The Mustangs of Kennedy Memorial had a tough and competitive GMC schedule and had nothing to lose against the Top and it showed early. The Kennedy Memorial squad stunned the Hilltoppers with a set 1 win (19-25) in a set that saw the Mustangs out-score the Top 13-11 and benefit from 8 points that Summit gifted the Green and White through 5 service errors and 3 faults (net, ball handling).
Set 2 saw the Summit squad dismantle the Mustangs with a 15-8 advantage as the home team hit for 9 kills and 6 aces to offset 5 serving errors and finish with a 25-15 set 2 win.
Set 3 was a runaway early as Zacharias ran off the first 11 points to give the SHS Team an 11-0 lead and, despite a late Mustang run that had the visitors as close as 22-18, Summit closed it out 25-19 after a 20-7 earned point advantage fueled by 7 blocks and a 7 ace (to only 4 errors), 6 kill performance to move the Hilltoppers to the Quarter-Finals.
Despite the win, the warning signs were there of the danger ahead. The team hit for an incredible 18 aces but it also tallied 14 errors. What would happen if the aces were not to be had? Could the team offense overcome it?
Match Statistical Leaders:
Serving: Barlow 5 aces
Serve Rating: Barlow and Wauters 2.33
Receiving (Perfect Passes): Barlow 5
Receiving (Pass Rating): Barlow 2.00
Attack (Kills): Barlow 9
Attack (Kill %): Roberts 54.5%
Attack (Efficiency): Roberts .455
Defense (Blocks): Nardino 5
Defense (Digs): Barlow 7
Defense (Dig %): Barlow 100%
Assists: Zacharias 20
Millburn had come in last year as a 5 seed and fell to the Top in straight sets in a tough match for the Top. Summit was a clear favorite this year in comparison and it would take a certain set of circumstances to derail the SHS train. Unfortunately, the Millers were good enough to use the SHS errors to their full advantage and score a big win over the Hilltoppers and earn a berth in the semis versus Rahway.
Summit beat Millburn 25-21 in set 1 but the Millers actually out-killed the Top 7-5 and Summit managed only 8 points to the Millers 10 but the home squad got 6 points from hitting errors and 4 from free ball return errors which offset the one stat that really should have given pause to the celebration in set 1 and that was that the Summit Hilltoppers had only hit for 2 aces but had tallied 8 errors.
Set 2 was a heartbreaker as the SHS team out-scored the Millers 16-13 behind a 10 kill effort and it seemed to be enough late in the set to get Summit to the semis but, despite a Wauters kill bringing SHS a 22-16 lead and almost a certain victory, the Top saw the Millers storm back to win the set 28-26. The Millburn squad left the best for last in the set, hitting for 3 aces and forcing one overpass in a perfect 9-0 serving run that turned the game on its head while the Hilltoppers managed only 2/4 from the service line from the 22-16 scoreline.
The silver lining of this match and of the season was this team's ability to fight through adversity as this pattern was more of the norm than the exception this year. The Hilltoppers won the overwhelming majority of their sets coming from behind or fighting off an opponent's surge in the set. This match was no different. SHS saw the Millers take a 23-22 lead but in the next vital point, the Top crushed an attack and earned a 23 tie and then got another kill for a match point. Unfortunately, that did not come to fruition and Millburn took advantage of key Summit errors and timely offense to earn a 28-26 set 2 victory despite being out-scored by the home team.
Set 3 started normally with SHS doing its usual start, down 4-1 after 1 rotation, but the home team crawled its way slowly back and was only down by 2 at 7-9 before the wheels came off the proverbial car. A kill by the Millers, a net error and an attacking fault by SHS had the visitors up 12-7. A kill by Summit stopped the run but a free ball return error followed by an ace had the Millers up 14-8 and Martins called a TO. The stoppage did very little as the Millers got the lead to 16-8 on 2 consecutive hitting errors by the Top after 2 perfect serve receive passes. Millburn then committed a hitting error of their own and that sparked a Barlow mini service run that saw Millburn fail to return the ball twice and Summit felt the comeback happening with the scoreboard showing 11-16. Time-Out Millburn.
Unfortunately, the Millers stopped the Barlow service run but yet again SHS responded with a kill and the gap remained 5 at 12-17. Time was running out but the Hilltoppers had been here before and there was belief in this squad. But then the error gremlin showed up out of nowhere and the positive vibes that had re-emerged all but disappeared.
Blocking error SHS, fault SHS, attack error SHS, free ball return error SHS and finally, kill Summit... the damage already done though as the Hilltoppers trailed 21-13. But again, the culture that has been established is to battle despite the odds. And battle the Hilltoppers did despite being down 22-13.
Free ball return error Millburn, ace SHS, kill Summit, kill Summit, fault Millburn... 22-18 Millburn...
Net error SHS, hitting error Millers... 23-19... fault Summit and Millburn has 5 match points... Summit kill and SHS serve forces a free ball return error for a 24-21 scoreline... Millburn takes it on the next point and ends the Hilltoppers season as the team falls on the wrong side of the knife's edge the team played on all year.
Summit outscored Millburn in the third set 13-11 but the Millers had only 2 hitting errors in the set and get called for only 1 fault while the Hilltoppers have 4 hitting errors and get called for 6 faults, the highest number all season in a match... Summit hits for 3 aces to only 2 errors and the Millers go 1 ace to 3 errors. In the last 2 sets, Summit tallies 7 aces but commits 7 errors while the Millers go 5 aces 3 errors (a perfect 4 aces - 0 errors 2nd set).
Summit outscored Millburn 37-34 in the match with one more kill, block and ace than the Millers. Both teams committed 11 hitting errors but the key was that the Millburn squad had a +0 net result from the service line with 8 aces and 8 errors (5 in the first set) while SHS tallied 9 aces and 15 errors (-6 net) in a match decided by 6 points.
Summit passed far better than the Millers and forced the visitors into double the free ball return errors that SHS tallied but the 7-3 serving error advantage the Millers had over sets 2 and 3 became the story, especially late in set 2 when the Millburn team was perfect from the service line and the Summit side could not match their execution.
So proud of the "no quit" attitude and the compete level when this team could have easily given up. It reveals the character that was on this team all season. We won 16 matches, won 37 of the 61 sets we played and had an overall record in 3 set matches of 10W-5L. You can't do this without being a resilient team who handled adversity really well during the season, especially when they had must win matches versus Rahway, Cranford and Union to win the first divisional title in 11 years!!! It WAS a great year, just not the end we had hoped.
Match Statistical Leaders:
Serving: Barlow 4 aces
Serve Rating: Barlow 2.47
Receiving (Perfect Passes): Barlow 9
Receiving (Pass Rating): Wauters 2.64
Attack (Kills): Roberts 9
Attack (Kill %): Wauters 41.7%
Attack (Efficiency): Wauters .250
Defense (Blocks): Nardino 2
Defense (Digs): Wauters 9
Defense (Dig %): Wauters 90%
Assists: Zacharias 19
SEASON STATS REVEALS STRENGTH AND ACHILE'S HEEL
Kills: Summit 602 - Opponents 412
Blocks: Summit 83 - Opp 50
Aces: Summit 224 - Opp 191
Serving Errors: Summit 267 - Opp 177
Faults: Summit 85 - Opp 46
