VARSITY PREVIEW - GOVERNOR LIVINGSTON AND CRANFORD

 GOVERNOR LIVINGSTON LAST 5 MATCHES

2018 

Governor Livingston beat Summit 2-0 and 2-1 by being more productive on offense as the Highlanders ended that season with a 60-40 kill advantage.  Some of that was mitigated in the second match at GL as the Hilltoppers had a 14-3 block advantage and a 15-14 ace advantage but it was not enough to overcome the offensive firepower of the GL squad.  Of note, the Highlanders had 60 kills and just 13 errors while the Hilltoppers scored 40 kills but notched 21 errors in the process.  

Libero Kiera Stocks was the serving menace with 5 aces and a 2.14 serve rating in the 2 matches.  Tessa Pulgar anchored a solid serve receive with a 2.38 pass rating with Pulgar sending a perfect pass to the setter a team leading 50% of the time.  

Offensively,  Katie MacPherson led the Summit attack with 13 kills.  Defensively,  Ava Williamson led the way with 19 and Carmel Barsh was a menace at the net with 8 blocks.

2019

GL swept the Hilltoppers 2-0 in both season matchups with a 32-14 kill advantage,  a 24-10 ace advantage and a 5-1 block advantage.  The Hilltoppers hit a negative .099 for the matches, a clear recipe for a negative result.

Kasey Walsh  led the Top with 3 aces.  Stocks led the squad with pass attempts and a 1.62 pass rating and a 31% perfect pass success rate.  Sara Maldonado was the main offensive weapon with 5 kills and a .286 attack efficiency.  Defensively,  Stocks had a team leading 11 digs and Annabella Yorio had the only block in both matches.

2021 Season 3

Although the Highlanders overcame the Hilltoppers 2-0,  Summit out-killed Governor Livingston 22-14 while the Highlanders out-aced Summit 3-2 and out-blocked the Maroon and White 7-4.  Overall,  Summit out-scored GL 28-24 but the 8 service errors and the 4 faults compared to GL's 5 total was the difference in key points of the match.  Of note,  SHS was missing team leading blocker and scoring middle Catherine Eldridge to illness that Saturday which did alter the offensive options available versus a very solid and dangerous Highlanders Squad.

Erin Vostal had 2 aces and a 2.43 serve rating to lead the Top from the service line.  Gabbie Guidetti was nearly perfect in receive with a 2.43 pass rating and a perfect pass % of 71.4%.  Maldonado was an attacking machine with 10 kills and a 76.9 kill % and an equal efficiency rating.  Stocks did everything she could defensively against the Highlanders OHs with a match and team leading 15 digs and Eva Oberhuber filled in admirably for Eldridge with a team leading 2 blocks.

Lessons Learned:  mistakes late in matches will come back to hurt you against a team that is betting on the fact that if they just keep the ball in play (not aggressive),  you will implode.  Aggression without purpose leads to errors. Summit loses by a combined 10 points and had 8 serving errors (most after the score had got past 15 points) despite the fact that they outscore (kills+blocks+aces) GL 28-24.

LAST MATCH:

Set 1 21-25  SHS-15 points Gov Liv-12 (Summit 10 serving / attacking errors, GL 4)

Set 2 19-25 SHS-13 pts. Gov Liv-12 (SHS 6 errors, GL 5)

CRANFORD LAST FIVE MATCHES

2018

In a dominant 2-0 match sweep of the Cougars by a 2-0 and 2-1 scores,  Summit showed their dominance with a 46-31 kill performance but the difference in both matches was in the serving department as the Top dominated with a 29-12 ace despite Cranford having an 8-5 blocking advantage over SHS.

Stocks was simply lethal with 9 aces and a 2.75 serve rating.  She also led the team with a 1.95 pass rating and a 31.7 perfect pass %.  Micaela Nardino was simply the question Cranford had no answer for in the 2 matches as she hit for 15 kills while defensively,  Stocks notched 20 digs and Nardino was 2nd with 16 over the 2 matches.  Sylvie Goudreau was a Cougar killer with a team leading 3 blocks and numerous attack thwarting touches.  

2019

The two matches versus Cranford were probably the most thrilling and competitive matches of the season for the Hilltoppers.  SHS came away with a 2-0 season sweep by 2-1 scores.  Summit held an overwhelming 67-38 edge in kills which proved to be the difference in the matches because the teams were pretty even in blocks (Cranford led 7-4) and aces (Summit 23-21).

Sarah Brennan silenced the Cougars from the service line with 8 aces and a 2.52 serve rating.  Stocks was a passing monster with 43 of the team's 125 passes at a team leading 2.00 pass rating and a 32.6% perfect pass %.  Maldonado was a thorn in the Cougar defense in both matches,  tallying a team leading 22 kills, a .413 efficiency rating and a 47.8 kill %.  Stocks was again a factor defensively digging up 34 Cougar attacks and Vostal was able to neutralize 3 Cougar attacks to lead the team in blocks.   

2021 Season 3

Summit entered the Cougar den for their only match of the season in the Season 3 schedule and had a 6W-0L record so the motivation was there for the Cougars to knock off their rivals.  SHS and Cranford locked up in another classic battle but the Hilltoppers came away with a 2-1 win behind a balanced attack of offense and serving which yielded a 25-21 kill advantage and a 12-7 ace advantage (both teams notched 2 blocks apiece).  

Guidetti was unstoppable from the service line, notching 4 aces on 9 attempts and only 1 error (2.89 serve rating).  Brennan led the passing efforts of the Top with a 2.08 rating and a 41.7 perfect pass %.  Maldonado was once again a key to the offense with a team leading 7 kills and a .160 efficiency but Vivian Roberts stepped up when needed in the match and tallied 6 kills and a 42.9 kill % to give the Maroon and White much needed balance.  Stocks (13),  Walsh (10) and Brennan (10) combined for 33 of the team's 48 digs and were instrumental in the win.  Eldridge was again a factor and notched 2 blocks along with affecting numerous attacks with her presence at the net. 

Lessons Learned:  In a rivalry match, stats go out the window.  Cranford had season high numbers in this match in numerous categories and did not show this kind of consistency throughout the year.  They targeted the setter in back row and served really tough.  Kill numbers determine the winner.

LAST MATCH:

Set 1 25-18 SHS-14 points Cranford-11 (Summit 2 serving / attacking errors, Cranford 6)

Set 2 21-25 SHS-10 pts. Cranford-14 (SHS 7 errors, Cranford 6)

Set 3 25-14 SHS-15 pts. Cranford-5 (SHS 8 errors,  Cranford 5) 

OUTLOOK:  

A-Summit and Governor Livingston both lost most of their offensive firepower from last year. Both teams should be pretty evenly matched and the outcome will probably be decided on kill number total and serving effectiveness.

B-Summit vs. Cranford is always an intense rivalry matchup and both squads will be up for the Friday night matchup.  The Cougars lost one of the two-headed monster offense that scored 42 kills apiece last season but they do return Coates who led the squad with a team tying 42 kills and 156 digs even though Quinones is a loss to graduation who also had 42 kills and was the team leader in aces and 2nd in service points.  The Cougars do return both sophomore setters who ran their 6-2 offense. Cranford opens with New Providence, a squad that they lost to twice last season by 2-0 tallies.