Summit came off their loss to the best team in the county with a new found attitude and belief. The squad felt it could play with the best and be competitive and it needed to prove it against the #6 seed Oak Knoll.
SHS hadn't beaten the Royals since 2011 so it was not an easy task, especially on the road. The team's heart and resilience that have been on display all season long despite tough losses was seriously put to the test as the Royals took game 1 25-21 and pushed the Hilltoppers to the brink of a loss in game 2 before Summit closed it at 25-23 to force a game 3. The Hilltoppers faced 2 match points, fought them off, and won on their 2nd opportunity to close out game 3 at 28-26 for one of the best victories the squad has had in the past 3 seasons.
Game 1 was the tight battle it seemed to be on paper. By rotation 6 it was clear that the team that could sustain any run would probably win the game as Summit trailed 9-8. Summit erased that minor deficit and led 15-14 late but a late mini 5-3 run by Oak Knoll had the Hilltoppers trailing again 19-16 after 12 rotations. Summit got as close as 21-22 but allowed the Royals to close out the game on a 3-0 run that settled things at 25-21.
Ahead 5-2 in game 2 after a quick start, Summit looked to regain the momentum of the match but the Royals pressured the Hilltopper serve receive and did not allow the Hilltoppers to get the ball back in rotation 4 as the team found itself down 9-5 before the run was over. Summit was in dire need of a spark by rotation 6 as the Royals had extended the lead to 13-7 and the match was quickly slipping away. But then 2 things occurred that changed the momentum of the game. Coach Martins inserted Taylor Thompson into the lineup as an OH in hopes of generating offense and break the Royal's momentum. The move payed off as Thompson got a quick kill to give the ball back to Summit down only 5, 13-8. Lastly, that switch in rotation allowed Jocelyn Mendez to serve and the captain proceeded to run off 3 consecutive points (1 ace) to bring the Maroon and White to within 3 at 13-10.
The Hilltoppers and their fans felt the momentum shift and the team could sense there was an opening if they could execute their offense. But the Royals responded yet again and pushed the lead back to 8 at 18-10 and seemed to be in total control despite a Gabby Mejia serving run that had Summit within 5 at 18-13. By rotation 10, SHS had cut the lead down to 3 at 21-18 as Thompson continued to generate pressure out of the OH spot. Serving specialist Sammy Auerbach nailed an ace and added another service point that got the Hilltoppers to within 2 at 22-20 but the Royals got the ball back with the lead at 23-20 and everyone knew the next point would be monumental. Val Guzman got the key kill that turned the game on its head and gave the ball back to Summit and Jocelyn Mendez. Mendez ran off 4 of her 7 service points (2 aces) to bring the team back from certain defeat and extended the match with a 25-23 game 2 win.
Summit celebrated the game 2 win but a lot of work needed to be done. Game 3 mimicked game 1 in so far as neither team could generate much sustained pressure. Through 6 rotations the Royals held a slim 11-9 lead. By rotation 10, Grace Galuppo had the Hilltoppers up 19-17 after her serving rotation. But again, the Royals responded and SHS was only up by 1 at 21-20 after 12 rotations. Summit missed another serve and had a couple of hitting errors on a brief 3-0 run that put Oak Knoll up 23-22. Coach Martins was forced to take a time-out and exhort his team to execute the offense. Summit knotted up the score with another Thompson kill but Oak Knoll sided-out to get the ball and their first match point at 24-23. Summit forced a hitting error to knot up the score at 24 and Casey Nardino forced an Oak Knoll passing error which gave SHS a match point but a service error after an Oak Knoll time-out stalled the team's momentum. Tied at 25, the Hilltoppers got blocked to get the Royals another match point but another amazing out of system play by Summit kept the ball alive and forced a Royal hitting error that gave Summit new life at 26-26. Grace Galuppo was perfect from the service line and the Summit defense got up a couple of balls that led to quick kills, the last one, fittingly enough, by Taylor Thompson through the Royal block to give Summit one of its best victories in the past 4 seasons.
The OHs led the 3rd game as Val Guzman and Taylor Thompson combined for 7 kills - 3 errors - 24 attempts (.166 efficiency, 29.1 kill %) out of the team's 11 total kills. The squad served at an 89% rate with an 11% ace rate. Jocelyn Mendez, Grace Galuppo and Val Guzman combined for 18 of the team's 26 serve receptions and passed at a combined 2.01 pass rating to allow the offense to get in gear. Guzman was a defensive machine, digging up 9 point saving balls of the team's 19 total digs.
For the match, Guzman dug up a team leading 13 balls and Mendez 11. Mendez (2.05), Galuppo (2.00) and Guzman (2.10) combined for a 2.05 pass rating and handled 48 of the team's 66 serve receptions. Guzman and Nardino led the team with 6 kills apiece and Thompson got 4 crucial kills and Lauren Trindell chipped in with 3 to round out most of the offensive output. Gabby Mejia ran an effective offense, distributing 21 balls and keeping the Royals off-balance with her offensive choices. From a serving perspective, the team served at a 93% clip with a 15% ace rate. Mendez was a perfect 12/12 with 3 aces, Guzman 16/16 with 2 aces and Galuppo 12/12 with 2 aces to lead the Summit serving attack.
JV POSES LITTLE THREAT TO ROYALS IN TUNE-UP UCIAC MATCH
The JV Squad was looking to avenge 1 of its 3 losses versus the Royals but fell in 2 games 25-22, 25-13. After 7 rotations, game 1 looked all but over as Oak Knoll held a 22-14 lead. Olivia Skrobala, back from illness, ripped off 6 consecutive service points (1 ace) to give Summit a chance trailing only 22-21. But like much of the game, the Royals serving got another ace and the Summit serving couldn generate much as SHS dropped the last few points to lose 25-22.
Game 2 was over early as the passing gave the Hilltoppers many offensive opportunities but the players couldn't execute the attacks that led to a 6-0, 11-1 and 19-2 Royal leads that SHS could not overcome despite outscoring Oak Knoll 11-6 the remainder of the match.
Summit drops to 13W-4L. The Hilltoppers will host Linden at SHS Wednesday, 10/19 at 4pm in the first round of the UCIAC JV Tourney.
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