DAYTON AND KENT PLACE WINS CLOSE OUT A PERFECT WEEK FOR THE HILLTOPPERS ON ALL LEVELS

 The week for the Lady Hilltoppers ended with a match versus the Kent Place Dragons on Hilltopper weekend in front of a great crowd but the squad began the 2nd half of the week with a road match against conference rivals Dayton on the JV and Varsity level. 

The JV Squad dominated early behind their serving against the Bulldogs and never really looked back as the team got a tremendous start behind Allan who opened up with a 9-0 service run (3 aces) and closed the first set out with another 4-0 run (2 aces) to get 13 service points (5 aces) in a 25-12 SHS set 1 victory.  Second set was very much a replay of the opener as Basaman opened the fixture with an 8-0 first rotation run (2 aces) and added another 2 service points later in the set to score 10 of the team's total service points in a 25-13 set 2 and match win! The JV Top moved into an 11W-1L record this season.

Varsity outscored their opponents 32-16 yet the match scores showed a much tighter contest due to inconsistent serving at certain times by the Lady Hilltoppers.  The opening set began auspiciously enough for both squads as the scoreboard showed a 7-7 score after 5 rotations with both teams missing a combined 9 serves.  The set began to change then with Feuerstake hitting for a kill and Joseph finding a soft spot in the Bulldog D which she exploited for 2 kills and suddenly the Summit crew was up 10-7.  With the score 12-9 after a Zacharias ace and a Barlow kill,  Dayton made a 3-0 push to tie things up but Joseph thwarted a Dayton attack with a block and Feuerstake followed it up with an ace and the visitors had regained control again at 15-12.  The set got pretty even the next few rotations and at 17-15,  it became the Barlow show as the Senior hit for a kill and served 3 consecutive aces to rip open the set and give the Top a 21-15 lead.  A Dayton TO did nothing to stymie the Captain and Dayton broke serve only after the scoreboard showed 22-15 which soon became 25-17,  closed out,  appropriately enough,  by another Joseph tip kill.

The second set opened up rather differently with Herring putting down a kill and Zacharias opening up with an ace but the Bulldogs proceeded to go on an 8-3 run that gave the home side an 8-5 lead.  Summit responded with a 7-1 run (Nardino block, Barlow 2 aces and a kill,  Welsh kill) to put SHS on top 12-9.  With the score 13-11 a rotation later Demm got into the action with a kill and Zacharias ripped another ace to get the lead back to 4 at 15-11.  Dayton took the next 4 of 5 points however and the set was once again a tight affair ar 16-15 but a Dayton service error and free ball return error gave the Top some breathing room at 18-15.  With the scoreboard showing 18-17,  a long rally ensued that ended with a Barlow tip kill which led to another Nardino block and gave the SHS side another opportunity to set Barlow who put another ball away late to give the Hilltoppers a controlling 22-17 lead yet again.  The sides traded points over the next 2 rotations but it was a Dayton service error which again led to match point by the Top and this time,  another middle attack ended the affair, this time executed by Herring,  who had opened up the set with a kill as well.

SHS improved to 9W-3L and 9W-2L in Division.  

Barlow and Zacharias hit for 5 and 3 aces respectively and were also the #2 and 1 best rated servers respectively with a 2.36 and 2.40 rating.  Henry passed up safely 13/14 serves and had a 2.15 pass rating to lead the serve receive.  9 different players scored a kill for the Hilltoppers led by Barlow with 6 kills but it was Joseph who stole the show hitting for 5 kills in just one set of play with 0 errors and a whopping .625 efficiency and 62.5 kill %.  Nardino led the squad with 2 blocks defensively and Henry added 7 digs to the defensive cause.  Zacharias again ran an incredibly efficient offense with 9 players getting at least 1 kill in a 20 assist effort as the Top out-killed the Bulldogs 21-12.

FRIDAY NIGHT SPIKES

MT. ST. MARY'S v SUMMIT 9th / KENT PLACE v SUMMIT JV / KENT PLACE v SUMMIT V

9th Graders took on the Mt. St. Mary's Lions for the first time ever and ended up with a comfortable 2-0 win to improve their record to 9W-2L out-serving and receiving their opponents which allowed them to negate the Lions' size advantage across the front row.

JV had split their scrimmage sets to the Dragons of Kent Place so this looked to be a tight match no matter what happened.   In the first set,  the Hilltoppers came out on fire with Allan running off 7 service points to give the Top an 8-0 lead to open the match.  Kent Place slowly crawled back each subsequent rotation and by rotation 6 the Hilltoppers were clinging to a 14-12 lead.  A service break got Sabuncu up to the service line and the Junior ran off a 5-0 service run (2 aces) which could not nbe stopped by a Dragon TO and the SHS squad had taken control back to the tune of a 20-12 lead.  After the Dragons got the score to 20-15,  Allan slammed the door on the visitors with yet another 4-0 run (1 ace) to close out the set 25-15.  

