With 4 matches on tap for the week and county seedings on the line for JV and Varsity, the Hilltoppers needed to make a strong statement. Meanwhile, 9th graders, although playing well, were looking to snap a 3 game losing skid against Union on Tuesday.
JV opened up against New Providence with a 25-12, 25-16 win buoyed by Hope Basaman whose serving set the stage for both set victories as the sophomore serving specialist hit for a team leading 5 aces and 19 service points to lead the Hilltoppers to the 2 set sweep. In set 1, with the score 5-2 New Providence, Basaman stepped up and delivered a 4-0 run (1 ace) that had SHS up 6-5. When Basaman stepped up again, Summit held an 18-12 lead but a 7-0 (1 ace) run by the sophomore sealed the set win.
In set 2, the Hilltoppers were held in check most of the first 6 rotations as the team held a tenuous 9-8 lead but Basaman would be up in rotation 8 and with the score 11-9 SHS, Basaman put the game away with an 8-0 run (3 aces) that got SHS to a 19-9 lead they just would not relinquish for their 12th win of the year and a sweep of the Pioneers for the season.
In match day 2, the Hilltoppers faced off against the Union Farmers, a team that had handed the Top one of its 3 losses earlier in the season. Summit was locked in a battle through 6 rotations with the Hilltoppers up 15-12 thanks to Basaman who ripped a 7-0 run (3 aces) to give Summit a 10-5 lead in rotation 3. To Union´s credit, they kept coming back at the Maroon and White but Catherine Eldridge hit some key kills to stymie various Union runs.
With SHS up 18-13 late however, a final Farmer 4-0 run threatened to derail the Top´s chances at set 1 with the Farmers breathing down the back of the Hilltoppers at 17-18 but, after a service break, Basaman again hit for an ace and got another service point to extend the lead to 20-17, giving SHS the breathing room it needed as it closed the set out with 25-21.
Summit struggled to handle the Union serving pressure in set 2 as the Hilltoppers allowed 5 aces through the first 6 rotations and were looking up at the wrong side of a 13-9 after 6 rotations. Nothing much changed by rotation 12 as the Hilltoppers were down 22-18 before Sarah Noa served up 3 service points to get SHS to within 1 at 22-21 but a kill by Union stopped the run and a rotation later the Farmers stopped Jordan Parella after the Hilltoppers knotted the score up at 23. But that was the last bit of fight the Top had as the Farmers pushed a 3rd set with a 25-23 set 2 win.
Set 3 was a tight affair with SHS leading Union 9-7 after 6 rotations and seeing the Farmers knot up the score at 14 by the end of 10 rotations. Eva Oberhuber, Olivia Lawlor, Sabrina Ippolitto, Natalie Peralta and Eldridge all contributed offensively in the set to keep SHS in the set especially in light of the fact that the Hilltopper serving was not inducing quick points via the ace.
Victoria Macarthur had had a quiet but effective serving game in the match but it was with the score knotted at 14 that the sophomore DS exploded with 4 service points (1 ace) that allowed the Hilltopppers to earn their largest lead of the set and one the squad would not yield. The Farmers shot back to within 2 but Rebekah Thompson followed up with 2 service points to effectively put away Union with a 21-16 lead. The Farmers got within 2 at 19-21 but SHS shut the door with an Oberhuber kill that gave the ball to Sarah Noa who finished off the Farmers for an upset win, their 13th with only 3 losses.
9th GRADERS SNAP 3 GAME SKID, RECORD AT 8W-3L
The 9th graders played the Farmers in the Auxiliary Gym having beaten the Union squad in a tight 3 sets earlier in the season. This match-up was a reflection of the improvement of the squad as the Hilltoppers dominated the Farmers with a 2-0 sweep by scores of 25-11, 25-22. This win snapped a 3 game losing streak and their record now stands at 8W-3L.
TWO OUTSTANDING MATCHES, TWO CLOSE CALLS, TWO HEARTBREAKING LOSSES
New Providence #7 UCIAC Seed
The Varsity Squad opened the week with the Pioneers of New Providence in the return match after a dominant win by the Green and White in New Prov by 25-10, 25-8 scores. New Prov was entering the match 3rd in the division while SHS was fifth.
New Providence relied on its standout OH and consistent serving attack in set 1 to dominate in the latter stages after SHS had knotted up the score at 14 to go on a 11-3 run to close out set 1 25-17. The Pioneers outscored Summit 11-7 in the set but the lack of scoring by New Providence reflected the Hilltopper game plan, limit the New Prov scoring and hope to force errors through defensive efforts and get enough offense to get over the hump.
Set 2 saw the Hilltoppers get outscored by 2 (15-13) but the squad matched the Pioneer kill total and committed less hitting errors in the clutch points. After another close set with New Prov being able to withstand Summit runs by relying on their serve attack, and had built a 19-16 lead. Goudreau and Maldonado tallied back to back kills to close out points off tremendous defense to give SHS hope at 18-19 and Summit forced the Pioneers into 2 hitting errors to overtake NP at 20-19. Guidetti hit an ace and SHS held a slim 21-20 lead after a Pioneer kill. Another kill by the Green and White knotted up the score but a serving error gave Summit the ball back at 22-21. Another hitting error and SHS could taste the set 2 win at 23-21 but the New Prov OH slammed a kill to crawl back to 23-22. The Pioneers were charged up after that kill and using their serving pressure, they fed their primary hitter two more times for a 24-23 lead and a match point.
