After the big win versus Rahway that assured the Top at least a share of the Conference Title for only the 4th time in school history, the team just looked out of gas and out of sorts at Madison. The team scored a total of 23 points and matched the Dodgers but Madison only committed 6 total hitting and serving errors while the Hilltoppers gave up 23.
Summit ran a much more lethal offense than Madison, out-killed the home squad 18-12 for the match but the errors negated any advantage the squad might have had in the plus column. In set 1 the Summit crew out-scored Madison 15-9 which would usually guarantee a win but a 16 error tally to only 7 by the home side sealed the team's fate in set 1 despite a late run that had Summit come from 15-20 down to take the lead 21-20. Kills by Barlow and Welsh set the table for Henry who aced the Dodgers and kept them out of system which led to a Madison TO that led to a huge Joseph block which gave Summit the 21-20 lead. But then a hitting error opened the door for Madison who got a kill and a 2 SHS offensive errors to take a 24-21 lead. However, that last deficit was too much to overcome and Summit dropped a 25-22 set 1 decision. Set 2 was far uglier in a lot of ways as the Top saw their last lead be a 2-1 score and then Madison went on a 9-1 run to put the Hilltoppers against the wall. SHS settled down and stayed even with the Dodgers, cutting into the lead slightly and seeing the scoreboard show 15-9 but then a 2 offensive hitting error bundle and 2 Dodger kills had the home team comfortable at 19-9. With the Dodgers up 21-10, SHS got 2 Barlow kills and a forced a few Madison hitting errors and suddenly the team had life at 22-14. But again, a serving error derailed any momentum after a Madison TO and the set and match were over at 25-14.
Bouncing back from a Madison loss would not be easy as their next opponent would be the Cougars of Chatham at Pink-Out! SHS had had some amazing matches at prior Pink-Outs but had failed to win, losing to JP Stevens, Cranford and Millburn recently. Summit yet again outscored their opponents 31-19 for the match and the 25-18, 25-23 set scores were indicative of that fact. However, the Top again gave up 20 hitting and serving errors which kept the Cougars in the match far too long. Summit jumped out to a 6-0 lead to start the match with Zacharias hitting for 3 aces in the run while Joseph and Demm struck for kills. Chatham slowly crawled back and took the lead at 8-7 but SHS responded with a Welsh 4-0 service run that had the Cougars forced to take bad shots and seeing the soph hit for an ace to flip the scoreboard in SHS's favor at 12-7. With Chatham cutting the lead to 2 at 14-12 a few rotations later, Demm got a huge momentum changing kill which led to Henry serving the Cougars into a hitting error and Demm again came through with a kill to force a Chatham TO at 17-12. The Cougars cut the lead down to 19-16 after the TO but again SHS struck back after a Chatham serving error as Welsh again hit an ace and Zacharias got a dump kill to put Summit up 22-16. Barlow hit 2 kills and Nardino, back in her first match after missing the last 2 due to illness. got a monster block on set point seal it at 25-18.
Set 2 saw the Cougars jump out to a 4-0 lead but the home side responded with a 5-0 run with the senior captain Zacharias hitting for 3 aces in a row to lead the mini comeback. Still down 6-7 a few rotations later, a kill by Barlow led to a Henry service run that had Nardino also notch a kill and suddenly Summit had a 10-7 lead. Chatham re-took the lead at 11-12 but a serving error by the visitors opened the door again fot the home side and with Barlow serving, SHS got a couple of Cougar errors and a Nardino dump kill to take a 14-12 lead. Despite a service break, SHS was right back on serve after a Nowicka kill and a Nardino ace set the table for a 4-0 run that had the home side up 18-13 and seemingly on their way to a more comfortable finish. It all seemed to be going well at 21-15 after a Barlow kill but another service error gave the ball back to Chatham and the visitors had it down to 21-17. Barlow again, kill, 22-17. A service break but Davies gets a kill that puts Welsh on the line to serve and her attempt leads to a Cougar hitting error, 24-18. Is it over yet? Not quite...
Chatham fought the odds and used a serving error and a kill followed by an ace after a long rally to spark a 5-0 run that had the Cougars at the doorstep down 24-23. Chatham fell short after a serving error ended their run but the warning shot by a potential state sectional matchup was received by the SHS crew despite closing it out 25-23.
A 2W-1L week brought a lot of silver linings to light as the squad prepared to face Linden for a 3rd time this season in the UCIAC Tourney.
Summit out-killed all 3 opponents 69-37. SHS out-aced the opposition 28-18 but was out-blocked 13-4. In total, the Hilltoppers out-scored the opposition 101-68 yet the team found themselves in a 3 set match and a tight 2 set match win and had a loss to show for it. The stats that stood out were the 72 serving and hitting errors combined versus the 31 by the opposition. It was clear that the warning signs were there for the Top. If they struggled to score, the errors would be their undoing.
Zacharias was a stalwart behind the service line with a team leading 2.56 rating and team leading 11 aces. Joseph stepped up nicely while Nardino was ill and was 2nd on the team in pass rating. The team hit for 28 aces as a whole and had 2.02 pass rating but the number that stood out were the 33 service errors. It seemed that the squad had developed a feast or famine approach to the service line. As much as the serving has been a weapon for the Top, it has continued to be a source of angst at times.
Henry led the squad on serve receive with a 35.8% perfect pass % while Barlow had the team lead with a 1.99 pass rating.
Barlow was undoubtedly the busiest hitter with 90 attack attempts, 68 more attempts than any other hitter on the team, and led the squad with 32 kills with no other hitter getting to double digits. Zacharias distributed the ball to all other players fairly equally and the stats show that the offense by committee is having positive results. Demm, Nowicka, Davies and Joseph all clocked in at the end of Thursday with 6 kills apiece. Demm was specifically effective as she hit for 6 kills on 16 swings with no errors for a .375 hitting efficiency and a 37.5 kill %. Davies had the highest kill % of the bunch with a 60%.
Barlow and Henry led the squad defensively with 20 and 17 digs respectively but by having Welsh as the S2 / OPP, Zacharias notched 12 digs and has been free to stay at home more and play D as the squad knows there is 0 loss in setting ability when their Captain has to dig that first attack and allows the Soph to run the offensive set. Joseph averaged 1 block per match to lead the squad.
Zacharias averaged 20 assists per match in the 2W-1L week which exemplified a very effective offense. Barlow was the leading scorer for the squad with 36 points but Zacharias stole the show with 16 points playing a position that doesn't really score from the front row. Demm was the net point leader with a +5.
What team would show up to play Linden for a 3rd time? The effective serving team with a diverse and dangerous offense? Or the team that would allow their nerves to rattle them from the service line and pressurized hitting situations?
No comments:
Post a Comment