The Lady Hilltoppers finished last week with their season record at .500 record (4W-4L), made the finals of the Fall Classic for the first time and seemed to be ready to face the toughest week of the season, a week where the Top would be playing 5 matches in 6 days, 3 of them in-conference and 4 of them on the road.
The week was always a pivotal one for SHS but the team would have to prove to itself that it could be something it had not been in the last couple of seasons: road warriors. In 2015, Summit had a record of 4W-8L on the road, in 2016, 4W-9L, in 2017, despite a 6W-6L home record, the Hilltopper away record was 2W-7L. In 2018 the trend continued as SHS managed only a 4W-9L away record.
The 2019 season began ominously enough for the Lady Hilltoppers on the road as the team had a 2W-1L record after the first 3 matches but then went on the road and dropped 2 matches in a row versus Union and Linden. Summit bounced back with a win versus Cranford on the road to even out their record to 3W-3L but dropped another road game to New Providence before bouncing back at home with a win over the Roselle Catholic Lions.
The squad would open the week with 3 consecutive road games against the #2 divisional team, the Crusaders of Governor Livingston, followed by the Payne Tech Lions -winners of the Fall Classic- and then would see the long-time rival Rahway Indians. With a 1W-3L road record, there was reason for concern.
The Crusaders were dominant versus the Hilltoppers in yet another road loss for the Maroon and White dropping their record to 4W-5L (1W-4L on the road) but the team had to find an answer to their road woes quickly as the squad would be up against the wall versus Rahway and Payne Tech, needing wins over these two squads to keep themselves in the state tournament conversation.
HILLTOPPERS AVENGE FALL CLASSIC LOSS TO LIONS
The Summit Squad might have been delayed by traffic getting to the Newark school but it did not impact their offense and serving as SHS seemed to be on time with everything they tried in set 1. Summit jumped out to an early 7-3 lead after 4 rotations with 2 kills by Sarah Maldonado, 1 by Sylvie Goudreau and Gabbie Guidetti who also hit for an ace in the run.
Payne Tech fought back to take the lead at 10-9 by rotation 7 but Kyra Guenther broke momentum with a setter dump that got SHS knotted up at 10. That play sparked a 4-0 run that gave the Hilltoppers a 14-10 lead in which Kasey Walsh´s serving forced the Lions into 3 hitting errors. But yet again Payne Tech fought back and by rotation 9, a 5-0 run had the Lions up by 2 at 20-18 before a line fault broke the serve and gave the ball back to Summit at 19-20.
The teams traded points over the next 2 rotations but a Maldonado kill seemed to elevate the Hilltopper spirit and a Payne Tech error after a long rally had the Maroon and White knotted up at 22 with set 1 on the line. Erin Vostal put a kill down out of the middle and Guenther got a key block to seemingly gain control of the set at 24-22. Unfortunately, late errors have been the teams´ Achile´s heel and 2 Summit errors had the game tied at 24. After a rally ensued on the next serve, Meghan Tarashuk put up a perfect dig that Guenther set up to Annabella Yorio for a resounding kill that got Abby Doyle to the serving line. Doyle pounded out an ace to seal the set and get SHS closer to a rare road win.
The Hilltoppers rode the tough serving of Guidetti, Sarah Brennan and Walsh in the set as they scored 11 of the Hilltoppers´ 14 points off the serve. Maldonado led a group of 6 Hilltoppers who got at least 1 kill in the set by scoring 4 kills on 6 attempts. The Lion serving attack did give the Hilltoppers trouble as they were only able to pass at a 1.71 clip for the set led by Kiera Stocks´ 1.69.
Set 2 was much of the same for Summit but the Top took control of the set in rotations three through five, scoring 9 points and taking a 13-6 lead that seemed safe. That did not change through rotation 12 when the Hilltoppers were still looking at a 23-18 lead. But then, the wheels came off after a serving error by the Maroon and White placed the Lions´ best server at the line down 19-23.
This player had scored 11 consecutive points against the Hilltoppers in the Fall Classic, bringing the team back from an 8 point deficit in the final to a 3 point lead that eventually was the reason Payne Tech hung on to win the Classic. Add to that performance a 6-0 run that had the Hilltoppers go from 23-19 up to losing set 2 25-23. In that run, SHS had 4 hitting errors which helped the Lions´ cause.
Things did not look good for the Top but SHS rebounded magnificently from the disappointing performance in set 2 by breaking the serve of Payne Tech´s best server in one ball and taking a 6-1 lead after just 2 rotations as Walsh hit for an ace, Yorio nailed 2 kills and Goudreau got a block to set the early tone. After the Lions cut the early lead to 6-3, another block by Goudreau deflated Payne Tech and then Captain Stocks stepped up to the line delivering 7 service points in which she hit for an ace, Maldonado dropped 2 kills and Guidetti ripped a downball kill late to give SHS a 14-4 lead that was just insurmountable. Appropriately enough, it was Guidetti who finished the set off for Summit. A tough serve that forced an overpass saw Goudreau put down a kill with authority which gave SHS a 23-12 lead. Another short rally saw Stocks give a perfect free ball pass that Goudreau put through the floor for 24-12. A hitting error by the Lions ended the set and match in a rare road win that saw the Top show a survival instinct and a resilient attitude despite major adversity and disappointment.
