In a match that would determine who would claim 1st Place in the Mountain Division at the halfway point of the season, Summit came out firing on all cylinders in the first set but failed to seal the deal as the Top's road record dropped to 1W-3L after a 2-1 loss to Rahway.
Zacharias started off SHS on a good note in the opening set with a 3-0 service run that saw Nowicka start for the first time this season at OH and get her first kill as a starter to push the Top to an early 3-0 lead. Rahway responded with a 6-0 run of their own but Nowicka got another timely kill to break the Indian momentum and set up a 3-0 run by the Hilltoppers fueled by kills by Barlow and Welsh which had the teams all knotted up at 9. Summit then went on a decisive 7-1 run (Barlow kill and 2 aces, Welsh kill that had SHS up 16-10 and seemingly in control. Rahway responded with a 3-0 run driven by 3 SHS errors but another kill by Barlow and 2 more kills by Nowicka had the Hilltoppers up 20-14 and on their way to a 25-16 set win on a 5-1 late run (Nardino, Welsh kill and Henry 2 aces.
Set 2 saw the home team jump out to an 8-2 lead forcing a Summit TO which seemed to settle the team a bit as the game became very even with neither team gaining any ground over the next 3 rotations and the score 12-5 after another SHS service error. Barlow tried to start a spark with a key block and Nardino followed suit with block of her own to get the Top to within 6 at 15-9 but Rahway again responded with a 3-1 run that had Summit on the ropes at 18-10. SHS kept fighting though and generated a 6-1 run (Welsh kill, ace, Heary ace, Demm kill, Barlow kill) which seemed very much like the runs the team had in set 1 to put the Hilltoppers within 3 at 16-19. Rahway called a timeout but Heary ripped another ace immediately after the resumption of play to push SHS that much closer to the Indians at 17-19. The Indians finally got a sideout and struck for a kill to take a 21-17 lead and the teams kept thwarting each other's attempted runs over the next few rotations as the scoreboard showed a 21-23 deficit for SHS after another Barlow kill. The set ended soon thereafter with a blocking and hitting error punctuating what had been a very difficult set for the Top, dropping it 25-21.
The deciding set began auspiciosly enough for the Summit crew as Rahway opened up 3-0 after 2 passing errors and a hitting error by SHS. Summit rebounded nicely with a 5-0 run (Welsh ace, Heary ace) midway through the set, after a Barlow ace, the Hilltoppers were only down 7-9. Rahway started to open up a lead with a 3-0 run but SHS won 4 of the next 5 points (Nardino kill) that had the team within 2 again at 13-15.
But Rahway seemed to have an answer for all of these runs but this time it was for the deciding set. The Indians struck for 2 kills forcing a TO by Martins and came off the TO with an ace and Summit felt the pressure to score immediately with Rahway up 18-13. The Hilltoppers responded with a quick 2 point run (Nardino blosck) and yet again SHS was within striking distance late at 15-18. However, the celebrating was a bit pre-mature as Rahway rattled off 6 consecutive points to give the Indians a 23-15 lead and blow open the set and match. Nowicka got yet another kill and the team earned a 3-0 service run to start to cast some doubt in the Rahway minds at 23-18 but another Summit hitting error all but sealed the deal at 24-18. Nowicka struck yet again but it was just too much of a mountain to overcome at 24-20 and the match ended one rotation later after a Summit service error 25-20.
Summit scored 35 points (22k, 3B, 10A) while Rahway managed 38 (23k, 4B, 8A) in a very close statistical match but one in which the Hilltoppers' serving woes reared their ugly head in sets 2 and 3 as the Top ended up with 10 aces but 12 serving errors. The other part of the story was that in the last 2 sets, SHS hit for only 10 kills, 5 aces and 3 blocks while Rahway was dominant with 18 kills, 7 aces and 3 blocks.
Barlow passed 8 of 13 serves perfectly, gave up no aces and passed a team best 2.54 pass rating. Heary and Barlow led the team with 3 aces apiece and Zacharias was 13/14 from the service line with one ace and a team leading 2.42 serve rating. Barlow had a team leading 7 kills but it was Nowicka with the impressive stat of a .417 hitting efficiency on a 6 kill performance and a kill % of 50%. Heary chipped in defensively with 8 digs while Nardino and Barlow added 2 blocks apiece to the defensive efforts.
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