The last five encounters between the Hilltoppers and the Oak Knoll Royals have been, in general, very eventful regardless of team standings and records. Last year Summit defeated Oak Knoll early season by a 2-0 score and in 2017, SHS took a 2-0 victory as well at home.
But the prior 4 meetings were quite different with Summit losing 3 out of 4 although the sole win was on the road, end of the season and Oak Knoll was #4 in the county. So what would the 2019 season bring to the Oak Knoll-Summit rivalry?
The line-up for senior night was reflective of the theme as seniors Abby Doyle, coming off and ankle injury, Julissa Lopez and Cassandra Hrehorovich made their first joint start of the season with starting seniors Sylvie Goudreau, Krista-Ann Clapp and Kyra Guenther as family and friends came together to celebrate the culmination of their high school career. nailing an ace off the time-out to push
Summit jumped out to an early 5-1 lead after a Goudreau block sparked a 3-0 run where Guidetti hit for an ace and Maldonado struck for 2 kills. After a serving error got the Royals the ball back at 5-2, Summit got the gift returned with a serve error from theircross-town rivals which sparked another 3-0 run fueled by 3 consecutive Vostal kills which had SHS easily ahead 9-2.
At 11-3, the Royals were forced to take a time-out and the Blue and White seemed to react positively as they clawed their way back to 11-5 but a Maldonado kill and a Lopez ace forced another time-out at 13-5 but this time Lopez would not allow another mini-run nailing an ace off the time-out to push the lead to 14-5 and fueled a 4-0 run that saw Lopez score on three more aces to end the Royals' hopes at 18-5. Oak Knoll finished the set on an 8-5 run but there was never any doubt of the outcome as SHS finished off the Royals 25-13.
Summit out-scored the Royals 19-3 which spelled the end of any hope for a Royal miracle in set 1.
Set 2 had the same feel as set 1 as the Hilltoppers jumped out to a 5-1 lead as Hrehorovich, Goudreau and Yorio all scored kills in the run. Guidetti rolled through a 5-0 service run after Oak Knoll had closed to within 2 at 5-3 that saw Maldonado and Lopez hit for kills and Guidetti nail 2 aces for a 10-3 lead. It seemed like deja vu all over again but this time Oak Knoll reacted a little more forcefully.
A 3-0 run got the Blue and White to a 10-6 deficit but a service error had SHS back in control with Stocks at the service line. The captain served up 3 aces and seemed to give the Top an insurmountable 15-6 lead. Oak Knoll broke serve but got blocked by Maldonado and Hrehorovich nailed two aces in the subsequent possession to give SHS a 19-7 lead. A 6-4 Oak Knoll run saw SHS maintain a 23-16 lead. SHS got the first match point after a down-ball hitting error by the Royals but the Blue and White made the home crowd a little nervous with a 3-0 run that had the lead down to 24-19 but a Doyle dump kill finished the set and match at 25-19 to give SHS its 11th victory of the season, 6th most amount of wins in program history.
#4 SCOTCH-PLAINS FANWOOD FENDS OFF HILLTOPPER UPSET BID
The Raiders had fallen to the Hilltoppers in 2017 at SHS in an early season upset that was a highlight for that season and last year the Hilltoppers pushed the Raiders to 3 in a matchup where the Hilltoppers dropped the first set, came back to take the 2nd and lost a heartbreaker 24-26 in the third. How would the 2019 match-up go?
SPF entered the match coming off a three set loss to Kent Place in the Quarter-Finals of the County Tournament and SHS had just beaten Oak Knoll on Senior Night but the Raiders were considered one of the top echelon teams in the county so naturally came in as the odds on favorite in the match-up. In set 1, early on, it sure seemed that way.
Three rotations in the Blue and White had built a 7-3 lead and Summit's top servers had been handled quite easily. But the back end of the rotation started to have some success on all facets of the game and when Vostal served in rotation 6 after she had sent a kill to zone 1 to bring Summit to within 2 at 8-10, the junior middle hit for an ace and Summit was breathing down their opponent's neck at 9-10. But in a mere 2 minutes, the Raider squad went on a 6-0 run (4 Hilltopper errors - 2 SPF kills) that slammed the door on the Hilltopper run and forced a SHS time-out.
