The matches continued for the Hilltoppers with a bout against the Oak Knoll Royals. Both SHS squads had taken care of the visitors at home by 2-0 margins but both squads were coming off physically and emotionally draining matches against the Cougars with different results. JV was looking to bounce back from only their third loss of the 2022 campaign while Varsity was looking not to have a letdown after their big victory against Cranford.
JV used a superior serving attack to stifle the Royal attack and got enough offense out of the front court to seal the deal against Oak Knoll. The defense was good when it needed to be although most of the work was handling many free balls that were forced by the SHS serving attack. In set 1, the Top looked to be in control in rotation 7 with Gabby Nowicka giving the squad a 15-10 lead but the Royals came storming back to knot the score up before the rotation was over. With the scoreboard showing 19-19 in rotation 9, Kate Cooper came up with a 6-0 service run (3 aces) that got the Hilltoppers the set 1 victory at 25-19.
Set 2 was far less dramatic with Sanne Smidt extending a 5-2 Summit lead to a 10-2 lead off 2 aces and a 5 point service run. By the time Emmy Handal was done in rotation 6, the lead had ballooned to 19-5. Isabelle Meltzer was the last nail in the proverbial coffin as the defensive specialist ran off 3 service points (1 ace) to bring the win home at 25-9.
The Varsity Team was trying to use its depth and rest some key players for the upcoming tournament run so the match featured a starting lineup of Mckenna Welsh, Naya Kim, Emily Demm, Abby Wells, Cece Webb, Ava Feuerstake and Libero Stella Yarden. Set 1 saw the Top down early 4-2 but Feuerstake ripped an ace and Webb got a stuff block in a 4-0 run that had Summit up 6-4. The teams failed to get any advantage over the next two rotations but it wasn't until a service error by Oak Knoll that opened the door for Summit to take control. Demn began it all with a kill and then Abby Thompson ripped 3 aces in a row which was then followed by another Demn kill and a Royal error and the set seemed in hand with SHS up 14-7. A TO by the Royals did little to stop the Summit momentum as Thompson ripped another ace when the set resumed. Kim followed up with a kill and Thompson added yet another ace before the run ended with the score at 17-7. Neither team was able to make much of a sustained run after that and the set ended 25-18.
Oak Knoll started off with a 5-1 run and kept that buffer through the 8-4 score-line. A service error by the Royals opened the door again for the Top and Caroline Henry used serving again to get the team back into the match. By the time her 7-0 service run was over (Henry ace, Kim kill, Anna Joseph kill) the Hilltoppers were back in control at 12-8. However, service errors and attacking errors came to plague the Hilltoppers and the Royals ran off an 17-9 run to close out the set. The last few points were emblematic of the set as the Hilltoppers had crawled back to within one at 21-20 but followed that up with 2 attack errors and one hitting error to hand over the 2nd set to Oak Knoll.
The deciding set was decided early as the Top opened up with a 7-1 run. Kim started it off with a kill and Zoe Zacharias added an ace to begin the run. Demn tallied another kill, Yarden ripped 2 aces and the Royals were forced into a TO. A 5-1 Summit run was the result of the TO as Wells and Joseph got into the mix with 2 kills and one kill respectively. Ece Kulabas made her statistical appearance with an ace and the lead was 12-2 and effectively ended any hopes of a Royal upset. This time, the last few points were again emblematic of the set. Webb got a kill off an overpass and Demn ripped an ace after an Oak Knoll attack error and the set and match was over 25-15.
Match Statistical Leaders:
Serving: Thompson 5 aces
Serve Rating: Thompson 3.43
Receiving (Perfect Passes): Yarden 5
Receiving (Pass Rating): Feuerstake 2.00
Attack (Kills): Demn 9
Attack (Kill %): Kim 41.7%
Attack (Efficiency): Demn .261
Defense (Blocks): Kim, Wells and Webb 1 apiece
Defense (Digs): Kulabas and Yarden 6 apiece
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