Friday the 17th saw the Hilltoppers take on Rahway on the JV and Varsity level and Bridgewater-Raritan on the 9th grade level as part of their Go4TheGoal event to help make the lives of kids and families affected by pediatric cancer. All teams donned gold laces in commemoration of the event and it a great afternoon for Volleyball!
FROSH COMEBACK TO GET FOURTH "W"
The 9th graders knew they were in for a fight from the beginning of the set against the Panthers. Through six rotations, the Hilltoppers found themselves up only up 14-11 despite going through their best servers who have dominated recently. When Caroline Henry served again and got the Hilltoppers to an 18-13 lead, it all seemed to be going to plan but the very next rotation saw the Panthers rip off a 5-0 run and Summit saw the lead evaporate as the scoreboard read 19-19. A few rotations later, Gabbi Nowicka had SHS on the verge of the set 1 victory at 22-20 but a break of serve and a 3-0 run by the Panthers kicked the Maroon and White off their pedestal and Summit were facing 2 Panther set points at 22-24. The Hilltoppers fought off 2 set points but could not finish the job as the squad dropped a 26-24 set 1 decision to a very game and experienced Panther squad with the most club players and multi year experienced players that the Hilltoppers have faced this year, Ridge included.
Set 2 was a tight affair until Abby Cammarano stepped up to serve and ran off a 7-0 run that catapulted the Hilltoppers to a 14-7 lead. The teams settled into a very even set after that and that service run proved to be the difference in set 2 with the Maroon and White taking it 25-14.
The deciding set was a tense one as the Panthers continued to fight back and push the Hilltoppers through the first 6 rotations. Despite Molly Davies opening the scoring 3-0, Panthers responded right back with a 4-0 run that had them up 4-3. And so it went the first 6 rotations with the teams separated by a mere 3 points at 13-10 SHS thanks to each of rotations 4-6 scoring 1 point while the Bridgewater-Raritan crew could not do the same. But that all changed in rotations 7-12 as it was the Panthers' turn to score 1 point in rotations 2 through 4 while the Hilltoppers could only manage a sole point on Caroline Henry's service turn, knotting the score at 20-20 as Davies stepped up yet again and this time, Davies and the squad ran an unexpected 5-0 service run that sealed the deal at 25-20, a hard fought victory to improve the 9th graders to 4-0!
JV SQUAD TAKES WIN OVER FEISTY RAHWAY
The JV Hilltoppers took on the Rahway Indians in the opening match in the main gym of the Go4TheGoal event and expected that their service game would carry them to victory but the Rahway squad was able to stymie the Summit service game and SHS had to rely on their offense to earn the victory.
Abby Thompson began the first set on the serve, the first match back since her hand injury, and immediately put her imprint on her first game back with a 5 point service run to get the Hilltoppers off to a 6-1 start. Rahway ate into that lead and got within 2 at 7-5 but Emily Demm hit for a couple of aces and got the Top another couple of points to extend the lead to what seemed to be a very comfortable 12-5 score. The set came to somewhat of a stop as Rahway would not allow the Summit servers to score easily and the SHS offense found it difficult to get a ball down so the teams traded points over the next few rotations as the teams remained 6-7 points apart throughout the process, ending rotation 6 with Summit up 17-11. SHS just could not find a run to finish off the Indians and the Rahway squad just did not seem to have the answers to solve the Summit defense so, with the score 21-16 SHS, Stella Yarden stepped up and took the control of the set and finished off the Rahway team with a 3-0 run (1 ace) to close out set 1 25-16.
Set 2 was unexpectedly tight as the Summit squad began to experience a higher number of service errors and more of an offensive threat from the Indians. The result, a 13-11 deficit for the Hilltoppers through 6 rotations. Elizabeth Walsh got the SHS crew even with a key service point in rotation 8 which seemed to get the Maroon and White going as the team proceeded to win 6 of the next 8 points as Demm again ran off a 3 point service rotation to have the Top up 22-17 late in the set. But Rahway would not give in and the Indians ran off a 3 point run of their own to get within 2, forcing Coach Ross to call a time-out. Despite a service break by the SHS squad, Rahway broke right back and had a chance to close the 23-21 gap they faced. But a missed serve gave Summit a reprieve and the Hilltoppers closed it out with Yarden again one serve later.
Final score 25-21, Record 4W-1L
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