Varsity was looking to beat the Linden Tigers for a third time in a row after having a tough 3 set win on the road and a come from behind 2 set win at home. On this Saturday morning, however, Linden would get the best of the the Top.
Zacharias opened the match on a 6-1 run that had everyone relaxed and confident and forced an early Linden TO. At 8-3, Linden's best player stepped up to the service line and flipped the set on its head. The Tigers went on a 9-0 run (4 aces in a row) despite a TO by SHS, after the smoke cleared, Summit trailed 12-9. Barlow and Welsh broke the run with a kill and an ace but the home side was chasing the set now and the match felt different as each point rattled off. At 13-11 down but with the serve, Summit committed 2 hitting errors and saw themselves trailing 15-11. SHS got a kill by the most of unlikely sources, Henry, and a subsequent ace by Nardino gave hope back at 15-13 but Linden slammed the door shut with a kill and 3 consecutive aces to jump out to an 18-13 lead. The Hilltoppers got a break with a service error and Zacharias hit the Tigers with an ace and SHS felt hope at 18-15. Linden broke serve but then gave the ball right back to the home side and the same 3 point deficit stood at 19-16. Linden again responded with a kill and an ace that had Summit reeling at 21-16. Only a hitting error stopped the mini run but another Summit hitting error which led to another ace by the Tigers and at 23-17, things looked bleak. TO Martins.
Off the time-out, Linden tallied another service error but they got the ball right back off a kill and just like that, Linden had 6 set points. Barlow found herself in that moment and put down a crucial kill that put her back at the service line. The Senior Captain put down an ace and forced a Tiger hitting error which had the Linden Coach up on his feet calling for a TO at 24-21. Summit had a crack at point 22 but were unable to convert and Linden made the Top pay with a kill that sealed the set 25-21.
The 2nd set saw the run of hitting errors and service errors continue as the Hilltoppers trailed early 6-2 and 14-7 midway through the set. Nardino got a key block that put the Senior MB on the service line and the team responded with a Nowicka and a Joseph kill that preceded a Nardino ace and SHS was yet again in the set down 14-11. Despite a service break, Linden could not extend the lead and Nowicka hurt the opposition with another kill and Zacharias slammed down another ace to force a Linden TO as SHS had crawled back to within one at 15-14. Off the TO, the Senior Setter yet again put the Tigers under pressure but another hitting error gave the ball back to the Tigers and a 3-0 run later Linden had established a 19-14 lead forcing a Martins TO. SHS lost the point off the time-out but won 3 of the next 4 to force another Linden TO and it helped the visitors a lot as the next rally went back and forth until finally a kill by the Tigers which they followed up with an ace had SHS nearly out at 23-17. Barlow notched another kill to cut the lead down to 5 but a service error and a kill ended the match at 25-18.
A disappointing loss but yet lots of warning signs during the week pointed to this scenario. In set 1 the Hilltoppers were outscored 18-12 (only 6 kills) and in set 2 SHS was out-scored 14-12 (only 5 kills) which spelled the end for the Summit squad who needed to keep their serving attack clean and failed to do so in this match. Summit's hitting efficiency was a paltry .077 and the team's kill % was a mere 28.2%.
Zacharias led the way from the service line with 5 aces and a serve rating of 2.71. Henry was the team leader on serve receive with a 1.86 pass rating and nearly a 33.3 perfect pass %. Barlow was the leading scorer on offense with a 4 kill performance while Nowicka was the most efficient hitter at .400 as well as the most lethal with a kill % of 50%. Henry had 3 digs in the loss and Nardino, Joseph, Nowicka and Zacharias all notched 1 block apiece. Zacharias had only 10 assists and Zacharias led all Summit scorers with 6 points, a troubling stat considering the Setter should not be a leading front row scorer. Nowicka earned the best net point production with a +3 for the match.
JV dropped the first set to Rahway in a stunning turn of events by a 25-21 score. Serve receive errors and numerous hitting errors had the Hilltoppers against the wall in set 1 as Rahway had a commanding 18-9 lead after 6 rotations! But then Allan stepped up to serve at 19-10 and the comeback was on! Allan served up 6 service points (3 aces) to bring back the home side to within 4. The Indians broke serve and pushed the lead back up at 21-15 but SHS responded with a kill and the Devaney rattled off 3 more service points to bring the Top to within striking distance at 21-19. Rahway called a TO and managed to get a service break and another point which had the visitors close to the set win at 23-19 but Summit again rallied for 2 points but ran out of points to come back from as the visitors celebrated the set 1 win 25-21!
Set 2 was a very tight affair as Rahway seemed intent on keeping balls alive on defense and just sending free balls over hoping for a SHS error while looking to score off their serving offense which had given them so many points in set 1. Meanwhile, Summit was trying to find its own potent serving game and use their offense that had been so reliable in scoring the Hilltoppers points over the season. After 6 rotations, everything was in question as the home side was staring at a 13-13 score on the scoreboard. Rahway actually took the lead 15-14 in rotation 7 but Smidt got to step up to the service line after a huge Ge kill and served up an ace and forced a Rahway free ball error to see the Top to a 17-15 lead. The Hilltoppers did not allow any added points after the service break of Smidt and Chaves added to the lead with an additional service point after breaking the visitor's serve giving the SHS squad a 19-18 lead. When Ge stepped up to serve, the junior OH had already made an impact as a receiver, as a defender and on offense as the OH. She had been one of the keys to SHS being in the set. When she stepped up to serve, she became the last nail in the set 2 coffin for the Rahway side who could not stop her serve as the junior went on a 5-0 run (3 aces) to close out the set and even the match at 1 with a 25-18 score.
Set 3 saw the Indians get first serve. The visitors wasted no time to jump out to an early lead at 3-0. The tense atmosphere was palpable. Ge led the way on the comeback trail with a 3-0 service run of her own to settle the Hilltopper nerves. The teams were tight though and despite long rallies seemingly at every point, it was the errors on both sides that prevented either team from making any kind of run. At the start of rotation 6, Rahway had gotten a point from a service error by the Top and then scored another point before missing a serve and were looking at a tied set at 10 all. But then the first decisive run occurred, this time from the Hilltopper service line. Knight rattled off 6 consecutive service points (3 aces) to stun the visitors as each point gave the home side more energy. By the time Rahway broke serve, they were under tremendous pressure to score quickly as the scoreboard had SHS holding a 16-11 lead. The Hilltoppers did not allow that to happen as Ge again got a key kill to put herself on serve again and the junior again responded with 2 more service points to give the Top a 19-11 lead. After the visitors broke serve to get to 19-12, SHS again slammed the door on any Rahway hope with a Porsse swing which found the floor and put Allan back on serve at 20-12. Five serves later (2 aces), Allan had finished the comeback of the year and hopefully prepared the team for their next big match, the Quarter-Finals of the County Tourney, against their expected opponent, Kent Place School, on Monday 10/16.
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