The Summit Hilltoppers took on the Raiders of Scotch Plains-Fanwood in a non-divisional conference match across all levels and the SHS squads won on all three levels in tough, competitive matches which went 2-1 to the 9th graders, 2-0 on Junior Varsity and 2-0 on Varsity.
JV MATCHES RAIDER SERVING ATTACK
The JV match was a battle of the servers as both teams went on different runs to seemingly break open the game just to see the other team come back and close the gap. In the end, Summit had a more effective offense and SPF committed more errors on attack which proved to be the key to the match. Early on the teams were locked in a 6-6 tie but the Raider serving power came to the forefront, providing 6-0 run that forced Coach Ross into a TO down 12-6. At 9-13, Emmy Handal stepped up to serve and notched 5 service points to bring the Hilltoppers even at 14 when SPF finally broke serve. Scotch Plains could not generate anything off their service break and Summit hit them again with a 5-0 run, this time behind the serving of Isabelle Meltzer and the solid distribution of passes by setter Elizabeth Walsh who kept giving the Top offense good looks to put away. Up 20-15, the only question was whether the team was going to suffer through another SPF run but that did not materialize as SHS closed it out a few rotations later 25-18.
Set 2 saw the Raiders go down 8-2 as Gabby Nowicka opened the set with a 4-0 run but the SPF squad responded in rotation 3 again with a 3-0 run and closed the gap to 2 at 10-8. With the score 9-7, Summit's Kate Cooper rattled off 3 service points to bring the Top in control again with a 13-8 but the Raiders were able to get within 1 at 15-14 by rotation 7. But Meltzer was once again a factor as she served up 3 service points to expand the lead to 19-14 and give the Top some relief. The Raiders whittled that lead down over the next few rotations to 22-20 but Liv Ge slammed the door on any hopes with the final 2 service points to give SHS the 25-21 win to improve to a 5W-1L record.
VARSITY CLEANS UP ERRORS, COMES BACK TO BEAT SPF FOR FIRST TIME IN 7 TRIES
Scotch Plains had defeated the Top over the weekend at the Healing the Children Tournament by 25-10, 25-14 tallies rather easily. The Summit crew were looking to overcome the serve receive woes of those two sets with Hannah Barlow in the mix as she was not able to play over the weekend in those sets. The full SHS lineup and clutch defense versus the SPF middle attack turned out to be the key in the tight 25-23, 25-23 win over the Raiders, the first win in 10 years (7 matches) over the SPF squad.
SPF jumped out to a 3-0 lead in set 1 but Barlow broke their serve with a tip kill and Zoe Zacharias followed up with an ace along with 2 Raider errors to erase that deficit and give SHS a 4-3 lead. But the Scotch Plains side was unperturbed and struck back with a 6-0 run that ended on an Alison Wauters dump kill which had the Top down 9-5. Caroline Henry crushed an ace and forced subsequent Raider errors off her serve to get SHS back to a 9-8 deficit just to see the visitors go on a 3-1 run to put the home side back to a 12-9 deficit. Vivian Roberts then started to get involved on defense with a dig that led to one of her kills and Julia Nardino started the defensive stops up the middle that began the theme for the Top success with a stuff block and the Hilltoppers found themselves tied at 14.
After a Barlow kill had the score at 15-15, SPF ran off 3 consecutive points off 2 unforced Summit errors which forced a TO by Coach Martins. Off the TO, Roberts put up a perfect pass that she proceeded to crush down for a kill and Henry followed up with an ace and the Top was back, down only 17-18. SPF responded with a brief 2-0 run but Cece Webb put down a kill that spurred a 3-0 run response by SHS before a service break had the score at 21-20 SPF. The Raiders shot a tough serve across the net that forced Summit to return a free ball that was not handled well by the visitors which led to a service break and a subsequent kill by Roberts forcing a TO by the Blue and White at 22-21 SHS. Off the time-out, the Hilltoppers got a block by Webb to push the lead to 23-21 but a service error gave Scotch Plains new life. However, any hope was extinguished with another Webb block to give SHS 2 set points which they converted with a kill by none other than Roberts to seal the set 25-23.
The second set saw the SPF squad jump out to a 4-1 lead but Summit battled back with a 5-0 run (Wauters 2 kills, Barlow 1 kill) to take the lead back at 6-4. The teams traded points over the next few rotations and looked to be at a stalemate after a Roberts tip kill had the home side up 9-8 but the Raiders again found a 3-0 run and flipped the score to 11-9. The errors began to appear on both sides at this point with teams scoring off each other's unforced errors and the gap remained the same at 11-13 SPF a few rotations later. Summit then benefited from 2 consecutive attack errors by the Raiders and got an ace from Roberts who had the squads tied at 14 after her service run was over.
The set remained tight with Summit hanging on to a 17-16 lead late in the set but an attack error by the visitors provided the opportunity for SHS to pull away. Barlow went on a 3-0 run that started with an ace and within 2 minutes, the home squad had a 21-16 lead. A service break broke momentum but Roberts again found the floor with another kill and SHS was only 3 away from a huge victory at 22-17. But the Scotch Plains side would not go away and produced a 3-1 run that pulled them within 3 at 23-20. Roberts again was the go to choice and produced again for the Top and the match seemed just about over at 24-20 but Summit committed 3 consecutive hitting errors forcing a Martins TO with SPF breathing down the Hilltoppers back at 24-23. Coming off the TO, Wauters passed up a perfect ball to Zacharias who delivered an outside ball to Barlow and the junior slammed an attack that was dug but right back to her side of the net and the second time she did not miss and finished the visitors off 25-23.
Match Statistical Leaders:
Serving: Henry 2 aces, 2.67 serve rating
Receiving (Perfect Passes): Barlow, Wauters 5
Receiving (Pass Rating): Wauters 2.57
Attack (Kills): Roberts 7
Attack (Kill %): Barlow 40%
Attack (Efficiency): Roberts .278
Defense (Blocks): Webb, Roberts 3
Defense (Digs): Wauters 4
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