3 aces) and by the time she was done serving, Summit held a 17-2 lead.  The Hilltoppers had the game wrapped up in 6 rotations as Jocelyn Mendez served it out in rotation 6.  The Maroon and White hit for .300 with 8 kills led by Guzman with 3 and Katie Samay with 4.  The team also dominated from the service line with 9 aces in the game led by Guzman and Nardino who hit for 3 apiece.

Game 2 was a much tighter affair and the Hilltoppers held a slim 10-8 lead after 6 rotations although they trailed early 5-2 before Samay stepped up with 3 service points to push SHS to the lead at 9-6.  Two rotations later, Gabby Mejia extended the lead to 14-8 with 3 key service points and the team never looked back.  Grace Galuppo pretty much shut the door on any Rahway comeback hopes with a an ace and 2 service points as the squad extended the lead to 22-13.  The Indians got as close as 24-19 but a well placed Jocelyn Mendez serve led to an India error that ended the match.

Summit nailed 11 kills while hitting .286 to pace their scoring. Guzman led the squad with 4 kills in the set and Nardino chipped in 3 kills.  Taylor Thompson and Grace Galuppo combined for 2 aces and a perfect 6/6 from the service line.  Lauren Trindell and Casey Nardino had 1 block apiece and were a factor on defense the entire match.

Summit gave up only 2 aces the entire match and passed at a 2.00 with Guzman passing at a 2.28 and Jocelyn Mendez at a near perfect 2.75.  Summit dug up 28 balls led by Guzman´s 12 who also led the team with 7 kills followed by Nardino´s 6 kills.

The team will face off against Linden on Friday in another heated conference battle.

JV SERVING ATTACK KEY TO 25-18, 25-16 VICTORY OVER RAHWAY

The JV Squad was looking to avenge a road loss to the Rahway team earlier in September and the squad came through with flying colors as the team got 11 aces and 14 kills for the match to outgun the Indians on this afternoon.

Game 1 was the close at 9-8 SHS through 5 rotations but Blakely McCann stepped up to the service line and pounded out 8 service points (2 aces) to blow the game open at 18-9.  Rahway made a comeback and closed to within 4 at 18-14 but a kill by Katie McPhearson stopped the momentum and gave Summit the room it needed to regain control of the game.  The Hilltoppers played even the rest of the way and Olivia Elko finished the game off with 2 service points (1 ace) to give SHS the win at 25-18.

Lharyssa Viana and Olivia Skrobala led the team with a combined 9 digs and 5 different players had at least 1 kill on the offeensive side of the ball.  The spotlight was, however, on Cheryl Liu who dominated from the service line as she hit for 4 aces out of 5 attempts to set the tone for the squad.

Game 2 was more of the same as both teams were knotted at 10 through 6 rotations when Elko got to the service line and proceeded to nail 5 aces out of 6 service attempts to blow the game open at 16-10.  Summit never looked back and outscored Rahway 9-6 the rest of the way to close out the game and match.

Six different players had at least 1 kill and Elko led the way with 3 kills and was the top scorer in the game with 8 points (5 aces-3 kills).  Micaela Nardino and Camille Della Piazza combined for 7 assists and Della Piazza combined with Carmel Barsh for a key block in the game.

JV improves to 7W-3L on the year and has its sights set on County Tournament and breaking last year´s 15W mark and best winning %.


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