Set 1 was as good of a start as the Top would have liked. After a Gabbie Guidetti kill tied the score at 1-1, SHS took immediate control with Kasey Walsh on the service line as she nailed 2 aces to give Summit an early 3-1 cushion. Blair Academy knotted the score up at 3 but a Sylvie Goudreau kill gave SHS the lead and serve back. Guidetti delivered an ace and forced an overpass that Goudreau blocked and Summit was back up at 6-3. The Hilltoppers maintained their composure and delivered a kill by Sarah Maldonado and a block by Erin Vostal to extend the lead to 10-5 and things seemed on the mend from the night before. Julissa Lopez took the spot of Sarah Brennan as Brennan was Libero for the match due to Kiera Stocks´ ankle injury the previous night and quickly made an impact with an ace and followed up with another serve that forced a hitting error giving the Top a 13-6 lead.
A Blair mini-run closed the deficit to 4 at 13-9 but Summit responded with one of their own as the Maroon and White benefited from 3 opponent errors to get SHS back up by 6 to 16-9 by the end of rotation 6. But the next 2 minutes were again a defining moment for this squad as the team allowed a 6-0 run sparked by a service error that Blair took full advantage of as they hit the Hilltopper defense for 3 kills and took the 2 Hilltopper hitting errors to knot the score at 16. Goudreau blocked a Blair attack and the run was over but the opponent got an immediate kill to get the set squared up again at 17.
SHS looked like they had lost momentum but then a gift from the Blair side, a service error. Summit got another block by Goudreau and the 19-17 lead looked like it had sparked the team back to form. Unfortunately, despite a great Guidetti serve that forced an overpass, the Hilltoppers shanked the free ball pass and the White and Blue took full advantage, going on a 4-0 run (1 ace, 1 hit error SHS, 1 kill, 1 free-ball pass error) that saw SHS trail by 2 at 21-19.
It felt like a Linden collapse but it was not in reality. The squad fought back with a key tip kill by Maldonado and an ace by Brennan to tie up the score. A kill and a ball handling error later saw Blair Academy back up by 2 at 23-21 but the Hilltoppers again fought adversity and despite facing 2 match points at 22-24, Summit got a two huge kills by Vostal to fight off both match points!
Blair responded with a kill of their own and facing their 3rd match point against, Brennan nailed a down ball kill to stave off elimination again. A service error gave the Blair squad another match point, their 4th, and this time they would hit true, knocking off Summit in set 1 27-25.
Four different players got an ace for the Top in the set but Walsh was the top server with 2 aces and a 2.75 rating. Guidetti was not far behind with a 2.60 and 1 ace. Brennan was solid as Libero in the absence of Stocks, passing safely 10/10 balls and rating a 1.80 while also leading the team with 4 digs. Goudreau had 2 blocks to lead the team and was the top scorer with 4 points in the set. Five different Hilltoppers had a kill but Maldonado, Vostal and Goudreau led the way with 2 kills each in a very balanced offense.
Set 2 was a tale of 2 halves in reality. In the first half, Summit would get out to a 7-1 lead behind 3 aces by Walsh and a down-ball kill by Brennan. That was all but erased in 2 minutes with Blair Academy cutting the lead down to 1 with a 5-0 run which included 2 Hilltopper unforced hitting errors. A Goudreau block broke serve and a hitting error, again forced by Goudreau, had the Top back up by 3 at 9-6 and a rotation later, 10-8. And that was the end of the first half.
The second half saw Blair outscore Summit 17-5. In that run, SHS suffered through 4 ball-handling penalties, a missed serve, and 4 hitting errors. The final score of 25-15 was more a reflection of Summit´s inability to produce enough points against the Blair defense.
Walsh was outstanding from the service line, going 12/13 with 5 aces and a 2.23 rating but two other players were particularly effective, Brennan with a 2.25 rating and Guidetti with a 2.29. Brennan was fantastic in Stocks´ absence, passing safely in 20/21 attempts with a 1.95 rating and leading the team with 8 digs.
Despite the loss of 2 starters, the squad was very competitive and had moments of a dominance but the string of errors with no off-setting point production was again a reason in the loss.
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