#5 Barringer @ #4 Summit
Summit took care of Barringer 25-10, 25-17 in the Quarterfinals of the N2G3 Tournament. The win meant that SHS was going to be in the Semifinals for only the third time in their history.
Summit overpowered Barringer from the start, out-killing the Blue Bears 15-2 for the match and held an 18-7 advantage in aces. In total, Summit out scored Barringer 34-9.
Game 1 featured the serving attack of Gabbie Guidetti and Meghan Tarashuk who combined for 7 aces and served at a 2.57 rating. SHS gave up only 1 ace in the game. The team still hit for 9 kills with Olivia Lawlor and Sara Maldonado hitting for 3 apiece, Erin Vostal for 2 and Annabella Yorio for 1.
Game 2 was more of the same until the squad got to an insurmountable 20-10 lead and it let up in intensity and execution. Barringer went on a 7-0 run that saw SHS get called on 1 ball-handling errors and 3 hitting errors to fuel an otherwise ineffective offensive Blue Bear offense. Summit was forced to call a time out and SHS went on a 5-0 run to close out the match.
Vostal and Kiera Stocks hit for 2 aces apiece and Tarashuk ripped 7 game 2 but the squad gave up 6 aces while only putting up one 3 pass as the team found it difficult to maintain a high level of play. Vostal hit for 3 of the team’s 6 kills in game 2 while 3 others (Maldonado, Catherine Eldridge and Vivian Roberts) added 1 each. The win was historic as it had been 9 seasons since the Hilltoppers were last in a state sectional semifinal. The away trip was to be a short one as their opponent was none other than the Chatham Cougars.
#4 Summit @ #1 Chatham
Summit knew that the Chatham offense has one of the best hitters in the area and would rely on the junior to carry the offense. Summit knew that if Kasey Walsh, who has been stellar as the team’s setter running the offense, was in the front row against that hitter, the matchup would not favor Summit. Enter the player who was originally slated to be the front row setter until a basketball quarantine threw a wrench in the plans, Olivia Lawlor. The 6’2” junior would provide needed cover against Chatham’s talented hitter and would be setting the most efficient hitters in the rotations so the game plan was set. Adding the switching of the service rotations to favor the highest scoring athletes from the service line (Meghan Tarashuk and Gabbie Guidetti) was the last piece to a simple plan: put pressure on their serve receive, touch as many balls as possible with the block defense and run our diverse offense to force them to not be able to key in on any one hitter with their experienced defensive crew. Summit did not need to out hit them, just needed to force them into errors and easier attacks for our defense to handle.
In game 1, plan worked to perfection. Summit only got 7 kills to the Cougars’ 11 but SHS forced Chatham into 6 hitting errors and tallied 1 block while out serving the Cougars to a 3-1 ace count. The serve receive was outstanding, out passing Chatham 1.92-1.82. The Hilltoppers also benefited from 5 service errors from their opponents which negated any kill advantage Chatham had held.
Guidetti and Tarashuk pressured the Chatham serve receive with 2 aces and forced numerous errant passes that led to hitting errors. The block had hands on 6 attacks, blocked 1 and forced other numerous errant attacks. The net tally between kills earned and opponent hitting errors was 13-13 which, combined with the ace and block advantage for SHS negated the offensive Chatham threat and saw the Hilltoppers stun the home team with a 25-18 game 1 victory.
Five different hitters tallied at least 1 kill (Vivian Roberts and Annabella Yorio, 2 each), and although the team had difficulty scoring (kill percentage of 25%), the team was efficient at .179. The other piece of good news was that although the Cougars were keeping many Hilltopper attacks off the ground, SHS only committed 2 hitting errors the entire game. Would game 2 be more of the same or would the Cougars improve their serving and hitting error rate? Could Summit continue to play at a near error free rate?
At the conclusion of game 2, SHS was out-gunned 16-6 and in game 2, only 4 Chatham hitting errors appeared on the scoreboard. Summit tallied 2 blocks and hit for another 2 aces which were also matched by Chatham. Chatham also dropped their error rate to 1 on serves while Summit tallied only three. Despite the serving numbers, Summit out passed Chatham by a 2.05-1.82 rate, a reflection of the efficacy of the serve receive adjustment made by flipping the rotations but the Chatham defense was up to the task and thwarted 28 of the Hilltopper attacks! Offense was not the problem, terminating through the Cougar defense was the issue.
