In closely contested matches, the Hilltoppers took 2-0 victories over the Pioneers of New Providence on all three levels yesterday to open the 2021 Winter Season campaign.
9th GRADERS ESCAPE A CLOSE FIRST GAME, DOMINATE SECOND TO OPEN SEASON
The 9th Grade Squad took their first match of the season 26-24, 25-3 over the Pioneers in a match that the Hilltoppers had to display some resolve in overcoming some service and attacking woes in game 1 but were just dominant from the service line in game 2 to seal the first win of the season. Anna Joseph was the player of the match as she rattled off double digit service points and had an overall consistent match to lead the Maroon and White to its first victory of the season.
The team will face off against Governor Livingston at home on Friday, 4pm start.
JV SURVIVE EARLY SERVICE WOES, RELY ON OFFENSE TO CARRY THEM TO WIN
The New Providence and Summit volleyball battles on the JV Level tend to be classics. Summit usually has the size advantage while the Pioneers always manage to bring tough serving and defense that will keep numerous balls alive and extend rallies. This matchup to open up the 2021 Winter season campaign was no different as the Hilltoppers seemed to dominate early but had to survive a game 2 scare to take the match 25-10, 26-24.
Summit was going to have a power advantage in the front row as the team was clearly taller and could generate more power off its attack. New Prov was clearly more consistent from the service line and scrambled out of system effectively, keeping balls alive on serve receive and transition that seemed destined for a Hilltopper point, until they did not. However, the relentless offense the Hilltoppers generated had New Providence merely managing to survive as they could not mount any type of offensive sets to trouble the SHS defense. Quickly the tide turned and Summit took control the second time through the rotation and won game 1 convincingly 25-10.
Despite the early offensive frustration in game 2, it was the serving inconsistency (nerves? jitters?) that doomed the Maroon and White early. Summit trailed by 6, 15-9, in game 2, primarily due to the fact that SHS missed, at one point, five of six serves (4 in a row!) which led to points for the Green and White that they did not have to work for in the game. Once Summit got through the second time in rotation, the serving began to come to life and, with the offense still effective, Summit erased that deficit and took control late in the game with an 11-4 run that seemed to break the Pioneer spirit (20-19) until another missed serve gave the Green and White hope at 20-20. Summit leaned on its offense from this point on to claw their way to a 22-23 lead and closer to a match point but another unforced service error seemed to say that this was not going to be their game.
But the mainstay of the match had been the steady and predictable serve receive of the Hilltoppers and yet again, in these crucial points, it was the serve receive which provided Summit with the opportunity to use its advantage on offense to close out the game and match at 26-24.
Sara Noa was stellar in the match despite early struggles from the service line. She was a defensive rock for the squad and provided the team with a spark from the service line late in the games to help lift Summit to its first win of the campaign.
VARSITY SIDEOUT AT NEARLY 50%, SERVE UP 12 ACES, SCORE 34 POINTS, TAKE WIN
Since 2017, the Hilltoppers have come out on the short side of any matchup with the Pioneers more often than not, losing 6 of 7 matches, most of them tight battles but, despite the grit and fight, the Maroon and White usuallly lack the firepower from the service line or the front line to outscore the Pioneers.
In 2017, Summit dropped a 24-26, 18-25 decision and a 23-25, 17-25 decision in which the Hilltoppers scored 36 points in 2 matches and the Pioneers scored 58. In 2018, New Prov wins 25-14, 25-16 outscoring Summit 39-19 but Summit stunned the Pioneers 13-25, 27-25, 25-17 getting outscored by a mere 3 points (36-39) for the match but outscoring New Providence by 29-23 in the closing two games for the unlikely victory. In 2019 however, the losing trend continued, with SHS dropping a 23-25, 16-25 decision in the county tournament match, a thrilling and heartbreaking 17-25, 26-24, 23-25 loss and a 10-25, 8-25 non-competitive outing in early September. Summit was outscored 34-21, 42-34 and 33-8 respectively in those matchups.
