In an eventful week, the JV Squad beat the Rahway Indians in the First Round of the Union County Tourney to avenge an earlier loss at Rahway and take the season series match-up 2W-1L. The team followed that up with a 2-0 sweep on Dig Pink Night of the Roselle Park Panthers. But the biggest win of the year thus far was the 2-0 victory over the Lancers of Governor Livingston in the #4 vs. #5 match-up in the Quarter-Finals to take the match-up series for the year 2W-1L and, more importantly, reach the Semi-Finals of the County Tournament for the first time in program history.
RAHWAY NO MATCH FOR HILLTOPPERS IN RUBBER MATCH
Summit began the week with a resounding 2-0 victory in the First Round of the JV County Tournament by the scores of 25-13, 25-13. SHS had an 18-7 lead by the end of rotation 6 as each serving rotation scored a minimum of 2 points and the squad never looked back, taking the set 25-13.
Set 2 was more of the same but the damage was done in rotations 4 through 6 as Victoria Macarthur opened up rotation 4 with 5 service points (2 aces) to give the Hilltoppers a 10-2 lead. Rebekah Thompson pushed the lead to 13-3 and Hope Basaman finished it off with a couple of more service points to give the Top a 16-6 lead that was more than enough of a lead to secure the second set victory. If there was any lingering hope of a comeback by the Indians, that was dashed by Jordan Parella who rattled off 5 service points to shut the door on a Rahway run and give the Maroon and White a 22-9 lead that, in effect, killed off any Rahway chance of a comeback. Summit took set 2 and the win, 25-13.
DIG PINK MATCH YIELDS VICTORY FOR THE HILLTOPPERS, TIES WINS RECORD
The Hilltoppers took on the Roselle Park Panthers in the Dig Pink Match and came away with a 2-0 win by 25-18, 25-18 scores and in the win tied the record for most wins in a season with their 17th win to only 3 losses.
Summit could not have asked for a better start as Jordan Parella opened the match with a 6-0 run (2 aces) that provided the early lead the squad would eventually use to thwart various Panther runs in the match. Roselle Park cut the lead down to 2 at 9-11 but SHS got to Parella again in rotation 7 with a 14-11 lead and the sophomore setter ran off another 3 points to, in effect, kill Roselle Park´s chances by giving the Top an 18-11 lead they would not relinquish in route to a 25-18 set 1 win.
Set 2 had a slightly different feel to set 1 but the squad relied on its serving yet again to establish a lead, albeit later in the set, and eventually close out the Panthers. Trailing 6-5, SHS got a tremendous scoring boost from Jackie Szabados who ran off 4 service points (2 aces) to give the Hilltoppers a 10-6 lead. The Top held on to most of that lead through six rotations as Roselle Park still trailed 12-9. Sarah Noa then expanded the lead with a number of short serves that led to errors by the Panthers and SHS had a 15-9 lead before the Panthers broke serve. With a 17-13 lead in hand, Basaman stepped up and delivered 5 service points (1 ace) to put away the match effectively out of reach as the sophomore serving specialist gave the Hilltoppers a 22-13 lead. In a few rotations the match was over with the scoreboard showing 25-18 for the set 2 and match win, the team´s 17th win, matching the program´s total wins number.
SUMMIT EARNS HISTORIC WIN IN QUARTER-FINAL MATCH VERSUS GOVERNOR LIVINGSTON
The Hilltoppers and the Lancers had each won at home this season splitting the divisional series. The match at GL had been a particularly bad one for the Top as the service game failed to yield points and the offense was stagnant at best leading to the GL victory. Now the teams would meet at SHS once again with more than bragging rights on the line as the #4 SHS and the #5 GL would square off to determine who would move on to the Semis of the Union County Tournament.