Six different Hilltoppers scored an ace in the match for a team total of 9. Stocks and Tarashuk each had 9 digs to lead the Summit defense while Goudreau and Guenther combined for 5 blocks defensively. Offensively, Maldonado hit 11 of the team´s 27 kills with an amazing kill % of 50% and an efficiency of .364.
SUMMIT SURVIVES SET 2 SCARE AGAIN AND OUT-PLAYS INDIANS IN THE 3RD FOR 2ND CONSECUTIVE ROAD WIN
Fresh off the Payne Tech road win, Summit faced off against their long time rival Rahway, a match that has always been dangerous for both teams as the record of each squad entering the contest tends to have very little to do with how the final match result will look like. Rahway entered the match at 2W-6L and SHS was back to .500 at 5W-5L,
Set one was the Gabbie Guidetti show as her serving resulted in easy points and offensive chances for the Hilltoppers. Guidetti scored 13 of the team´s 17 service points in two separate Hilltopper runs (8-0 and 5-0) with 4 aces in the mix. The first run took SHS from a 2-2 tie to an 11-2 lead and the final run led SHS to the set win as Rahway had closed to within 2 at 17-19 just to see Guidetti close the set out for a 25-17 set 1 win.
Goudreau led the offense with 3 kills and 4 players had at least 1 kill. Stocks was a defensive force, digging up 8 balls and passing at a 2.38 rating.
Set 2 was a tale of two matches. In match 1, Summit was flawless form the service line and hit with efficiency and precision. Every decision was nearly perfect and errors were almost a result exclusively of physical errors and not mental lapses of concentration. Rahway had no answers and were down and out after 7 rotations with SHS up 17-8.
Match 2 began at that point. The Indians outscored Summit 17-6 the rest of the way with Rahway physically scoring 8 points while the rest were all due to Summit errors of all types. A microcosm of the set was rotation 11. Summit had absorved a number of mini-runs and they could feel Rahway breathing down their necks. Up 21-17 but receiving serve, SHS got a gift with a serving error by the Indians but returned the favor in the very next ball which brought Rahway´s most dangerous server up and, predictably enough, the young woman did not miss a serve, going on a 6-0 run to finish off the Hilltoppers 25-23.
But this team´s resiliency is starting to become its M.O. and despite the 2nd set trouble, SHS was consistent in its serving attack and wore down the Indians who committed numerous errors late to come up short in the decisive set. Maldonado got off to a fast start with 2 early kills and Goudreau and Yorio chipped in 1 apiece to help Summit get an early 5-4 lead. Stocks then got the serve and much like usual, the Captain put a ton of pressure on the Rahway serve receive and when they couldn´t deliver an offensive blow, Erin Vostal was there to do so for the Maroon and White. A 3-0 serving run by Stocks had SHS up 9-4 and one wondered if Rahway had any more runs left in them.
That question was still mostly unanswered as both teams got to rotation 6 with the squads separated by the same distance at 13-8 Hilltoppers. A Yorio kill, an Indian hitting error and a Walsh ace pushed the lead to 18-10 and even Coach Martins seemed content with that advantage. Rahway called a time-out and it did its job in freezing the server as Summit missed the next serve but a perfect pass by Stocks on serve receive led to a Goudreau put away which ballooned the lead back up to 8 at 19-11 and one got the sense that Rahway had just run its course. Maldonado and Goudreau got the next 2 kills and with the score at 21-11, you could see the relaxation on the faces of the Hilltoppers with the awareness that this would most likely end in their favor. Maldonado hit for another kill to get SHS to 23 while Rahway was making desperation plays all over the court to stay alive and Summit began to press for the last 2 points, over-hitting many in-system plays.
Seeing a repeat of set 2 was not in the plan and therefore a time-out followed at 23-19. The team seemed to relax and after an Indian hitting error, Brennan ripped a serve that resulted in an out of system swing by Rahway that went awry, giving the Hilltoppers the 25-19 set 3 and match win!
Stocks handles 27 of the team´s 55 receptions at an amazing 2.22 rating, giving up only 1 ace. She also tallied 26 digs to lead the backline. Meanwhile, Maldonado had another double digit kill day with 10 kills and only 4 errors for a 27.8 kill % and a .167 efficiency. Goudreau was not far behind with 8 kills, hitting at a 50% kill % but an efficiency of .438.
Walsh and Guidetti accounted for all 9 of the team´s aces in the match and were 2 of the top servers with a 2.38 and 2.33 serve rating respectively. The two young ladies also accounted for 31 of the 44 service points won by the team.
With the back to back road wins, the Lady Hilltoppers are now 6W-5L with a road record of 3W-4L and a home record of 3W-1L.
Next up are the long time rivals Linden Tigers at Home and the week ends with Blair Academy on the road on Saturday.
Preview:
Blair Academy - new team to the Hilltoppers. Their record now stands at 2W-2L
Linden: Last 4 years - 2W-8L
2015 - Split with 2-1 results
2016 - Lost both matches 2-0
2017 - Lost both 2-1
2018 - Won 1 2-1 Lost 2x 2-1
2019 - Lost 2-1
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