9th Graders fresh off their home opener win over Cranford took the show on the road to Scotch-Plains Fanwood seeking to start a win streat to open up the 2023 Season. It did not start well.
Numerous passing and serving errors led to a lackluster and frustrating set 1 loss of 25-12 but the young Toppers remained very positive and had each other's back through the 2nd set as SHS turned it around and were lethal from the serving line to lead the Hilltoppers to a dominant and decisive 25-7 set 2 win.
So the stage was set for a decisive set 3 with both teams looking for the knockout punch. But the set was more of a trading of body blows as neither team could ever quite deliver the knockout blow early. Serving was tough from both sides, passing was solid and when given the opportunity, the offenses were delivering. There was very little separating the squads but it was the Summit Hilltoppers who won the last decisive points to forge ahead for good and take an exciting and hard-fought 25-23 set and match win.
The Hilltoppers relied on an entire team effort -especially in set 2- and in set 3 it was the play of Feuerstake and her leadership that motivated the team in tight spots. Mirliss was unflappable, basically flawless from the service line, great defensive plays and a calm composure which helped the team keep their nerve through the most stressful moments of the match. Colon was a serve receive machine, handling most of the attempts and thwarting any runs the SPF athletes attempted. Freeden had an impact everywhere on the court as the 6 rotation OPP found herself in the middle of the action from every position. Easton continues to prove why she deserved to be on the team, showing great improvement all around in real live games and contributing key plays at key times. Overall, the energy on the bench was OUTSTANDING and helped this young team find a way to win on the road and improve to 2W-0L.
Junior Varsity faced off against the SPF Raiders after the Varsity match and could not have gotten off to a better start. Sabuncu put set 1 away in the first rotation with the help of her teammates as she rattled off 10 service points to give SHS a 10-0 lead before the crowd was settled in. From there, the Raiders managed to get as close as 12-6 but Devaney put any hope away of a comeback with a 5-0 run that put the Top on top 17-7 and led to a quiet 25-8 set win after Meltzer wrapped things up in rotation 4.
The second set turned on the first two rotations. Smidt and Chaves gave the Hilltoppers an 8-3 lead which the squad could not expand on but defended well through 6 rotations as the scoreboard indicated 13-9 Guest. With the score 16-11 Summit, Chaves ran a 4-0 run that put the set away for all intent and purpose, giving the team a 20-11 lead. SHS closed it out 2 rotations later for the comfortable 25-16 set and match win, giving the team a 2W-0L opening to the 2023 Campaign
Varsity upset the higher ranked SPF Raiders in 2022 after dropping a decisive 2-0 decision to their Watchung Division crossover rivals in the HTC Tourney when the team did not have their full squad. SHS needed the best from all their starting players last year to earn a tough fought 25-23, 25-23 win at home. This year, the Hilltoppers traveled to SPF in their 2nd match not having their entire squad available again in their first matchup with this Watchung Division powerhouse. Much like last year, the first encounter did not go well.
Summit opened set 1 competitively, trailing only by one at 5-6 with contributions by Welsh (2k), Demm (1k) and Nardino (1k). But then the wheels came off the offense and the blocking seemed a step off dealing with the Raider offense as SPF went on a 13-1 run that sealed set 1.
Set 2 did not start off as well for the Hilltoppers and they found themselves trailing 6-3 and then the Raiders got another run (11-1) which sealed the fate of the Top.
SHS was out-scored 35-14, mostly due to a kill differential of 11 and an ace differential of 8. The silver lining of this match was the great serve receive and defense through most of the match by the combination of Welsh, Thompson, Henry and Heary.
Thompson and Zacharias were the only ones to put pressure on the SPF serve receive with an ace apiece and a serve rating of 2.60 and 2.75 respectively.
Henry once again led the squad in 3.0 passes with 4 (2nd on % 28.6%) while Heary was close behind (3 3.0 passes - 27.3%). Henry led the squad with a 1.93 pass rating and Welsh close behind with a 1.83.
Feuerstake led the team with 4 kills and Welsh was close behind with 3 but with a team efficiency of only .022, Welsh's .286 stands out as big highlight.
Welsh was also instrumental in giving the Hilltoppers a chance in transition as she dug up a team leading 6 balls in the match.
Zacharias tallied 11 assists through 6 different players as Summit tried to find a solution to the SPF D. The Senior Setter and Captain is now at 953 assists for her career, a mere 47 from the amazing tally of 1000! Although very early, the Captain is averaging one more assist per set than last year when she totaled 493 assists in a season, a team record! 1500 assists may not be too far out of reach.
Feuerstake provided another bright spot in an otherwise gloomy day as the Junior was the only front row player to have a net positive score for the match for Summit with a +1.
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