In 2015 Linden became the Mountain Division Champions for the very first time. Summit faced them at Linden early season and upset the eventual division champions in a 2-1 thriller (25-22, 21-25, 25-20) but, in the return match at home, SHS started off slow and despite roaring back to tie the score at 23, the Tigers closed it out to take set 1 25-23. Set 2 was a different story as the Hilltoppers stormed out to an early lead (12-7), expanded it (21-13) and maintained it (25-18) for the set 2 win. In set 3, Summit held an 11-7 lead but was outscored 10-1 in the next rotation to go down 17-12 and never recover.
The 2019 home match up lived up to its rivalry hype but Linden somehow forged another win, this time thanks to a late set 2 collapse by the Hilltoppers that saved the match for Linden.
Set 1 jumped out to a 6-1 lead behind Gabbie Guidetti´s serving who ripped an ace to start the run and Sarah Maldonado benefited from solid defense by Kiera Stocks to hit for a kill. But, typical of the team this year, no lead is safe enough due to unforced errors and the Tigers benefited from that fact going on a 7-1 run that had Linden up 8-7 before a service error tied up the set again. The teams kept trading punches for a few rotations but after a spike error by the Top gave Linden a 12-13 lead, Krista-Ann Clapp put a hit down that sparked a 4-0 run (2 Linden hitting errors and a Guidetti ace) that forced the Tigers to call a time-out but to no avail as the next long rally yielded another two more Linden errors and a Maldonado kill before a ball handling error stopped the run with SHS up 19-14.
Summit moved closer to a set victory after tough serves by Meghan Tarashuk caused 2 more Linden errors before a Summit error had the Maroon and White up 22-16 and seemingly comfortably in control. After the teams traded points in the next rotation (23-16), Linden had a brief 3-0 run but to no avail as the Hilltoppers did not yield another long run in a key moment and won 25-20 on a Sarah Brennan down-ball kill.
Guidetti had the only 2 aces for the team in the set and the most service points while the team served at an 88% clip while defensively the team gave up only 3 aces led by Stocks who passed at a 2.33 rating, passing safely 6/6 passes. Four different players had a kill in an 8 kill effort led by Maldonado (3 kills) and Annabella Yorio (2 kills) who combined for 5 kills out of 13 swings with no errors. The squad was solid defensively with 18 digs, Stocks with 7 of them. Summit out-scored Linden 10-6, the difference in the set.
Set 2 was a bit more nip and tuck through the midpoint part of the set as the teams were tied at 9 after a Linden attack error but the Tigers rebounded with a 3-0 run fueled by 2 Summit errors (hit/serve) and the Hilltoppers trailed 9-12. A kill by Clapp and another ace by Guidetti got the Hilltoppers back in the game and later on, a Maldonado kill and a Tarashuk ace had the teams tied at 16.
Summit went on a 6-4 run that had the Maroon and White at the door of a 2 set sweep at 22-20. And then, the worst 2 minutes of the match began, albeit innocently enough.
Downball hit error, unforced... 22-21 Summit. Attack error in system... 22-22. Linden service error and Ace by Tarashuk... 24-22... 2 match and set points... service error... 24-23... Ace Linden, a whose ball moment for SHS, 24-24... attack error Summit, 24-25... ball handling error SHS... Linden takes set 2 24-26.
Two minutes of inconsistency, 5 Hilltopper errors, literally taking defeat out of the jaws of victory.
Could Varsity come back and recover?
Set 3 was a duplicate of set 2 but with Linden yet again in the lead 12-9, it was the Tigers that went on 4-2 mini run that gave them a 16-11 lead and the Hilltoppers had to respond. And respond they did with a block by Erin Vostal, a kill by Maldonado and an ace by Stocks to get Summit to within 1 at 15-16.
But then, the next two minutes derailed the Summit squad. Three consecutive Summit service errors set up the Linden 7-3 run that took all of 2 minutes and had SHS on the ropes at 18-23. With things looking bleak, Linden gave SHS a brief glimmer of hope with a missed attack. Down 18-23, Kasey Walsh stepped up and put a serve in that the Summit block defense created a hitting error by the Tigers to get to 20-23. Yorio nailed 2 kills to bring the Hilltoppers to the precipice of an amazing comeback at 22-23. Time-out Linden.
Off the time-out, Linden got a dump kill and a hitting error that followed sealed the set and win for the Linden Tigers 25-22.
Linden outscored Summit 13-11 in the set but SHS gave up 12 points in errors, 9 combined hitting and serving (5 hit / 4 serve) while Linden only committed only 7 (3 hit / 4 serve), ultimately the difference in the match late in set 2 and 3.
Summit out-killed Linden 21-20 in the match. Linden held a 3-2 lead in blocks but SHS out-aced the Tigers 8-5 for a total of 31 points while Linden tallied 28. The serving error discrepancy was ultimately the stat that revealed the reason for the loss as SHS notched 14 service errors while Linden had 9, a five point swing that was the difference in the set 2 and 3 results, especially when 5 of those occurred after the squad crossed the 19th point in each of set 2 and 3.
Tarashuk and Guidetti led the Hilltoppers with 3 aces apiece and had the most service points. Stocks was perfect in serve reception, passing safely in 18 attempts, 10 of which earned a perfect 3.0 pass rating, and rated a team high 2.33 to go along with her 26 digs. The team as a whole was outstanding, passing at a 2.03 for the match. Yorio and Maldonado led the hit parade with 6 kills each and had only 4 errors total combined to lead the squad. Kyra Guenther and Walsh tallied 10 assists each leading a balanced attack
Summit´s record dropped to 6W-6L and would face Blair Academy on Saturday in the last match of this long week.
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