The 9th graders improved to 4W-1L after a 25-22, 25-11 victory over the Linden Tigers on the road. Despite another slow start, the team gathered itself and won the key points down the stretch of set one and dominated from the service line in set two. Meiseles was instrumental on offense as was Kovarik, as both girls seemed to get the important attack when it mattered most. Freeden did her part setting the tempo with her serves and defensive effort to help lead the team to another win!
Summit has usually had a spirited match against the Linden Tigers and the first matchup of 2023 was not any different by the JV Squad. With Linden just ahead of Summit at 6-5 entering rotation 4, Meltzer again -almost routinely now- ran off 6 service points (3 aces) to give the Hilltoppers a 12-6 lead. With a 16-9 lead through 6 rotations, the home team ran off a 7-0 run to knot the score at 16. Just when the Top was feeling the pressure, Ge the Junior OH delivered a knockout punch with a 6-0 run (2 digs, 1 ace) to push SHS to an insurmoiuntable 23-17 lead and basically seal the set. Final score 25-19.
The 2nd set proved to be a little less dramatic. Soph Setter Smidt, ran off a service point run (2 aces) which quickly gave the Top a 5-1 lead. Sabuncu kept the pressure 2 rotations later with a 7-0 run (3 aces) which had the Hilltoppers in a dominant position at 16-3. The team never really faltered after that and the set and match ended on a 9-8 score in the last 4 rotations to show a final 25-11 set and match win. Junior Varsity still undefeated at 5W-0L!
Varsity was looking to continue to build on their performance against the New Province Pioneers. It would be a tough task as it traditionally is against the Tigers. The Top started off on a 5-2 run that saw Barlow get involved early with an ace and a kill. Linden had crawled back to within one at 8-7 before Barlow again found the floor with a kill to give SHS a 9-7 lead. The Tigers were unfazed however and embarked on an 8-2 run that saw the Summit Squad give up 3 aces and Linden was feeling good with a 15-11 lead. At 16-11 and things looking bleak, SHS called a TO and the Top came out with an unlikely offensive hero, Libero Henry for a dump kill. Henry kept the pressure up off her serve, forcing Linden into 2 return errors, hitting for an ace and then Welsh struck for a kill to see the Black and Gold knot things up at 16. Three consecutive SHS errors had Linden back up 19-16 but a service error by the home team opened the door for Summit who had Welsh up in a high pressure service round which the young Setter/OPP handled beautifully, pressuring the Tigers into 3 errors which had the team at 19-20 at the end of her run. Linden looked like they had taken control of the set after 2 Summit hitting errors at 22-19 but two consecutive service errors by the Tigers gave Summit a chance to rebound and Feuerstake delivered with an ace and Linden saw a blocking error and a hitting error give the Hilltoppers a 24-23 lead out of nowhere.
Kill Linden, 24-24... Barlow tip kill, 25-24, Match Point #1... Net error Summit, 25-25... Block Barlow and Nardino, 26-25, Match Point #2... Hit error SHS, 26-26... Hit error SHS, 26-27, Match Point #1 Linden... Welsh kill, 27-27... Linden hit error, 28-27, Match Point #3... Block error SHS, 28-28... Welsh kill, 29-28, Match Point #4... Welsh serves a bullet that leads to an overpass which Zacharias attempts to put away but Linden digs it and just send the ball over to SHS. Zacharias piucks it up and Welsh sets Joseph out of the middle but to no avail...Linden runs a solid OH attack but Barlow digs it up and Joseph again tries to find the floor and fails but the hit puts Linden in a tough spot on transition and the last hitting attempt goes for naught and the Hilltoppers outlast the Tigers in set one, 30-28.
Set two began well for the Top with a Nardino kill and an ace by Demm. After an early hitting error by the Tigers in rotation 3, SHS was up 4-2. The teams slugged it out over the next few rotations and the importance and competitiveness of the set was in full display as the two rivals battled to a 9-9 tie through 6 rotations. But then Linden made a push with 3 aces and a kill and it was only a serving error that helped the SHS squad as they trailed 10-13. Nardino started a 3-0 run with a dump kill and Zacharias chipped in another ace and a tough serve that led to a ball handling error by Linden knotting things up at 13. Both teams settled into a side-out battle over the next 3 rotations and at 16 all, the game seemed to be calling for a decisive run. Unfortunately for Summit, that run came via 2 Tiger aces and 2 Summit hitting errors which had Linden up 20-16. SHS fought back to 19-20 after a Barlow kill and a Joseph kill a rotation later had the Top again within one at 20-21. However, a Top blocking error and a Tiger kill later, the home squad seemed to be on the verge of a win which concluded a 4-1 run by Linden and gave the Tigers a 25-22 set win.
Unlike the prior sets, this decisive set began quite auspiciously for the Top. Linden jumped out to a 3-1 lead after 2 consecutive serving errors and a hitting error by the Top. A Feuerstake dump kill knotted things up at 3 but the Tigers took control again of the set with a 7-3 run that again only ended with a Tiger serving error. Barlow again took advantage with a kill and Zacharias capitalized with an ace but Linden responded with a 2-0 run (1 ace) which had the scoreboard showing 12-9. Down 12-14 a few rotations later, the Top rattled off 4 consecutive points (Feuerstake kill, Welsh ace, Joseph block) to take the lead 16-14. A Linden TO swung momentum back to the home squad as they rattled off 3 straight points but Joseph once again stymied the comeback with a kill of her own knotting up the score at 17. The Tigers were then gifted 2 Summit hitting errors and got a kill of their own with a Barlow kill in the middle to see the score flip to 20-18 in their favor. The resiliency of the team was quite astonishing as the squad yet again fought back late with a 3-0 run this time fueled by a Nardino kill and a block and an ace by Zacharias to give SHS a tenuous 21-20 lead. The teams traded shots and saw the scoreboard show 22-22 when Linden got a dump kill to take a lead at 23-22. Feuerstake again came through in spades with a key kill to give the serve back to Summit which led to a long rally where, out of system, Henry was able to get a down-ball to go down for a 24-23. A Henry serve on match point led to a dump attack by Linden which was handled by Zacharias. Barlow tried to put the match away but to no avail but followed it up with a dig which led to another attack attempt by Feuerstake but with no success. Henry dug up a game-tying atempt by the Tigers which led to a Barlow dump kill for the set and match win at 25-22.
The win pushes the Hilltoppers to the top of the division table in a tie with Rahway. Barlow and Zacharias were very effective from the serving line, combining for 6 of the squad's 10 aces. Henry, Barlow and Welsh handled most of the pass attempts with Barlow at 2.06 pass rating, Welsh 2.03 an Henry 1.83. Barlow led the Top with 8 kills as SHS struck for 24 kills total with 9 players on the scoresheet with a kill. Welsh and Feuerstake tallied 4 apiece to balance out the attack. Nardino was the most efficient offensive threat with a .333 mark followed by Zacharias with .200 and Feuerstake with a .077. Nardino ended the match as the most lethal offensive weapon with a kill % of 50 with Barlow at 32.0 and Feuerstake at 30.8%. Barlow was a defensive machine with 15 digs to help the Top through some tough moments in the match and joined Nardino and Joseph with 2 blocks apiece to round out the defensive effort. Barlow was the top scorer for Summit with 13 points with Feuerstake notching 6 and Nardino/Welsh/Zacharias rounding out the top 3 with 5 points apiece.
But the big news came after the match, once stats were confirmed, that showed that Zacharias ECLIPSED THE 1000 ASSIST MARK, the first female volleyball player in the history of SHS to do that! Congrats Captain!
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