With things looking good in set 1,  the confidence of the young Hilltoppers was flowing through 5 rotations in set 2,  things looked good with the Top only one down at 11-10.  After rotation 10 the teams were deadlocked at 18 and Summit looked to be in position to make a move to the win but it was the visitors who made a decisive move,  striking for multiple aces and forcing unforced hitting Summit errors which gave the away team a 24-19 lead late in the set.  A Dragon hitting error gave the Top the ball back at 24-20 and facing 4 set points against and out of subs.  Wu served for the Hilltoppers for the first time this season and came through with flying colors as the Soph ripped 2 aces forcing a Kent Place TO at 24-22.  Off the time-out,  a long rally ensued which was won after Ge forced the KP squad into a free ball error and then Summit was only one point away from erasing 4 match points.  Wu again delivered and the Hilltoppers fought in front of her to keep the points alive as the Dragons succumbed to the Hilltopper pressure allowing one ace and committing one free ball error which had the Hilltoppers celebrating their come from behind 26-24 win for a 12W-1L record on the season!!!! 

Varsity was looking to get their 10th win against a team they had only defeated once in the last decade or so.  Needless to say,  many had predicted a Kent Place win!  Summit opened up a 7-4 lead after a Barlow kill, a Nardino block and a Welsh ace early in set 1.  That lead held through the next few rotations and at 10-7,  Nowicka struck for 3 kills to open up a 13-7 SHS lead but the Dragons ran off a 4-0 run and had cut the lead down to 15-14 a few rotations later.  It was Nardino's turn to step up and the Captain hit the Dragons for 2 kills and forced a Kent Place hitting error which forced a TO by the visitors at 18-14 but Nardino was able to strike again for a 19-14 lead that the team would not relinquish.  The set seemed to be done at 24-18 but Kent Place made a push fueled by a serving and hitting error by the Top but Nowicka ended the suspense with another kill and the Hilltoppers had taken set 1 25-21.

Set 2 saw the home side trail 6-2 early and 11-5 forcing a Martins TO.  Although Barlow got a tip kill to end the KP run,  the Dragons were able to re-establish control and led 14-7 and looking like they would cruise to the 2nd set win.  But then the words of Coach M began to ring out through the gym almost as a prediction.  "We are all right! We are still good.  Focus on the next point"

Kent Place hitting error after a Nowicka attack,  14-8.   Another hitting error after a Zacharias tough serve,  14-9.  A KP attack thwarted by Henry led to another Dragon hitting error and 14-10.  A long rally ensued after a Dragon service break (15-10) that the Hilltoppers won,  outlasting the visitors thanks to good defense and effective hitting which had SHS 15-11 down.  Joseph then stuff blocked an attack and followed it up with an attack dump off an overpass created by a Heary serve and Summit was within 2 at 15-13.  Another long rally which saw the Hilltoppers keep 2 attacks off the floor and eventually forcing a KP hitting error,  15-14.  Barlow kept the next big Dragon attack off the floor which led to a Nowicka attack that had the KP side scrambling and led to another hitting error and there it was on the scoreboard,  15-15.  Another TO by Kent Place.  

Down 17-15 after the next rotation,  SHS got a kill by Barlow,  a fortunate call of over the net by KP which was followed by a monster block by Nardino on the Dragon's best hitter and the Hilltoppers were up for the first time 18-17.  Another block by the Captain and a few service breaks by both sides had the score really tight at the end of the set with SHS leading 20-19 after Feuerstake had hit the Dragons for a service point.  With KP serving,  Barlow struck for another kill and then the Captain stepped up with 2 serves that forced 2 KP errors and had the ref signaling TO Kent Place, 23-19 Summit.  Off the TO,  KP got a service break but Barlow put up a perfect pass on serve receive that led to a Nardino kill.  The set and match was just about over at 24-20 and after Barlow drove a ball to zone 4-5 seam that landed one foot in,  the upset win was in the books! 

Welsh and Barlow led the squad with a 2.33 pass rating,  a huge key in the win,  putting up 9/24 perfect passes.  The team passed at a 2.06 which was outstanding!  Welsh also led the squad with a 2.11 serve rating and had 1 of the 2 aces by the squad on the match.  Although Barlow led all hitters with 9 kills,  it was the play of the Summit middles that sealed the victory with Nardino and Joseph combining for 11 kills out of 19 attempts and only 1 error combined,  almost 58% kill % and an efficiency of .528!  They were truly unstoppable and Zacharias used Barlow and Nowicka as decoys to open up 1v1 and 1v 0 opportunities for the middles!  Barlow led the squad with 8 digs,  2 of the biggest and most important against the KP OH!  Welsh and Nardino had 2 blocks apiece as they set a wall late in the sets to alter the course of the match.  Zacharias truly ran the offense,  assisting in 23 kills as SHS out-killed Kent Place 25-13 and out-scoring the visitors 30-19.  

Congrats to the squad for an amazing week!!