The Hilltoppers took to the road and headed to Clark to take on the Arthur L. Johnson Crusaders in a divisional showdown. The Hilltoppers came out victorious on both the JV and Varsity level by 2-0 margins each match.
Isabelle Meltzer started it all with a 5-0 run that set the tone for the set. Every rotation but one of the first 6 scored on at least 1 point and Summit was looking at a 16-7 lead through rotation six. But then Meltzer came back in rotation 7 and ran off 8 consecutive serves and the Crusaders just had no answers for the serving offense. Final score set 1, 25-7.
Set 2 was more of the same although a few more rallies were on tap and the hitters got a chance to get more involved. Abby Wells started it in rotation 2 with a 4 point service run that had the Top up 6-1. Emily Demm then rattled off 8 service points that complemented her handful of kills in the front row and the Hilltoppers had an overwhelming lead at 15-3 in rotation 3. Katie Cooper continued the serving pressure in rotation 5 with a 6-0 run that saw Summit go up 24-6. In the run, Jessica Clark made a few key offensive and defensive plays in the front that allowed SHS to pretty much close the door on ALJ. One rotation later, the final nail was delivered and the Hilltoppers came through with a 25-9 set 2 and match win to improve to 9W-1L.
VARSITY'S NEAR PERFECTION FROM SERVICE LINE FACTOR IN 2-0 VICTORY
The Varsity Lady Hilltoppers had bounced back from the New Providence loss last week with a great road win at Cranford and followed that up with an outstanding home victory versus Governor Livingston. ALJ could be a trap game as the team is looking at a showdown at Linden on Friday, Summit being the only loss for the Tigers in the division this season.
Set 1 began auspiciously enough with ALJ jumping out to a 2-0 lead but Summit righted the ship rather quickly and by the time Vivian Roberts got her first kill, SHS was up 3-2. With the squads knotted up at 4 after a kill by Eva Oberhuber, a long rally ensued after a Torie MacArthur serve and Cece Webb -in her first start of the season- put the ball away from the outside for a 5-4 lead. But then everything became the MacArthur show. The senior DS ripped 2 aces and then followed up with another tough serve that allowed the Top to get Webb another rip for a kill. MacArthur continued serving bullets and forcing numerous ALJ errors as well as seeing Oberhuber get another kill and adding a block. Time-outs did not slow the senior down or alter her approach and before it was over on a Summit hitting error, MacArthur had led the team to a 16-5 lead.
ALJ just had no response to this run as the very next point saw Webb rip another kill and Rebekah Thompson drive an ace through the Crusader hearts. Oberhuber was again a presence at the net with another block and then, when ALJ thought the ball was going back to Webb, Zoe Zacharias set a perfect ball to OPP Hope Basaman for the kill. Thompson did not relieve the pressure as she went up and nailed another ace on the very next point to give the Hilltoppers a 21-5 lead. The set was over in the next rotation as SHS wrapped it up 25-6.
Set 2 saw some changes for the Hilltoppers with Ally Lipschitz coming in to set, Aya Laws joining the defensive crew and serve receive rotations and MacArthur was going to be more integrated into the defense in the set. With such a dominant win in set 1, could the Top maintain their composure and intensity to have a repeat performance? The answer today was a resounding no unfortunately as the SHS squad seemed to play a step slow most of the set and allowed ALJ to dictate the pace of the set.
The Crusaders jumped out to a 3-0 after an ace and a kill by the ALJ squad but saw Roberts earn 2 kills off the ALJ block to tie things up at 3. Oberhuber continued to be a menace to the Crusaders as she got another kill which pushed SHS to a 5-4 lead but the Crusaders broke serve and went on a 2-0 run to take the lead 7-5. Oberhuber then hit for 2 consecutive kills and the Top flipped the scoreboard yet again to an 8-7 SHS lead. And so it went for the next couple of rotations but Coach Martins was forced to call a time-out down 12-9 after 3 consecutive perfect serve receptions led to nothing more than 2 hitting errors for the SHS crew. Alison Wauters responded off the time-out with a kill but yet again ALJ fed off 3 more Summit errors to take the lead 15-10.
In what quickly became the theme of the set, the home team would follow a good run with a service error as it did at 15-10 and the Maroon and Black were able to get Sarah Noa up to serve which led to a Julia Nardino block and that play led to a subsequent ALJ hitting error to get SHS to within 2 at 15-13. The teams traded points over the next couple of rotations but the ALJ squad extended their lead to 18-14 after yet another Summit hitting error in the set. But Nardino settled things down with a well placed roll hit for a kill, Roberts drove another kill off the block and the Top had crawled back to within 2 at 18-16.
Just when the Summit fans thought the tide was turning, three consecutive ball handling error calls on 3 different players saw the ALJ fan base get excited as their home team had suddenly earned a 21-16 lead in the set. A Crusader serving error stopped that momentum and SHS started to pressure the ALJ team with offensive attacks that were forcing the Crusaders into rushed attack attempts in transition which led to a slim 22-20 Crusader lead. Time-out ALJ.
Zacharias came in to shore up the serving point scoring attack and came through with an ace and another serve that forced the Crusader attack into the blocking hands of Wauters for the 22-22 score-line. ALJ broke serve with a kill but followed it up with another serving error and a down ball hitting error and somehow the Summit squad had a set and match point at 24-23. Thompson put the pressure on with her serve and the offense forced the ALJ "D" to survive and hand the Hilltoppers a handful of free balls but the team was not able to put away the Crusaders and a hitting error by SHS had the score at 24-24. A perfect pass by Wauters in the next ball led to nothing more than another Summit hitting error and suddenly, 25-24 ALJ!. But the Crusaders could not finish it out as they served yet another ball out and SHS had survived a set point as the scoreboard showed 25-25. Although the Crusaders earned another set point off a Hilltopper free ball error, the next rally was all about ALJ just making sure they put the ball in play and Roberts trying to score on transition. At the end of the rally, the junior OH did not get the kill but forced the ALJ defense to pass less than perfect balls that led to a hitting error as SHS fought off another set point. Basaman came up to serve in crunch time and blistered a serve that had ALJ scrambling and forced an errant free ball to get Summit their second match and set point. This time, the Top finished the job with an ace by Basaman for the 28-26 win.
Basaman was the top rated server for the team with a 2.75 serve rating with 1 ace but MacArthur and Thompson tallied 2 aces apiece to lead the ace party.
Thompson was outstanding in the serve receive department with a 2.47 pass rating, going 11/17 in perfect pass conversion for a 60.7% efficiency and notched a match high 15 digs on defense.
Webb and Oberhuber led the way with a kill % of 50%, Webb going 4/8 and Oberhuber 5/10. Oberhuber was also the lead blocking presence with 3 blocks for the match. She was the top kill leader for the match as well for the Top and Webb led in efficiency with a .500.
Zacharias and Lipschitz ran a balanced offense with both setters combining for 17 assists (8 and 9 respectively).
Oberhuber was the most productive Hilltopper scoring 8 points for the Top while 3 other players tallied 4 apiece.
OF NOTE:
The team served an amazing 51/52 serves safely for a 98.1% in this match. As a matter of fact, in this three game winning streak, Varsity has served at 92% with an ace % near 15%. The team has also out-killed the opposition 57-29, out-blocked their three opponents 9-3 and out-aced their divisional foes 22-10.
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