Thursday, September 8, 2016

SUMMIT LATE HEROICS FALL SHORT AGAINST UNION; JV ROLLS PAST UNION BEHIND NEWCOMER OFFENSE

Summit drops a heartbreaking 25-9, 14-25, 26-28  decision to the Farmers of Union in a 3 game thriller.  Despite a 23 kill effort by the Hilltoppers and a 13 ace performance, Summit's errors at key times derail outstanding home opening performance by the squad. Captain  Jocelyn Mendez had 15 service points,  3 aces, 5 kills and 7 digs to pace the Hilltoppers and keep them in the match late in game 3.  Captain Val Guzman's team leading 8 kills set the tone for a consistent offensive effort while Casey Nardino added 6 kills and a team leading 4 aces and 1 block to lead all scorers in the match. Gabby Mejia quarterbacked the offense to a 21 assist effort -a career high- and gave SHS an opportunity to make a comeback in set 3.  

Summit jumped out to a 13-3 lead behind Grace Galuppo's serving in game 1 and never looked back as the squad took game 1 by a 25-9 tally.  Game 2 was a mirror image of game 1 except that the Farmers of Union took a 15-2 lead this time and Summit could not get closer than 14-25 to close out game 2.  Game 3 was a highly competitive affair with SHS jumping out in front 8-3 early.  Union went on a 6-0 run after a timeout to jump ahead 10-8 and extended the lead to 21-17 late.  Gabby Mejia brought the team back to within 1 at 20-21 with her effort from the service line but Union responded with a 3-0 run to push SHS to the brink at 20-24.  Kills by Val Guzman and Casey Nardino brought the team back to 24-22 behind the serving of Jocelyn Mendez who also hit for 1 ace during the 4-0 run that has Summit and Union knotted at 24.  Union served for the match at 25-24 and was stymied by a Nardino kill who then stepped up with an ace to give Summit the lead at 26-25.  SHS could not get that last point however and Union ran off the last 3 points to take game 3 and the match 28-26.  

SHS takes on the Rahway Indians tomorrow at Rahway High School at 4pm looking to even their record at 1-1.

The JV Squad followed up Varsity's exciting match with one of their own.  Union jumped out to a 9-4 lead early as the early jitters were evident on both teams.  Down 12-6, Lharyssa Viana served 3 service points (2 aces) to bring the team to within 3 at 12-9.  Olivia Skrobola followed up with 5 points to give Summit its first lead at 14-13.  Union responded however and went on a 9-5 run that saw the Hilltopper lead evaporate.  

It was then that Viana stepped up again and proceeded to serve Summit into a first game win after serving 6 straight points (3 aces) to bring the Hilltoppers all the way back from a 22-18 deficit to a 25-22 win.

The second game was far less dramatic as the 10th grade newcomers Carmel Barsh, Kate McPhearson and Micaela Nardino took over the front court and helped the Hilltoppers dominate offensively.  Summit led 11-7 after the first 6 rotations and never looked uncomfortable as the team maintained that 4 point cushion (21-17) after 12 rotations behind solid serving and timely kills by the aforementioned sophomores.  Viana was again key on the serving line as she led the team with 6 service points (2 aces) and pushed the Hilltopper  lead late from a 21-17 cushion to 24-17.  That run pretty much sealed the deal as SHS closed out game 2 and the match 25-19.

JV will look to improve to 2-0 tomorrow versus Rahway.

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