Since 2010, the best offensive output by the Hilltoppers had been in 2011, the year of best team in SHS history (21W-4L, Division Champs, County Semi-Finalists, State-Sectional Semi-Finalists). That squad, led by Lindsey Leiter (First Team All-County and Conference), averaged 13.51 points per game (kills+aces+blocks), just a shade over 27 per match. If match 1 of the 2021 season is any indication, the losing trend to New Providence may be reversing itself and there is the very real potential of a very special year. Summit out-scored the Pioneers 34-17 in a 25-20, 25-15 match win to open the 2021 Winter campaign with 17 points in each of the games.
Kasey Walsh kicked off the campaign in game 1 with 2 quick aces and it set the tone for the game as the Maroon and White seemed to always get the key serve at crucial times to bail themselves out of trouble. Summit however suffered a 1-6 run early on to trail 3-6 but a New Prov hitting error with 2 aces by Captain Kiera Stocks knotted the match back up again. Erin Vostal got a tip kill and a quick attack out of the middle scored as well to soon have the Top up 10-7 nearing the midpoint of the game. Vostal got involved a bit later again, this time defensively, with a solo block while adding another kill from the outside sandwiched between a New Prov service error and Gabbie Guidetti ace to give Summit a 12-9 lead. The Hilltoppers then went on a 8-4 run culminated by a down ball kill by newcomer Vivian Roberts gave Summit a 20-13 lead which seemed secure at that point. Two net faults by the Maroon and White gave New Prov a glimmer of hope which was made more like a floodlight after 3 consecutive hitting errors that followed a controversial no call on a thunderous Catherine Eldridge quick attack that seemed to go down but, no whistle blew, which led to a subsequent hitting error by the Top. The frustration led to a couple of more hitting errors and forced Coach Martins to call a time out to settle the troops. Coming out of the time-out still leading 22-19, the Top still gave up another point on a New Providence ace but the home team made a crucial serving error and that sent Meghan Tarashuk to the line and she hammered home 2 jump float aces to end the game 25-20.
Game 2 seemed to be a continuation of the opening game as the Pioneers, buyoed by their performance in the opening game, felt they could take a game from the Hilltoppers despite being out-scored 17-10 because the Top had only out-killed them 8-6. The Pioneers were the aggressors from the service line early, jumping out to a 6-4 lead after an ace and a tough serve which forced an errant return ball by the Top. But Summit got an unlikely kill by Stocks and an Eldridge hammer out of the middle to knot things up again which led to the Vostal show with 2 kills and a block to extend the lead to 10-7. To their credit and history, New Providence has always played like they believe they can overcome the Maroon and White, a fact laid out by the results of the last 3 seasons, but, this year, it seems that the Hilltoppers have a more balanced offense and Vostal was at the center of it yet again as the home squad tied up the score at 10 just to see Vostal get another block and one more kill to give Summit another three point lead as part of a 6-2 run that sealed the game outcome and match. In the run, Vostal got a dig on defense and an ace while Roberts pounded two thunderous kills between the double block she was facing to get Summit to a 19-11 advantage. It seemed that Eva Oberhuber had pushed the lead to 20-11 but another controversial call gave the ball back to New Providence and ended the run. Summit closed out the game and match on a 5-0 run after the Pioneers had clawed to within 5 at 20-15 led by a perfect 3 pass-set-quick attack kill executed by Rebecca Thompson, Zoe Zacharias and Eldridge which put Sarah Brennan at the line to close the game out as it had started, with two back to back aces.
Of note, the team served at a perfect 100% (49/49) with 12 aces for the match (24.5%), a key reason for their success.
Erin Vostal earned Player of the Match, leading the squad with 10 points (6 kills, 3 blocks, 1 ace), scoring 6 of those points in the crucial moments of the second and decisive game 2.
No comments:
Post a Comment