The Hilltoppers were looking for their 10th win when they traveled to Columbia High School on Monday. The team played one of its most exciting three set matches in recent history to come away with the win, 22-25, 25-15, 16-14.
Walsh and Guidetti had the Hilltoppers in great shape in set 1 when they served 8 service points in rotations 3 and 4 to give Summit a 14-10 lead. Not to be outdone, Libero Tarashuk hit for 3 of her own service points and SHS was looking at an 18-13 lead. Things looked good until the Cougars came out with their version of Summit’s power serving and rattled off 6 service points to take the 20-19 lead. Despite Summit being able to square the score at 20, Columbia used its power serving game to again take a lead, this time at 24-21. SHS managed to break the serve but a point later set 1 was done, Columbia winning 25-22.
With their backs against the wall, SHS jumped out to a 5-2 lead behind Lopez’s serving but four rotations later, things looked eerily familiar to set 1 with both teams separated by a mere point at 13-12 Cougars. But then Brennan took control of the service line and proceeded to go on an 8 point run that all but sealed set 2 for the Hilltoppers at 21-13. Final set 2 score, 25-15.
To say the third set was a tale of 2 matches would be an understatement. In the first half of this “race to 15” set, Columbia dominated and looked to be setting up an easy win ahead 9-3. However, the Hilltoppers closed out the set on a 13-5 run that stunned the Cougar faithful as they watched their team drop a close 16-14 decision.
With the score 10-5 Walsh ripped off a couple of quick points to keep Summit within striking distance at 10-7. The Cougars then broke serve and extended the lead once again to 12-7. Tarashuk rattled off another 2 serves and SHS crept back to within 2 at 12-10. And yet again, Brennan got to the service line, slammed the ball with purpose on the gym floor, three, four times and then torched the Cougars for 3 service points to bring the Hilltoppers back from a 13-11 deficit to a 14-13 lead. Although Columbia broke serve to tie the score at 14, it was the serving of Doyle who finished the match off at 16-14 after a couple of great decisions at the net by both hitters and setter alike at the end of the match.
Brennan was the star of the show from a defensive perspective as she led the team in digs with 9, hit for 6 aces and even added an assist.
Walsh was dominant as well, scoring on 8 aces, dishing out 8 assists and adding a dig. Doyle finished up match point with a great dump shot to zone 1 to finish off a balanced match with 3 assists, 3 digs, and 3 kills.
Clapp, Guenther, Lawlor led the way offensively with 4 kills apiece.
Gregory and Maldonado were intimidating out of the front, Maldonado with 3 kills and 3 blocks while Gregory notched a block and 3 kills.
No comments:
Post a Comment