All three levels opened on Thursday, September 7th at home against rival Cranford to kick off the 2023 season. The 9th graders, after a little bit of a nervous start, rolled in set 1 with a 25-13 score and then followed up with a 25-19 tally. Mirliss and Feuerstake had clutch serving runs to help the squad to its first victory!
Junior Varsity used timely offense and a consistent serving attack to wear down the Cougars in set 1. Devaney ran a 4 point serving run that opened up a 9-5 lead midway in set 1. The serve receive handled the Cranford serving attack effectively and allowed the offense to give the ball back to the Hilltoppers rather quickly. The teams were still only separated by 4 points through 6 rotations with the scoreboard reading 13-9 Top but then Allan ripped off a 4 point serving run which pushed the Hilltopper lead to 18-11 in rotation 7 and the home squad never looked back on its way to a 25-13 set 1 win.
Set 2 saw the Hilltoppers run out to a 12-9 lead as the home side scored a few points in every rotation but could not get a long run going. Nothing much changed in set 2 but Wu became the go to hitter for the Hilltoppers on serve receive as the OH got Summit back on serve in numerous situations with the score reading 22-18 after 12 rotations. Cranford just could not break through the Hilltopper D and the win was secured just one rotation later at 25-20.
Varsity dropped 2 of 3 matches in 2022 to the Cougars and this was a key matchup early on in 2023. Set 1 began auspiciously enough for the Top with the Cougars jumping out to a 4-1 lead fueled by 3 consecutive Hilltopper hitting errors. A bolck by Nardino and a kill by Welsh had Summit within one at 3-4 but another 2 attack errors saw Cranford pull out to a 6-3 lead and 2 rotations later, Summit still trailed 8-4. A net violation by the visitors got Thompson up to serve and the Senior DS ripped off an ace which was followed by a Demm dump kill which got SHS back into the set at 7-8. Down 11-8, Nardino found a kill down the middle, Welsh followed up with an OPP kill and Zacharias notched an ace to get the Top even with Cranford at 12. The good feelings were soon gone though as a serving, passing and hitting error saw the visitors reestablish their 3 point lead to 14-11. Demm stemmed the tide with a kill and Heary ripped off 2 aces which were followed by a Cranford hitting error which led to the Hilltoppers looking at a 15-15 tally at the end of 8 rotations. Summit won 3 of the next 4 points with Welsh getting a kill and an ace and MB Joseph notching a kill which gave the Summit Squad their first lead of the set at 18-16. The teams exchanged a pair of points and at 20-18, Henry put up a perfect pass on reception which Zacharias fed to Joseph for a kill into seam 1-6 which was then followed up by a Demm kill that gave the home side the cushion they needed at 22-18. Another Demm kill and an ace by Zacharias had Summit on the verge of a set win at 24-19. One rotation later, Nardino put an end to the matter with a block to notch the 25th point.
Set 2 was quite a different story as the Top jumped out to a 4-1 lead behind 2 kills by Demm and 2 aces by Zacharias. With Cranford fighting back to a 5-4 deficit, Feuerstake notched 2 kills to give the home side a 7-4 cushion. Leading 8-5, Summit saw Cranford go on a 6-0 run (3 hitting errors, 2 CHS aces and 1 free ball error) which put them ahead by an 11-8 score. SHS responded with an 8-0 run of their own initiated by a Feuerstake kill. The OH then ripped off an ace, followed by kills by Joseph (3), Zacharias (1) and Demm (1) which gave the Hilltoppers a 16-11 lead they just would not relinquish. Joseph and Herring notched a couple of kills with Henry tallying an ace and Summit saw the end of set and match in the horizon at 19-12. Zacharias hit for another ace and Demm pounded another kill to give SHS a seemingly insurmountable 21-13 lead.
But Cranford did not give in and rattled off 4 consecutive points to cut the lead down to 21-17 but Herring stopped the momentum with a kill out of the middle. Despite the visitors get as close as 22-19, SHS wrapped it up one rotation later with
Davies and Nowicka tallying kills and a Nardino serve forcing the Cougars into a hitting error, Summit had earned their first win of the 2023 season.
Summit out-scored the Cougars 43 - 17 (29 kills, 2 blocks, 12 aces). Despite the disparate point differential, the home team's hitting errors kept the visitors in the match (15 hitting errors).
Zacharias led the serving attack with 5 aces and notched 28 assists (that brings the Captain to 942 assists for her career)
Henry led the squad with 6 perfect passes on receive and Thompson led the squad with a 2.25 pass rating.
Demm led the squad with 8 kills, Herring was the leader in hitting efficiency with a .200 in a limited role and Joseph was the most dangerous hitter with a kill % of 42.9.
Henry led the way defensively with 10 digs as the team dug up an impressive 31 digs and Nardino was involved in a team leading 2 blocks. Next up on the schedule, SPF on Friday, first road game.
