The Rahway match-ups have always been tough for any level historically with neither side ever comfortably winning regardless of record entering the match-up. The 2019 season proved to be much of the same as both the JV and Varsity levels had to hold off or overcome late Rahway runs to seal victories.
JV STAYS UNDEFEATED IN 2-0 VICTORY OVER RAHWAY
JV took the match 25-21, 25-18. Game 1 was blown open after Rebekah Thompson scored on 8 consecutive serves to take a 12-13 game to an insurmountable 20-13 Hilltopper lead that the Maroon and White used to hold on late for the 25-21 win.
Game 2 looked dire for SHS trailing 8-13 after 6 rotations but key kills by Catherine Eldridge and key serving runs by Jordan Parella (7 service points) and Hope Bassaman late (7 service points ) allowed the Hilltoppers to come from behind and pull away for the comfortable 25-18 win.
Catherine Eldridge led the Hilltoppers offensively and in total points with 6 kills while 5 different players hit for at least 1 ace, led by Rebekah Thompson who ripped 4 aces in the match.
VARSITY IMPROVES TO 2-1 WITH 2 GAME WIN VERSUS DIVISIONAL RIVAL RAHWAY
The Lady Hilltoppers hosted the Indians of Rahway in a key early divisional matchup. Summit looked to even out its divisional record and improve to 2-1 for the season. Despite some uneven play at times, SHS used its serving attack and key kills on offense to pull away late in both games and score a 25-22, 25-22 victory.
Summit took control early behind Gabby Guidetti´s serving as she rattled off 5 consecutive service points (1 ace) to give the Hilltoppers an early 6-2 lead. Summit saw the Indians slowly chip away at this lead through the next 4 rotations and by the 6th rotation, Rahway was knotted up at 11. An Annabella Yorio kill broke serve and put Kasey Walsh at the line and the setter did not disappoint with 7 service points (1 ace) and 3 assists to 3 different hitters to balloon the lead to 19-12 by the time her serving was completed. Rahway fought back as before, getting to within 2 at 19-21 but kills by Sarah Maldonado and Annabella Yorio late gave the Top the cushion it needed to close the game out 25-22.
Summit scored 15 points in game 1 led by Maldonado (4k), Yorio (3k) and Sylvie Goudreau (3k) who combined for 10 points.
The path to the game 2 victory was quite different. It was Rahway who controlled most of the game with SHS producing at one point seven consecutive errors, including 3 consecutive missed serves, to allow the Indians to take what looked like an insurmountable lead of 22-15 after a kill by the Rahway OH. Another kill by Maldonado stymied the run and brought the Captain, Kiera Stocks to the service line.
Stocks produced one of the best serving runs in recent memory, putting the Indians in a passing bind and allowing the offense to run its most effective plays thanks to easier transition passing because of her serving pressure. Erin Vostal got involved with a kill to zone 3 to get Summit to within 5 at 17-22. A couple of scramble plays leading to key digs by Stocks, Maldonado and Walsh eventually led to a Maldonado kill, 18-22. A Rahway hitting error and a ball handling error had the Hilltoppers at 20-22. The momentum had swung. A thunderous kill by Vostal to zone five off a set by Krista-Ann Clapp and followed by a Clapp kill to zone 5 had the Hilltoppers square with Rahway. The next nail in the coffin came in the form of an ace by Stocks who then followed up with another tough serve that led to yet another Vostal kill. The final ball at match point saw a scramble by Rahway lead to a Stocks dig and an overpass got Vostal an easy attack attempt that the Indians tried to keep alive but to no avail, 25-22; the comeback, complete.
Summit earned 9 of the 10 points Stocks served in the set with the only miss being when she missed her serve. Kasey Walsh contributed in the game with 2 of the team´s 4 aces and Maldonado tied for the game lead with 4 kills with Vostal, who got all 4 of her kills in crunch time.
Maldonado led all Hilltopper scorers with 8 points (8 kills) while Stocks dug up 17 balls (5 during the run) and handled almost 50% of the total team receptions.
As a team, SHS outscored Rahway 33-19 including a 23-13 kill advantage which proved to be the difference in the match.
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