The Pioneers had pushed the JV in the earlier matchup at Summit and the Varsity had given the Top their third loss of the campaign while the 9th graders had handled the New Providence squad to remain undefeated.
Ninth Graders took care of business with a 25-14 and 25-12 win over the Pioneers. Through the first 6 rotations the Hilltoppers were in a bit of a fight with the Top leading only by 2 at 10-8. But in rotation 7, with SHS up 11-8, Molly Davies ran off 4 straight points to push the lead to 15-8, the beginning of the end for the Pioneers. New Providence couldn't get any closer to Summit and, with the score 18-12, SHS ran off 5 straight points off the service run of Juliana Alicea to all but seal the deal at 24-12. One rotation later it was over, 25-14.
Set two was more of the same. Ailish Gutshall led the way off the first rotation with a 7-0 run that had the Top up 8-0. The Pioneers cut slightly into the lead over the next few rotations and, with the scoreboard showing 10-4, Amanda Jimenez ripped off 7 straight points in her rotation to give the Summit squad an insurmountable 18-4 lead. New Prov fought back to close the gap to 18-9 but the lead was just too large and the Hilltoppers closed it out 25-12 to remain undefeated!
The Junior Varsity had earned a hard fought 2-0 win (25-23, 27-25) at home versus the Pioneers but it remained to be determined if the squad could duplicate that feat on the road. Early on, it did not seem so. The Top looked out of sorts and had numerous hitting and serving errors that, combined with the New Providence serving attack, proved to be the difference in a lackluster 25-22 set one loss. Summit was down 18-12, cut the lead down to 18-17 just to see the Pioneers go on a run that had them at the doorstep of the set win at 24-19 before the SHS squad broke serve. Summit could not get much closer and yielded the set a rotation later.
Set two was a drastic turnaround with the Hilltoppers serving and attacking more efficiently. Summit was up 11-4 after a mere two rotations as Emily Griffith and Elizabeth Walsh powered the Hilltopper service attack to an early lead. Summit served and attacked well in the next 4 rotations but the Pioneer defense was better, thwarting the Summit offense at every turn and not allowing any other runs. However, the New Providence attack was not effective at all during this stretch and the scoreboard showed a 16-11 lead for Summit at the end of rotation 6. Walsh yet again was the difference in the Hilltopper attack, serving the team another 4 points in rotation 8 to give Summit a 21-12 lead and, despite NP cutting the lead down to 21-16, SHS was comfortable after her service rotation and closed it out 25-19.
The decisive set was over early as the Hilltoppers took a 4-3 lead in rotation 3 and exploded it to a 12-3 lead behind the serving of Emily Demm. Stella Yarden then took the 13-5 lead the SHS squad had in rotation 4 and expanded it to 19-5 and the set and match were essentially over. By rotation 8 it was officially over with the scoreboard reading 25-12 for the 13th victory for the JV crew.
Varsity may look back at the New Providence loss as the turning point for their season. Since that loss, the Hilltoppers have gone 7W-0L dropping only one set in the run and winning 5 consecutive games on the road, the longest away winning streak in a decade! The match began very evenly with NP taking a slight lead at 4-2 by rotation 2 but a Vivian Roberts kill had Summit back in the set and it sparked a 6-0 run that saw Eva Oberhuber and Allison Wauters get kills and Torie MacArthur rip 2 aces. Despite a break of serve, Summit kept the pressure up with Wauters yet again adding to her offensive tally with kills #2 and #3 and Hope Basaman nailing an OPP attack that forced a Pioneer time-out with SHS up 11-5. The Hilltoppers lost the point right after the time-out but another Basaman kill had the Top on another run with sophomore Setter Zoe Zacharias getting into the offensive mix with a setter dump to give SHS the 14-6 lead. NP cut the lead down to 15-10 over the next couple of rotations but the Top used Roberts again to steady the ship as the junior OH notched a kill and an ace to solidify the Hilltopper lead at 20-12. The Pioneers cut the lead down to 22-17 over the next few rotations but to no avail as the Summit squad closed out the set with kills by Wauters, Nardino and Roberts to close out the set 25-17.
Set two had the Pioneers jump out to a 3-1 lead that seemed to exist until rotation 7 with the scoreboard showing 9-6 NP. Basaman got a tip kill to move SHS to within 2 and after a Pioneer hitting error, Roberts stuff blocked the New Providence OPP for a 9-9 score line that forced a NP time-out. The time-out was key as the Top were on the wrong end of a 3-0 run that had reestablished the Pioneer lead to 12-10.
Aya Laws had been working all season to improve her service game but had yet to test out all her hard work in a real match. That is, until this game. Laws was put into the match at 10-12 NP and in her first pressure serve of the season, the senior executed a good serve that led to an attack easily handled by Sarah Noa and put away by Oberhuber. The senior DS followed that serve up with an ace and SHS had tied the set at 12. Later in the set, Oberhuber was yet again the villain from a New Providence perspective with a kill to zone one that had NP looking to use their second time-out to stem the tide. And so they did, generating a 3-0 run that had New Providence up 20-16.
A block by Cece Webb started the emotional comeback. Noa served up an ace and Roberts ripped another kill to push SHS to within 1 at 20-19. New Prov stayed ahead of the Summit squad with 2 SHS errors but at 23-20, NP suffered a serving error that had the Top only down 23-21 and followed that up with two other errors thanks to the serving of Laws. The Pioneers soon earned a set point at 24-23 but Roberts smashed a kill to zone 1 to stave off the set loss and Webb followed suit with a kill of her own after a MacArthur serve forced the Pioneers into a free ball. MacArthur sent another tough ball over the net at set and match point Summit which the Pioneers could not return and the match was over with a 26-24 set and match win to move to 11W-3L.
MacArthur led the team with 2 aces and a 2.56 serve rating and a perfect 9/9 from the service line.
Thompson was stellar with a team leading 2.07 pass rating with 6/15 perfect passes and 12 digs on defense.
Roberts, Oberhuber and Wauters shouldered the offensive load with 19 of the 27 Hilltopper kills (7-6-6 respectively).
Nardino was busy at the net, notching 3 blocks and 2 kills on the match.
Zacharias tallied 25 assists in a 2 set match, the highest of her career in a 2 set match.
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