In big points you need big plays, those moments are what make big players and the squad is finding that Maldonado has come through under pressure more often than not. A perfect service return by Guidetti led to a straight kill by Maldonado to fend off match point. A long rally ensued off another big serve by Tarashuk under massive pressure that Maldonado attacked but New Prov returned it and set up an attack to the outside. But Stocks, the Summit Libero, came up with a huge dig that set up Maldonado again for a tip kill that stunned the Green and White squad. Another Tarashuk bomb led to an overpass which middle blocker put away emphatically for the set 2 victory 24-26.
Set 3 was a tremendous volleyball battle with neither team really committing many errors throughout. New Providence out-scored SHS 16-14, the difference in the set win. Summit committed only 9 total errors in the set, but 3 of them in the last 7 points in the match.
Guidetti led the way with 3 aces from the service line and was perfect from serve receive with 7/7 safe passes on a 2.17 pass rating. Maldonado had the highest efficiency offensively with a .125 on 6 kills and Yorio led the offense with 7 kills. Stocks´ 14 digs led the team and anchored an outstanding defensive team effort.
Union #3 UCIAC Seed
Summit followed up their outstanding effort versus the Pioneers by hosting the Farmers of Union, the #3 seed in Union County. Summit played well in stretches in the set 1 loss at Union High in the first match-up by a 25-18 score. Set 2 was more of the same as Summit struggled to find points and dropped a 25-15 decision. Union outscored SHS 16-10 in set 2 and 14-9 in set 1.
Summit knew it could compete with the Farmers as the Hilltoppers had gotten to within 1 of Union at 17-18 in set 1 and the set 2 match was close until roughly the midway point with the scoreboard showing 9-9 before Union went on a 9-0 run that effectively ended the Hilltopper threat.
Could SHS put it all together in the match at home?
Summit and Union both scored 11 points in the first set but in very different ways. SHS relied on a balance of aces and kills with some blocks as the squad knew kills would be hard to come by against this squad. Union relied on creating multiple attack opportunities off their defense and needed their kill number to be high. Summit thwarted those efforts in set 1 by using their serve to prevent Union from running their offense in a 25-18 set 1 win that stunned the Farmers.
The turning point of the set came after the squads were knotted up at 12. A long rally that saw the Hilltoppers stay alive off 2 digs by Stocks and 1 by Guidetti allowed time for Maldonado to put down a kill that sparked a 7-0 run that blew the set open. Vostal nailed 2 kills and Yorio tallied a kill in the run while Brennan ripped an ace in the run to fuel the run. Union cut the lead to 3 (20-17) but the Hilltoppers responded with 2 aces by Walsh in a 4-0 run that all but ended Union´s hopes.
The Summit serving attack was deadly with a 2.45 rating as a team led by Walsh who rated at an obscene 3.67 (4.0=ace) and the team´s serve receive gave up only 2 aces and passed as a unit at a 1.94. With only 5 team kills the premium was on good swings and eliminating as many errors as possible and Maldonado led the team in all facets with 2 kills and a .286 efficiency and a kill % of 28.6% as the junior OH committed no errors in 7 attempts. Stocks was a defensive stalwart notching 10 digs just in this set.
Set 2 was a bit of a turnaround unfortunately as the Farmers tallied 13 points but this time hitting for 8 kills but adding 5 aces. Although SHS scored 9 points, it could not stop the Farmer serve attack. The team had a 1.50 pass rating which set up the rest of the set. Union was up 14-6 by rotation 6 and that was enough of a lead for Union to close the set out. The Hilltoppers played even with Union from that point on so momentum had been curtailed but the 3rd set loomed.
Union seemed to begin where it left off in set 2, up 5-1 after an ace. Clapp got a kill out of the opposite and Vostal got a solo block to get SHS to within 3 at 5-8 but the Farmers won the next long rallies to extend the lead to 5 at 10-5. Vostal yet again put a ball down and the Summit serve attack forced a Union hitting error to again get the lead to 3 but Union cut off that mini-run and ran off 3 points of their own to get the score to 13-7 and things began to look bleak.
Summit rotated back to Walsh and despite Union handling the serve well, the squad tallied 2 hitting errors to give SHS hope at 14-10. The celebrations were short lived as Union broke serve and got a timely kill to push the set closer to conclusion at 16-10. The match began to take the look of a mirror with one team getting a 2-0 run just to see the other team do the same. A Summit serving error saw the Farmers take a 19-14 lead and things looked all but academic.
Vostal again got a big swing and kill to get SHS to 16-20 to be followed by a long rally that had the Farmers hit the net with their attack so SHS had crawled to within 3 at 17-20. The teams traded points and at 18-22, a long rally ensued that SHS had to win. The Hilltoppers got digs by Goudreau, Brennan to stay alive until Yorio, on her 4th attack tipped a ball for a kill, 19-22. Two hitting errors by Union and a kill by Yorio had SHS all knotted up at 22 with Union. But then the wheels fell apart a little bit by the Hilltoppers as the squad had a hitting error and a free ball return error that gave the Farmers 2 match points at 24-22.
Union serve error... 23-24, 1 match point down. Yorio ace... 24 all... teams traded service errors and the scoreboard showed 25-25.
But that was as close as the Hilltoppers would come as Union won the next two points to close out the Hilltoppers 27-25.
Union out-scored SHS 15-9 with 12 kills but the Summit D forced 11 attack attempts to go awry in a match where SHS came within a whisker of beating the #3 team in the county.
JV EARNS #4 SEED IN COUNTY TOURNAMENT
VARSITY GETS #10 SEED IN VARSITY COUNTY TOURNAMENT!
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