Summit should have felt confident with their match-up versus the Tigers of Linden. Summit should have exploited their size advantage. Summit should have been aggressive in taking the game to Linden. And Summit DID for a good part of the match but, like they say in the NFL, it's a 60 minute game and you can't just play for 50 minutes and expect to win.
To understand the difference in the 2-1 win at home and the 0-2 loss on the road, one has to look no further than the offensive production and efficiency of the team in both matches. In the win, SHS hit for 30 kills (10 per set), had an outstanding kill % of 37% and an efficiency of .210.
In the loss, 14 kills (7 per set), a kill % of 26.9 and an efficiency of .154.
In the win, Summit got 11 aces (3.7 per set) and served at an 81.1% rate. In the loss, Summit hit for 9 aces (4.5 per set) and served at a 77.3% rate.
In the win, Summit passed safely (no reception error) in only 76.3% of 58 receptions. In the loss, SHS passed safely in 79.4% of total receptions.
In other words, despite the improved ace production, better passing and more blocking results in match 2, the one factor that the team couldn't seem to overcome in the Linden loss was the lack of offensive production from its front court, especially in the last 10 points.
In set 1, Summit trailed 16-10, outscored Linden 14-10 the rest of the way but still lost 26-24. Analyzing the last 10 points of the set, SHS trailed 17-22 when the Tigers committed an inopportune serving error to get the score to 18-22. A serving error by Summit returned the favor and the Hilltoppers were feeling like this wasn't going to be their day down 18-23.
But off a perfect Macpherson pass led to the OH getting a key kill that brought Summit to a 19-23 deficit. Still with their backs against the wall, Barsh delivered a pressure serve that resulted in an offensive opportunity by Linden that was thwarted by Pulgar with a great dig. That led to another Macpherson kill and the score was 20-23. Barsh kept the serving pressure on and the Tigers folded again, hitting the ball into the net (21-23) . Off that error, Barsh nailed an ace and suddenly Summit was in business at 22-23. Off a scramble play on the next possession that saw Goudreau get blocked but save the subsequent rebound, Trindell set the ball to zone 2 and Linden got caught napping and suddenly SHS was looking at a 23-23 score. Barsh continued the serving barrage and the resulting free ball was handled by the MB who put it perfectly for Trindell who found the hot hitter Macpherson for the 24-23 kill. But then a dig error stemmed the Hilltopper tide and Summit followed it up with a ball handling error and despite having 2 separate opportunities off a perfect pass and a dig to tie the score, SHS attacked safely and saw the only aggressive play in the rally come from Linden who scored on their only real attack of the rally, a middle attack, for the 26-24 win.
In set 2, Summit kept up their level of play prior to the last few points in set 1 and earned their way to a 13-9 lead. But yet again, as it has been customary for this team throughout the season, the midpoint in the set is where most of the errors occur and so it was again as Linden stormed back with a 6-0 run (3 aces and 3 dig errors; 0 kills 4 attack attempts) to take a 15-13 lead.
Linden botched the next serve and Williamson made them pay with 2 straight aces and despite generating an overpass at net-line with her third serve, Summit generated an attack error into the net that stopped the momentum and had SHS locked in a 16-16 tie with Linden. On the subsequent play, Inggs got a kill out of the right side that got the energy back up but that was followed by another unforced error (serve) that stymied the Hilltoppers again. Summit unfortunately began to react as if every ball was a potential error and missed an easy free ball cover for a 17-18 deficit. Two safe attack attempts yielded no points but Linden obliged with a hitting error of their own and at 18-18, the race was on for which team could earn the most points and give away the least.
The next 8 points of the set went as follows:
An out of rotation call on serve erased a Summit ace (18-19)
Passing error on short ball by offensive player (18-20)
Hitting error (18-21)
Ace Linden (18-22)
Ball Handling Error erased SHS kill (18-23)
Kill Summit (19-23)
Free Ball Reception Error (19-24)
Ace Linden (19-25)
In these last key points and the last 3 of set 1, Summit generated 6 unforced errors and had 5 attack attempts that yielded only 1 kill to seal its fate.
Summit played a 50 minute game that proved they were better and more potent that its opposition. Unfortunately, Summit needed to believe it could do that for the next 10 minutes to finish a complete 60 minute game.
Williamson and Barsh buyoed a serving attack that kept SHS in the match and controlled stretches of the match with a combined 90% serving and a 25% ace production.
Macpherson was the only consistent attack option available for the Hilltoppers as she hit for 6 kills and only 1 error (42.9 kill %, .357 efficiency).
The lack of attacks by Linden resulted in a low dig number but Williamson brought up 5 of the 6 opportunities she had to lead the squad.
For the match, Summit out-chanced Linden on offense by a 52-44 margin. In scoring (Kills/Aces/Blocks), Summit earned 25 points to Linden's 27. Summit earned a 26.9 kill % to Linden's 43.2%. It won the hitting error battle 6 v. 9 but lost the serving error battle 10 v. 6. Summit was also called on 6 faults versus 2 by the Tigers.
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