The early signs were not good for Summit as GL benefited from a few Hilltopper miscues to get out to a 6-2 lead by rotation 3. Down 9-5, Rebekah Thompson was able to give the Top 2 service points to close the gap to 9-8 but GL responded with a 3-0 run that gave the Lancers a 13-8 lead through 6 rotations. This forced a time-out by Coach Ross and in the very next point Summit regained control of the ball and got Sarah Noah up to serve. Noah served up 4 service points forcing GL into free ball returns or errors and the GL coaching staff called a time-out before the sophomore DS could tie the score. Noah came off the time-out with another service point and the squad had the score knotted at 14. Despite a service break, Summit got the ball back immediately and over the next 3 rotations outscored the Lancers 6-3 to take a 20-17 lead. By the time rotation 12 came about and Sabrina Ippolitto was serving, the result was academic as the Top held a 23-18 lead and nothing short of a catastrophe could derail the Summit win. Ippolitto served up the final 2 points (2 aces) for the 25-18 set 1 win.
Parella got 4 assists in the set and Olivia Lawlor led the squad with 2 kills as the GL defense was great in keeping the Hilltopper attack at bay but it was the defensive efforts of the Summit players that made the difference as Thompson and Szabados combined for 9 of the team´s 13 digs that prevented the GL attack from ever being a factor in set 1 and led to the errors by the Lancers.
Set 2 saw the Maroon and White jump out to a 9-4 lead after 3 rotations thanks to Basaman and Szabados who rattled off 5 service points earned by the team in rotations 2 and 3. SHS felt pretty good at the end of their service in rotation 4 as Summit held a 10-5 lead but the Lancers who had failed to get on a serving run did so then in rotation 5 and forced a Summit time-out with the score knotted at 10 after a 4-0 run by GL.
Coming off the time-out Summit was able to break serve and by the end of rotation 6, SHS had restored control of the set with a 2-0 run that had the scoreboard flashing 15-11, forcing a Lancer time-out. GL could not muster a run on the next rotation and like many times this season, Parella stepped up and served up 3 consecutive points (1 ace) which gave the Top all the room it needed in set 2 to handle the Lancers as the score showed 17-13 by the time Parella was done. GL got as close as 20-17 but a key kill by the Top re-established the 4 point cushion and brought in Szabados who delivered 2 service points to push the Lancers to the brink at 23-17. The Berkeley Heights school needed a long run as the next service break was going to give Summit a match point but it was only able to manage 2 and bringing the score to 23-20, forcing a Summit TO.
Natalie Peralta passed up a perfect 3 pass to Parella who set the sophomore OH and Peralta nailed a kill to zone 1 to give SHS 4 match points at 24-20. Victoria Macarthur stepped up to serve for the match with the fans and athletes buzzing with excitement in anticipation of the win. The buzzing, flat serve by Macarthur forced a tip attack by GL that was handled by Szabados who was perfectly positioned for the attack. Olivia Lawlor took the 2nd ball but it was sent to the Lancers who again attacked the middle of the court just to have Szabados dig it again. This time, the dig got to Parella who put a perfect ball up for Ippolitto who crushed it through the block and defense in zone 5 to spark the celebration of the 25-20 win and the historic moment in the program of JV getting to the semi-finals of the Union County Tournament for the first time.
The squad who has historically relied on its serving and timely offense needed its defense to shine and it did with 28 digs in set 2 alone to spark a 14 kill effort by its offense (12 assists Parella). Noah, Szabados and Thompson combined for 16 of the digs (7, 5 and 4 respectively) to anchor the defense. 6 different players scored kills led by Catherine Eldridge who, along with Ippolitto, notched 3 kills for the set but tallied 4 for the match to lead the Maroon and White. Szabados led the team with 10 digs for the match and contrary to prior matches, the Hilltoppers, who got only 5 aces for the match, were dominant defensively and had more kills than any other 2 set match this season to earn its first Semi-Final appearance and its record breaking 18th win of the season with a mainly sophomore squad!
Congrats JV and Coach Ross!
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