With Summit's record at 2W-4L after the tough loss at Wardlaw, the matchup versus the Cougars of Cranford became more vital not only from an overall record perspective but also from a divisional standpoint as the team sat 4th in the overall divisional standings entering the day's action. Summit, however, would be without the services of the team's current #1 OH and MB as well as their L for this match.
Set 1 began well for the Hilltoppers. Despite an even start where SHS had only a 5-4 lead in the early going, the Maroon and White produced a 6-2 run that began to establish a rhythm to the game that would repeat throughout the match. Annabella Yorio sparked the run with 2 kills from the outside and Georgia Inggs nailed an ace to lead the Hilltoppers to an 11-6 lead. Cranford responded though with a 8-1 run of their own that saw multiple Hilltopper errors from every facet of the game drive the run but, at 12-14, Micaela Nardino was once again the answer as she hit for a kill to zone 5 that sparked a 5-0 run fueled by Sylvie Goudreau's 2 aces from the service line. Despite a Cougar kill that ended the run, Summit got the ball right back off a service error and then Kiera Stocks did what she has done consistently every match and put an ace down to give SHS a 19-15 lead. Cranford again managed to respond and tie the score up at 20 but in the key 21st point, Summit kept pressuring the Cougar defense with attack after attack until finally Cranford committed a hitting error that led to a 21-20 SHS lead. A Yorio overpass kill and a subsequent Inggs ace gave the Maroon and White a 23-20 lead that it would not relinquish. Final score in set 1, 25-21.
The Hilltoppers managed to serve at an 84% clip and hit for 4 aces (2 by Inggs) and gave up only 3 aces in the set. Summit also hit for 8 kills, 3 by both Nardino and Yorio in the set to pace the offense.
The second set started auspiciously for the Hilltoppers with the Cougars jumping out to a 3-0 lead after 2 overpasses led to easy kills in addition to a Summit hitting error. SHS kept its head and after a service error gave Summit its first point, Cheryl Liu's serving forced an error from the Cougar offense and she followed that up with an ace to level the score at 3. A serving error, an overpass for an easy kill and 3 consecutive hitting errors later, Cranford had exploded for an 8-3 lead where the Hilltoppers had committed 4 unforced errors in the 5-0 run. But this squad is starting to find its identity in adversity and what the team has been finding out is that Nardino is the answer they are looking for when things are not going well. Down 8-3, Nardino pounded out a kill to through zone 6 and assisted on a block set up by Inggs to turn momentum around. Goudreau kept the pressure on with 2 aces form the service line and SHS had earned itself a 9-8 lead. Both squads traded shots over the next few points but gained nothing as the scoreboard showed a 10-10 score. But the other answer this season to any Hilltopper woe has been the serving of Kiera Stocks and she did not disappoint, starting a Summit 7-0 run with an ace. Inggs followed up with 2 kills, Nardino nailed a bullet for another kill and Stocks nailed 3 more aces to effectively ice the game at 17-10.
Cranford broke serve but Nardino got another kill to not allow the Cougars any momentum. With the score 19-13 SHS, Goudreau drove a ball through the gym floor that got the team and the fans on their feet and led to another kill by Yorio which extended the Summit lead to 21-13. The rest seemed academic as the Hilltoppers pushed the score to 24-17 and match point but Cranford took advantage of the apparent Summit mental letdown and went on a 5-0 run to make everyone a little nervous at 24-22. But, when an answer is needed, Summit looked for Nardino and yet again, the senior OH had an answer, closing out the set and match with another kill and helping improve the team's record to 3W-4L and 2W-1L in divisional play.
Summit scored on 8 aces (4 Stocks, 3 Goudreau) and allowed only 1 ace to win the serve and receive battle with the Cougars. Liu and Tessa Pulgar passed 2/3 of the serves the Hilltoppers faced from the Cougars and combined for 11/12 good receptions and passed at a 1.9 rating to lead the squad. Nardino led a 9 kill effort by the team with 4 kills in the set and also was the team leader in digs with 3 in the set.
For the match, Summit hit for 12 aces led by 5 by Stocks who was a perfect 11/11 from the service line. Goudreau was a close 2nd with 4 aces of her own. Nardino led a 17 kill Summit performance with 7 of her own with a 38.9 kill % and a .167 efficiency and Yorio hit for 5 with a 38.5 kill % but a team leading .308 efficiency. Nardino also led all SHS players with 5 digs and Stocks was 2nd with 4 of the team's 17 digs.
Summit will get into the thick of divisional play over the next 10 days which will go a long way in determining the fate of the team's state playoff chances.
JV PLAYS TOUGH BUT FALTER IN 3
The Rams were a tough matchup for the Hilltoppers on the JV level last year (1W-1L) with both squads winning at home and this year the expectation was that the squads would have another tight match.
Summit took the first set 25-21 but dropped the next 2 sets as Cranford's serving game became more productive as the match wore on, no more evident than in the decisive 3rd set when Cranford missed 1 serve while Summit dropped 4.
Summit's record drops to 4W-3L in the defeat but got outstanding performances from unlikely players. Cassandra Hrehorovich filled in the front row admirably for the first time in her career and led the squad with 6 kills for the match. Abby Doyle dropped in 3 aces to lead the serving game and newly named Libero Meghan Tarashuk stepped in with 4 digs to anchor a solid defense. Six different players had at least 2 kills, a testament to the solid play of the setters (Doyle, Walsh and Lopez) who ran a very effective offense on the day.
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