Chatham got to the quarter-finals of the Morris County Tournament, had just beaten #7 in Group 3, Mendham, and had earned a #12 seed itself for the State Tournament. Add to those facts that SHS had not beaten Chatham in at least 10 years and you had the makings of another tough match-up for the Hilltoppers. But the squad who had struggled to close out teams and had lost confidence with every tough late set collapse during the season, turned in the statement game of the season, beating the Chatham Cougars 25-22, 25-13 in a clinical display of volleyball efficiency despite missing their best ace producer and a top DS. Summit capitalized on late Cougar errors in set 1 and put down key balls to pull away late and win 25-22. Set 2 was over early as the Hilltoppers put the foot on the gas and did not let up in a 25-13 win. The serve receive was a major key in the win as Summit gave up only 4 aces for the match.
Summit jumped out to a 5-1 lead to start set 1 but the Cougars had erased that deficit and earned a 2 point lead after a kill to the outside midway through the set (11-9). Summit did not wilt under the pressure and had the score knotted at 14 after a Macpherson ace. Chatham couldn´t read the outside´s serve again and the Cougars´ confidence waivered after the second consecutive ace. That feeling was never more evident after a Goudreau block gave the Hilltoppers their third consecutive point for a 17-14 lead. The body language and energy from both sides was all you needed to focus on to see where the game was heading. Chatham battled back after a time-out and tied the score at 17 but despite all recent evidence to the contrary, Summit held their nerve and outscored Chatham 7-3 in the pressure moments of set 1 (3 kills, 1 ace) to take control and close it out with a 25-22 score line on a Goudreau attack.
Chatham did not recover emotionally and despite recent history to the contrary, Summit showed a killer instinct and ended set 2 early with an 11-0 explosion (5 kills, 2 aces) led by Trindell's serving (10/10 2 aces). Summit closed out the set outscoring the Cougars 14-13 to earn one of the most significant victories of the season, if not the most significant. Could the team continue the momentum from Cranford and Chatham and sweep New Prov for the first time in 7 years?
New Providence was determined to avenge its loss to SHS earlier in the season, especially on their senior night. With Summit short-handed again with illness issues, the task was made easier for the #2 Mountain Conference squad and they handled the Hilltoppers 25-14, 25-16. New Providence's serving attack wore down SHS by the 2nd time through the rotation each set and the passing woes gave the team's offense little opportunity to get into rhythm but, despite that, the ladies were able to stay in the match through the midway point thanks to their defense (25 digs). The team would look to get back to its winning ways on their senior night versus Roselle Catholic.
Senior night was a happy day for the Hilltopper faithful as many fans turned out to say goodbye to its seniors and to to celebrate their impact on the sport at SHS. Summit rallied back from a 18-25 set 1 loss to dominate in set 2 25-16. But the deciding set played out as the season has for the most part, with Summit doing enough to get close to a victory at the end just to see it evaporate due to errors and non-aggressive plays. Summit got out to a small lead early and maintained it nearing the midpoint of the set after a Stocks ace had SHS up by a score of 10-6. A few rotations later, RC made a run at the Hilltoppers but Barsh squashed an attack with a solo block and reestablished the 4 point cushion at 14-10. Roselle Catholic, to their credit, did not give up and fought for every ball, getting to Hilltopper attacks that had been points just 2 rotations before. RC outscored Summit 4-2 in the next 2 rotations and the lead was down to 2 at 16-14. Many have seen this play out in the past, with Summit allowing a team to come back late and not being able to score when it needed to do so. But not this time, not at this point of the season, not after Chatham.
The Maroon and White went on a 5-0 run (2 kills, 1 ace) behind Trindell's serving and the match seemed well in hand at 21-14. And then, a noticeable mental letdown occurred. A free ball error followed by a "whose ball is it moment" started to visibly shake the confidence of the Hilltoppers and the athletes began to lose that killer instinct that had been so apparent not 5 minutes before those errors. Down 23-19, RC went on a 4-0 run to take all the momentum away from Summit and to bring back memories of earlier matches where the ending would be predictably bad for the Hilltoppers. Barsh would allow the team to breathe with a shot to zone 1 off the Roselle Catholic MB to get SHS ahead at 24-23 but a hitting error gave RC the ball knotted up at 24. Liu then passed up a good serve to the 10 ft. line that Trindell fed to the outside which was slammed down by Nardino for the shot at another match-point. Nardino stepped up and delivered a tough serve that caused a subsequent hitting error and this time, the recent play of this team won out as did their mental toughness and Summit closed out the deciding set 26-24 for their 9th victory of the campaign and 3 out of the last 4.
Meanwhile, JV continued to play the 9th graders in set 2 and dropped a 2-0 decision to Chatham, a 2-0 decision to New Providence but beat RC by a 2-0 score.
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