The Hilltoppers were looking to even out their record against the Indians but the early season serving woes again provided the dagger that did in Summit in this matchup. SHS served a mere 79.5% for the match, the 2nd straight match under 85% (73.7% v. Union).
Summit was looking to straighten out its serving performance and get points off the serve and managed to explode for 7 aces in the match (3 from Cheryl Liu) but 9 serving errors did the Hilltoppers in versus an opponent that served at 91% with 8 aces of their own. The errors at different points in the match were the key difference in the contest as the Maroon and White out killed the Rahway squad by a 20-7 margin with a 36.4 kill % (MacPherson 7 kills - 50% kill - 28.6% efficiency) but still managed to lose each set 22-25, 21-25.
Set 1 was a close affair early as the teams struggled to get consistency in their game. Although Rahway was keeping its serves in play, their offense was not productive early on in the set. Summit, on the other hand, had already missed 3 serves in its first 6 rotations but had also hit for 3 aces and had generated 3 kills which had both teams knotted at 9.
With SHS leading 12-11, Captain Lauren Trindell found Co-Captain Georgia Inggs for a kill, Carmel Barsh for another while Barsh blocked a Rahway attack and Liu chipped in an ace to get Summit what seemed to be a comfortable lead at 16-11 to force an Indian time-out. After the time-out, Rahway broke serve on a kill and Summit handed out 4 consecutive unforced errors which had Rahway again tied with Summit at 16.
The set settled back to its early rhythm and after MacPherson pounded down a kill down the line to knot the score at 20, it looked like Summit got the emotional lift it needed to finish strong. However, a couple of free ball errors and hitting errors ended the run and, even though Rahway only got 1 kill in the last 5 points, SHS still fell 22-25 in set 1.
Summit hit for 5 aces but added 4 errors (82.6 serve %) but also got aced 5 times by Rahway. Overall, Summit out-killed Rahway 11-4 but the error differential became the deciding factor in the match.
Set 2 began rather auspiciously for the Hilltoppers. Early serving and hitting miscues fueled a 12-5 run by the Indians which seemed insurmountable as the Maroon and White would need to play almost error free the rest of the set to have any chance to muster a comeback. A quick attack out of the right side by Inggs started the a 16-10 Summit run that saw SHS within 1 at 21-22 but a serving error and a free ball receive error dashed the comeback as the Hilltoppers fell 21-25.
Summit managed only 2 aces in set 2 but hit for another 5 errors and had only a 76.2 serving %, the real culprit in the loss. The Hilltoppers gave up only 2 aces out of 23 pass attempts, a credit to the primary passers who kept Summit in the game when all hope seemed lost. The offense was effective enough again, hitting for 10 kills (.333 kill, .133 effic.) led by MacPherson with 3 kills although 7 different players got at least 1 kill in a very balanced attack. Again, Summit out-killed Rahway 10-3 but it was not enough to overcome its hitting and serving errors.
Summit will play in the Raider Tourney on Saturday to find solutions to its serving woes as it prepares for the big match against Linden on Tuesday.
JV Dominates Rahway 25-11, 25-9
JV picked up their first victory of the season behind 17 aces and 16 kills. Gabbie Guidetti led the way with 7 aces, Meghan Tarashuk led the way defensively with 5 digs while, from the offensive side of the ball, Sarah Maldonado led the squad with 6 kills and Meghan Gregory added 4 to pace the Maroon and White attack in a dominant performance.
No comments:
Post a Comment