The last week of the regular season brought some mixed results for the program but also delivered a lot of lessons to the teams.
9th Graders finished their season off with a much more physical and experienced Mendham squad and fought hard to the end but came up a little short in a 2-1 loss to the Minutemen. The squad has shown a drastic improvement from the beginning of the season and competed well against teams out of the conference as they achieved the 3rd best record at the 9th grade level and had only one loss in the conference although they defeated that team later in the season.
Junior Varsity were exceptional after their loss to Westfield in the County Semi-Finals and delivered two wins versus Mendham and Dayton to close out the season. Despite injuries and illnesses, the squad began to look like a consistent offensive squad who could play with anyone and delivered the last two wins of the season.
Varsity dropped a 2-1 decision to Dayton but Roberts suffered a thumb injury that forced the senior out of action from early 2nd set until the end of the match. The Top featured a lineup the rest of the way that was comprised of players who are expected to take on major roles next year and the squad did not disappoint but the execution at times was not at the level it needed to be to earn the W on this day. The experience though, invaluable.
Mendham came in for Senior Night and beat the Hilltoppers 2-0 as Roberts yet again was limited due to the injury and the future team members showed an improved level of play quality just from the Dayton match as they pushed a more seasoned and experienced Minutemen squad to a tight 2-0 loss.
The two matches however revealed yet again what the Hilltoppers already knew this season: if the aces weren't going to come easily, the errors would hurt this team and put that much more pressure on the offensive output.
In the last week of the season, with a part-time Roberts in tow, SHS hit only 12 aces but also tallied 20 errors for a net -8 points. Meanwhile, their opponents, had a combined 22 aces and only 20 errors for a net +2, a 10 point swing, or a 5 point average differential each match. Against Dayton, the total point differential was 7 at the end of the match and against Mendham, 7 as well. Serving consistency has been as much of the team's identity as its offense and blocking and it is no surprise that this squad played more 3 set matches than any other squad in the history of the program as the team could be just lethal to opponents from the service line or it could be lethal to itself, all in the same match.
The path was set for Sectionals, could the Hilltoppers' offense and blocking be enough to power the squad to a semi-final match for the third season in a row? Only time would tell...
2 Match Statistical Leaders:
Serving: Wauters 3 aces
Serve Rating: Barlow 2.33
Receiving (Perfect Passes): Barlow 12
Receiving (Pass Rating): Barlow 1.94
Attack (Kills): Barlow 18
Attack (Kill %): Roberts 58.8%
Attack (Efficiency): Roberts .588
Defense (Blocks): Nardino 4
Defense (Digs): Barlow 13
Defense (Dig %): Yarden 77.8%
Assists: Zacharias 49
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