Summit was only able to get as close as 8-11 in game 2 after starting 1-6 but Chatham re-established their dominance late and even though the Hilltoppers got to within 5 after a Walsh ace, the writing was on the wall as Chatham closed out the game on a 5-3 run for a 25-18 win.
Game three for the finals of the N2G3 Section. One game to 25, the continuation or end of a season for Chatham and Summit.
Tarashuk opened the game with an ace which the Hilltoppers hoped to be a sign of things to come. A Chatham kill and an ace with a Summit hitting error had the Cougars up 3-1. An attack rejection by Summit led to a free ball return error and another tough serve forced Chatham into a hitting error to knot things up at 3. With the score 5-5, Chatham got a tip kill, an outside kill, and 2 Summit hitting errors to begin to take control 9-5. Summit responded with a Robert’s kill and a Walsh ace which lifted the Hilltopper spirits and had SHS again within striking distance. Despite another kill by the Chatham OH star, the Hilltoppers struck for an Eldridge kill and forced another Chatham hitting error thanks to a Brennan serve. Unfortunately, two Summit errors gave Chatham a 12-9 lead but yet again Summit responded, forcing a Chatham hitting error and a huge block by Eldridge saw the Top crawl to within one at 11-12.
Although the squad fought hard, the tipping point of the game occurred at this point because Chatham grabbed control of the game with a 4-0 run (2 tip kills and an ace by the Cougars, hitting error Summit). The Hilltoppers called a time out and a Chatham serving error followed which led to a Vostal block and kill as the senior captain did everything she could to extend the season. Score, 14-16.
A net error by SHS reversed a point earned which was followed by a down ball hitting error and Chatham extended the lead to 18-14. A Chatham attack error forced by a Vostal spike attempt that was saved by the Cougar defenders had SHS back to within three at 15-18 but the Cougars benefited from 4 consecutive errors by Summit under huge pressure to fuel a 7-0 run that closed out the game and match, 25-15.
Chatham only got 9 kills in the game and Summit forced 5 errors but unfortunately SHS comitted 5 errors as well and could only muster 3 kills of their own. Both teams scored 4 points on blocks and aces but Summit only received 3 points from Chatham on serving/free ball errors and faults while Chatham was gifted 7. In the end, Chatham’s star hitter got 7 of the 9 kills in game 3 and Summit could not break through the Chatham defense. An outstanding effort against this great team which earned a victory over the Hilltoppers with a career high 18 kill performance by their outstanding OH and out-killed Summit by a 36-16 margin. Summit negated some of this advantage with a 12-7 edge in aces and block totals, specifically with a 5-1 block advantage and a 7-6 ace tally.
SHS out passed the Cougars 1.95-1.81 for the match. Chatham avoided serving to Stocks and targeted other passers throughout the match. Stocks only saw 6 serves the entire match while Tarashuk was targeted for 18 (17/18 safe passes, 2.0 rating), Brennan for 10 (9/10 safe, 1.80) and the star was Guidetti, who passed safely 12/12 receptions and had a perfect pass in 8 of those for a team and match leading 2.42 rating.
The flipping of rotations worked really well with Tarashuk, Guidetti, Vostal and Walsh combined for 45/46 in serving attempts with 6 aces and the team combined 2.07 rating.
Roberts had 5 of the team’s 16 kills and Eldridge had an insane day with 4 kills on only 8 swings against her toughest defense to date. Seven Hilltoppers notched at least 1 kill and the team generated a season high 91 attack attempts but they were stymied by a tremendous Chatham defense that saw their top three defenders notch 43 digs and their team close to 70.
What a match, what an effort, what a season! So proud of these girls! So going to miss these seniors! Loved this ride! And it was an unexpected ride!
To be honest, I did not know this season was going to happen or if it was going to last the entire time. More to say but I will save it for the celebration. Suffice it to say, I loved everything about this season with you all! And I could not be more appreciative of you, the parents. THANK YOU!
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