Yorio came off the time-out with a kill but SPF broke serve although a Goudreau dump kill and a Guidetti down ball kill had the Hilltoppers back in the set at 12-17. Over the next few rotations the Raiders were more than happy to trade points with the Hilltoppers and by rotation 11, the lead was back up to 7 at 22-15. The Summit crew got as close to 5 again at 18-23 after a hitting error by SPF and another Vostal ace but the Raiders slammed the door with an ace and kill to end the set 25-18.
SHS went 17/18 from the service line and hit for 2 aces (Vostal 2). Six different players had at least 1 kill in a 7 kill set and Clapp and Stocks led a 13 dig effort by the Hilltoppers with 4 apiece. The Raiders out-scored the Hilltoppers 16 - 9 (12 kills v. 7) which proved to be the set story line.
Early in set 2 it was clear that the team would need to maximize its attack opportunities as the squad was having trouble stopping the SPF featured OH. Down 3-5, got a gift in the form of a Raider service error and Brennan went to work. The junior DS kept the Raider serve receive in check with a tough serve that forced the Blue and White into a predictable offensive set that led to a Vostal block. Next play yielded a free ball that Gregory, making only her 2nd appearance of the season due to injury, put down on a swing from the 10 ft. line. Brennan nailed another serve which forced another tough return and predictable offensive set. To avoid another Vostal block, the SPF hitter hit way high and out and SHS had built an 8-5 lead.
The Blue and White managed to break serve and a tough Raider serve forced an erroneous back-row attack which cut the Hilltopper lead down to 1. Gregory stepped up again and nailed a kill through zone 5 and SHS was up 9-7. Unfortunately, the SPF primary OH was back in front and a 4-0 run ensued that flipped the score and Scotch-Plains took control at 11-9. Maldonado nailed a kill to give SHS the ball back but the Riders took over again with a kill of their own and the scoreboard read 12-10. The teams traded points over the next few rotations and with the score 16-14 SPF, another kill by Maldonado seemed to have taken back control with a mini 3-0 run until the fans and team saw the hand of the referee signal a ball handling error by the Hilltoppers. That call switched what would have been 15-16 deficit into a 14-17 tally. The call clearly rattled the Top and they lost the next point forcing a time-out.
Coming off the time-out SPF ran off another point and it took a Raider error for the squad to regain control of the ball at 15-19. Summit got as close as 16-19 thanks to another Vostal block but the Raiders continued to pressure the serve receive of the Maroon and White and despite allowing 1 ace in the final Raider 6-0 run, the team could not put a ball down and suffered through 1 ball handling error, 3 hitting errors and 1 SPF kill to fall 25-16.
Summit went 14/17 from the service line with 1 ace in the set. The squad also passed at an outstanding 2.0 as a team led by Tarashuk's set leading 2.33. Summit managed only 6 kills in the set led by Maldonado with 3 but Gregory notched 2 playing only half of the set. Stocks continued her stellar defense accounting for 6 of the team's 16 digs and Vostal chipped in with 2 blocks.
For the match, Vostal led the squad with 2 aces and a 2.60 serve rating but it was Brennan who scored the most service points with a 2.30 rating. The team was outstanding going 31/35 from the service line (89.6%) but despite Vostal and Brennan scoring on 60% of their serves, the rest of the squad was not as efficient leading to a match scoring percentage of 34.3%. The team actually received at a better rate than SPF (1.89 vs. 1.65) but the Raiders were far better at scoring out of system than the Top. Brennan passed 27% of all the receptions and rated an outstanding 2.00 for the match. Maldonado led all Hilltoppers with 4 kills and Guidetti, Goudreau and Gregory nailed 6 kills total (2 apiece) in a very balanced attack. Stocks tallied 10 digs and Vostal notched 2 blocks to lead the Top.
With one match left, the Hilltoppers find themselves with the 6th highest number of wins in program history (11) and many season records broken by numerous individuals.
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