Summit lost both matches on JV and Varsity levels in 3 sets against the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Raiders on Friday despite great efforts by both squads. On Varsity, Summit and SPF deadlocked on total points for the match with 70 and the match was decided on the narrowest of margins in set 3. JV struggled in set 1 to contain SPF's serve receive game but found the key in set 2 to tie up the match. Unfortunately, set 3 saw the Hilltopper serving game falter and that was the difference in the set 3 loss.
Summit had only beaten SPF once in the last 5 matches with the sole win coming last season at SHS. Summit sought to repeat that feat on Friday but fell just a bit short of accomplishing that goal.
Set 1 began really well for the visitors as SPF got out to a fast start from the service line and had a 12-5 lead before long after an ace through Ava Williamson. SHS cut the lead down to 4 after a service error by SPF but then 3 consecutive Summit errors and a Raider ace saw the lead go up by 8 again at 18-10.
But in a portend of things to come, SHS proceeded to go on a 10-5 run after the Raiders opened the door with 2 service errors in a row. Carmel Barsh did not miss the opportunity and hit for a thunderous kill to zone 1 and followed it up with 2 consecutive aces to close the gap to 15-21. Two more SPF errors and a Gabbie Giudetti ace later had the Maroon and White to within 3 and 18-21 but a kill out of the middle by the Raiders stymied the run. Georgia Inggs nailed an attack out of the middle that had SHS back to within 3 at 21-24 but the Raiders closed it out with a kill to take set 1 25-21.
SHS continued its consistent serving with 20/23 serves in and tallying 5 aces led by Kiera Stocks and Barsh who scored 2 apiece. Unfortunately, the offense sputtered and managed only 5 kills (2 by Barsh) which was the difference in the set.
Set 2 began rather differently as the squads traded points early and found themselves tied at 6 as each squad could not get on a run to separate the teams. Annabella Yorio then began a 6-0 Hilltopper run with 2 kills out of the left side and the entire Summit offense kept presuring the Raider defense with attack after attack forcing SPF into multiple hitting errors. Kiera Stocks added an ace to the cause and within 5 minutes SHS had taken control of the set at 12-6.
Despite the Raiders' best efforts, Summit defended its lead and expanded it to an 20-12 lead after a Barsh kill before the Blue and White could find hope in the set. SHS was outscored 7-5 the rest of the set but it did not diminish the 25-19 set victory by the squad.
Summit hit for only 2 aces and lost 7 points off service errors but mitigated that damage with a nearly perfect offensive performance, nailing 10 kills to only 1 error in the set. Summit had a kill % of 52% and an efficiency of .474 led by Yorio who had 6 kills on 8 swings with no errors for a 75% kill % and .750 efficiency. The SHS serve receive was flawless, yielding 0 aces in the set, another major key for the Summit set win.
In the decisive third set, SPF got out to a fantastic start and held a 6-2 lead after a kill to the right side through Captain Lauren Trindell. But Summit kept trying to find their game and started to chip away at the lead, getting the score to within 1 at 9-10 after an Ava Williamson ace. The Raiders fought back and ballooned the lead back up to 5 at 9-14 after Trindell was forced into the net by a bad Hilltopper pass. This lead they maintained until the latter stages of the match but at 15-21, Katie Macpherson pushed a ball to zone 1 for a key kill that got the Maroon and White to within 5 at 16-21 and gave them a chance for a comeback.
But that hope was dashed a few points later as the Raiders benefitted from a Summit hitting error and serving error to get to within 2 points of the set and match at 23-18. SHS did not give in however and crawled to within 4 with an Annabella Yorio kill out of the left side (19-23). A SPF hitting error and a Carmel Barsh kill later, Summit started to believe in miracles as the team was within 2 at 21-23. The Raiders called a timeout but to no avail. Williamson came off the timeout and promptly nailed 2 aces to throw the crowd into a frenzy as the Hilltoppers had knotted the score at 23. A block by the Raiders stopped the momentum but on the subsequent rally, Tessa Pulgar put up a perfect 3-pass to Trindell who tried to find Barsh for the kill. SPF dug the ball but managed only a free ball that Yorio tried to put away. Again, the Blue and White defended it but could not convert and the resulting hitting error gave the ball back to SHS tied at 24. Unfortunately that's where the miracle ended as Summit was called on an unfortunate net violation that cost them a point and then saw the SPF outside put down a kill to seal the set and match 24-26.
Despite 5 serving errors, Summit hit for 6 aces (4 late in the set) to keep their hopes alive in set 3. Williamson led the squad in the set with 5 service points and 3 aces to pace the serving offense. The outside tandem of Yorio and Macpherson combined for 5 of the team's 8 kills and suffered only 1 error. Kiera Stocks and Williamson were a perfect 13/13 in receptions, allowing 0 aces and passing at a combined 2.21. Williamson also led the squad with 6 digs.
For the match, Summit averaged 4.33 aces per set, 1 block per set, 7.67 kills per set, and just over 10 digs per set. Here are comparative stats:
SHS MATCH SPF
70 Score 70
23 Kills 25
13 Aces 8
3 Blocks 0
39 EARNED 33
The squad in currently ranked in the top 10 of the Union County Conference for the first time in 7 years. Summit will look to even its record at Wardlaw-Hartridge on Thursday and get a key divisional win versus Cranford on Friday at home (start time 4pm).
JV FALLS SHORT AGAINST SPF DESPITE GREAT 2ND SET
JV knew it was in for a long match right out of the gate against the Raiders. Despite serving tough, the Hilltoppers were finding out that SPF could contain their normally potent serving game. The question became whether the team could contain the Blue and White's own servers and by the sixth rotation, the answer was apparently not. The scoreboard read 17-13 SPF and the lead was insurmountable as SHS could only get on a run behind Gabbie Guidetti's serving which brought the team back from a 14-6 deficit to a 14-13 score. The celebration was short-lived as the Raiders responded with an 11-2 run to close the set 25-15 behind the serving pressure they brought to each rotation.
Set 2 was quite different as the Hilltopper serve receive, combined with SPF serving errors, had the Maroon and White 13-12 up with 6 rotations completed. The serving game had also began to wear down the Raider defense and SHS was beginning to get easy offensive opportunities as a result. The difference in the set really was the Hilltopper serve reception game as they stymied the Raiders' best server, limiting her to 0 service points the second time around the rotation which allowed the Hilltoppers to keep pressure on the Blue and White themselves and close out the set on a 10-4 run to win 25-19.
The deciding 15 point set saw SHS miss 3 of the first 7 serves which spelled disaster as the SPF side jumped out to an 11-7 lead in the first 6 rotations. Summit got no closer than 8-11 as the serving power of Scotch Plains was on display in the last service rotation, hitting for 1 ace in the last 3 service points and forcing errant passes in the other 2 that did not allow the effective Summit offense to get involved. Summit fell 8-15 and saw their record drop to 3W-2L.
Gabbie Guidetti and Cassandra Hrehorovich led the Hilltoppers from the service line with 4 and 3 aces respectively. Sarah Brennan dug up a team leading 6 digs while teammates Krista-Ann Clapp and Megan Gregory held down the fort from the offensive side of the net with 4 kills apiece.
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