The Hilltoppers took the ride down the Parkway to take on the Indians of Rahway in a difficult matchup for both JV and Varsity. Rahway pushed the Junior Varsity at Summit and the Varsity squad had to make a furious 3rd set comeback to squeeze out a victory against their Rahway neighbors. The road match for Summit promised to be a difficult one.
It was obvious from the early rotations that this would be a tight set for the Junior Varsity. Juliana Alicea had the Top up by a couple in rotation 4 but Rahway erased that lead quickly and held a 13-10 lead after 6 rotations and a Coach Ross TO. The TO did not have much of an impact unfortunately as Summit found itself down 18-11 right at the onset of rotation 7 and the outlook for the set was bleak. But at 21-13, SHS began one of the best comebacks in JV Program history.
Molly Davies ran a 3-0 run that saw SHS to within 5 after her service run at 21-16. A service break by the Top and Alicea had the ball again and the sophomore ran another 2 points to get SHS to within 3 at 22-19. Summit broke serve yet again (22-20) and then Isabelle Meltzer ripped a 5-0 run to bring SHS the set 1 victory, 25-22.
Set 2 saw the teams again locked in a tight battle with the score showing 11-9 at the end of 6 rotations but in rotation 7, Liv Ge stepped up and rattled off 4 points to give SHS a 16-10 lead by the time it was all over. Rahway chipped into the lead but could not manage to get closer than 20-15 by rotation 10. Rahway needed a run but the Top slammed the door on any such efforts and the teams traded 1-2 point mini runs the rest of the way which the Hilltoppers took full advantage of, finishing the set 25-18 for their 9th win of the year.
The Varsity had a singular goal early: Come out and be competitive during the first 1/2 of set 1. And early on, goal accomplished. Summit found itself in a tight matchup with both teams locked at 7 all after a tip kill by Vivian Roberts. But three consecutive SHS errors saw the Indians create some separation at 10-7. A Roberts kill and a Hannah Barlow dump kill a rotation later saw the Top get to within 2 but the Indians responded winning 5 of the next 6 points thanks to 2 SHS errors and the home side seemed comfortable at 16-10. A serving error by the Summit crew and a Rahway ace later was all Coach Martins needed to see to call a TO to stem the tide. Summit came off the TO and ripped a kill by Roberts and an ace by Abby Thompson to get to within 4 at 19-15. But Rahway finally broke serve and the teams proceeded to trade points which favored the Indians as they saw the score get to 22-18. Another service error however dispelled any thoughts of a comeback as Rahway closed it out one rotation later with a 25-18 set win.
Set 2 was a very different animal. Summit got out to a 6-2 lead forcing a Rahway TO. Julia Nardino got it started with a downball kill, followed by 2 Barlow aces and a Allison Wauters kill. Off the TO, the pressure did not stop. Barlow nailed another ace and forced Rahway into 2 errors putting SHS into a 9-2 lead. Wauters helped break the serve again after a Summit service error and led her to the service line where the senior ripped an ace and helped see Roberts to two more kills which gave Summit a 13-4 lead. But the best was yet to come.
Caroline Henry pancaked a service from Rahway that traveled the entire court and landed deep in zone 5 of the home side propelling SHS to a 14-6 lead and leading to a 5-0 run fueled by two aces by Roberts and block by Nardino. SHS and Rahway traded points over the next few rotations and the Indians found themselves closer and closer to a set loss as the scoreboard flashed 21-9 Summit.
Two aces by the Rahway crew and a few untimely hitting errors had the Rahway side making a small comeback as the score showed a 21-13 Summit lead. Wauters then again stepped up and put any doubts of the outcome away with a killer attack that started a 3-1 run that also saw Roberts tally up another kill and Wauters hit for another ace to end set 2 25-16.
Summit got out slow in the deciding set with 3 Summit errors setting up an early 4-1 Rahway lead. A tip kill by Barlow began the mini comeback and Wauters added another kill to see the Top knot up the score at 4. But yet again a hitting error stopped the momentum and Coach Martins stopped the set with his first TO as the team had given up 5 points, 4 of them on unforced errors. With the score 6-4 Rahway, defense began to dictate the outcome of the match. Cece Webb stuff blocked a middle attack and the team won the next 2 long rallies thanks to good digs and receptions by the Top as the Hilltoppers finally had their first lead at 7-6. Rahway fought back to break service but another key kill and ace by Wauters flipped the script and Webb notched a kill to follow and SHS had opened up some daylight at 11-8 to force a Rahway TO. Webb, off the TO, blocked another Indian attack and SHS were looking at a 13-9 lead. The Indians spiked their way back to the set but a service error led to Roberts being on serve and the captain delivered with another ace to give the squad a 15-10 lead.
Over the next 2 rotations SHS and Rahway couldn't find any rhythm and the score showed 18-13 after a Summit service error. Rahway crawled back to within 3 at 15-18 after a kill by their MB and a hitting error by SHS. A lucky overpass that was struck into the net by the Rahway squad had Summit back in control. Barlow followed it up with an ace and Wauters delivered another kill and the Hilltoppers looked on track for the win at 21-16. Rahway responded though and ripped 2 kills past the Summit "D" to bring the score to 21-18. Roberts crushed another ball to bring SHS a 4 point lead but yet again the Indians fought back with 2 kills of their own forcing a Martins TO with SHS hanging on to 22-21 lead. A long difficult rally ensued and Zoe Zacharias slid over to front the Rahway OH who had visions of a kill after a short free ball by the Summit squad and the junior setter stuff blocked the attack to give SHS a 23-21 lead. A kill by Rahway saw the Indians cut it to 1 again at 23-22 but Roberts stepped up to serve and forced a bad pass by Rahway which handed an easy attack to Barlow who did not forgive and notched a kill. Roberts served yet again but Rahway handled this serve better however the subsequent attack was dug up beautifully by Wauters, set perfectly by Zacharias and put away without hesitation by Barlow.
Match Statistical Leaders:
Serving: Wauters, Barlow 4 aces each
Serve Rating: Wauters 2.62
Receiving (Perfect Passes): Barlow 7
Receiving (Pass Rating): Barlow 2.00
Attack (Kills): Roberts 14
Attack (Kill %): Wauters 41.2%
Attack (Efficiency): Wauters .353
Defense (Blocks): Barlow, Nardino 3 blocks each
Defense (Digs): Wauters 13
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