The JV Squad continued its late season run with dominant wins over the Kent Place Dragons and the Dayton Bulldogs to improve their record to 13W-6L. With 2 more wins possible in the season, the team is poised to tie the program record in wins (15) and have the best record ever by winning % with a possible 15W-6L season finish in the horizon.
The Hilltoppers took on the Dragons on Thursday won a 2-0 decision, 25-13, 26-24 and followed it up on Friday with a decisive 25-18, 25-10 decision over the Bulldogs on Friday to cap off Senior Day. Summit has been on a tear since the County Tournament loss to Rahway. The squad has gone 3W-0L against Roselle Catholic, Kent Place and Dayton during that stretch.
The team has gotten contributions from many of its more "veteran" players but the emergence of the 9th graders has been the great bonus of the 3 wins as many of these athletes have seen significant playing time in meaningful matches. Julianna Fiore and Lauren Trindell continue to be a factor out of the front row and Olivia Skrobola has continued to develop as a potential setter. Cheryl Liu, Clara Sarkissian and Tessa Pulgar continue to show flashes of what they might become in the future out of the backrow and Caitlin Thompson has demonstrated at times how her athletic ability can impact a play as she continues her defensive development. Eilis McFadden, Blakely McCann and Anna Makedonska have shown tremendous improvement over the season and have begun to contribute to the team in the limited opportunities they have been given to play.
Meanwhile, Madison Young has continued to lead the team from the service line and the front row with her offense as the team continues to rely on her steady performance to steady the team when it gets on roll of bad points. Taylor Thompson continues to be a factor for the Hilltoppers from a setting and serving perspective and teammate Lharyssa Viana has settled down the team's serve receive and defense with timely and accurate passes. Bella D'Ambrosi was one of the serving leaders and a mainstay out of the front row until the knee injury that has sidelined her for the rest of the season. The Elko sisters, Vanessa and Olivia have continued to show at times the power and aggressiveness that make them dominant at the JV level from the front row and the service area. Natalie Schluter continues to show why she is a vital piece to the defensive and serve receive areas of the team as well as being one of the most trustworthy servers the squad has to field. Teammate Camille Della Piazza has the trust of the coaching staff as well from the service line and has been relied on to set, defend and serve receive, a credit to her athleticism and development as a player. Katie Samay has been a force in the front row and a dangerous serving option all season but has been instrumental in the last 3 matches in getting the Hilltoppers on top. Against the Bulldogs, Katie blew open the game with a 10-0 run from the service line with 5 aces that put away Dayton early in set 2. Christina Gangi has developed from a player that barely made the team last year to a major offensive force this year, hopefully a glimpse of what she might become for the team in the future. Last, but not least, Alisha McDonnell has surprised everyone in becoming one of the steadiest and most effective setter and defensive player SHS fields and has shown tremendous potential as a volleyball player.
The team will look to break the best season record by winning the last 2 matches next week.
Saturday, October 31, 2015
DRAGONS AND BULLDOGS BREAK HILLTOPPER HEARTS ON BACK TO BACK HOME MATCHES
The Hilltoppers took on the Kent Place Dragons and the Dayton Bulldogs on consecutive home matches this past Thursday and Friday. Summit was looking to beat the Dragons for the first time since 2011 and the team had faced Dayton most recently in 2014, a 2-1 loss away. Summit lost a heartbreaker 25-8, 15-25, 27-25 decision to Kent Place and dropped a 25-13, 25-19 decision to Dayton on Senior Day to close out the last home match of the 2015 season.
In game 1, Summit opened up the first match against their cross-town rivals, the Kent Place Dragons. The match opened up perfectly for the Hilltoppers with a 25-8 dominance of the Dragons. Val Guzman led the team with 5 points with a 10/10 serving performance and a team leading 3 aces and 4 digs. Grace Galuppo and Gabby Mejia ran a balanced offense with 4 players hitting for 2 kills apiece. Summit hit for a .438 hitting efficiency and passed at a 2.0 rating in set 1 and looked poised to upset the Dragons.
Set 2 was a different story for the Hilltoppers. Summit passed for a 1.27 rating which led to few offensive opportunities. SHS hit for only 4 kills and a .058 efficiency and served just over 70%, ingredients for a less than stellar performance.
Set 3 did not start much better and SHS was down 8-2 before the set was less than 5 minutes old. But this Hilltopper team has shown all year that despite the situation, their effort never wanes. Summit went on a 10-2 run after a Kent Place attack error fueled by kills by Grace Galuppo and Angela Scott and an ace by Val Guzman. The teams settled into a side-out battle for the remainder of this exciting decisive set.
SHS trailed 22-23 before the Hilltopper defense forced a middle attack error and followed that up with a Casey Nardino kill. Serving for the match, Val Guzman put in play a tough serve that forced the Dragons to send the ball over on a free but SHS was unable to get the kill despite a great attack attempt by Nardino. KP didn't miss the 2nd time, tying the score up at 24. Down 24-25 and facing a match point, SHS got a break when the Dragons served the ball into the net but the Hilltoppers could not capitalize as the team saw the Dragons hit for a kill while Summit got a hitting error to close out the match 27-25.
Despite the close game, the difference in the match was the offensive output of the Hilltoppers from set 1 compared to set 2 and 3. In set 1, SHS out-killed KP 8-5 and had 1 hitting error to KP's 6. That was a 14-6 scoring advantage in that set alone. In contrast, sets 2 and 3 saw SHS hit for only 8 kills and garnering 7 errors while KP hit for 22 kills while committing 18 errors. That was a 29-26 advantage for the Dragons but more importantly, a 14 point advantage in offensive production by Kent Place. In the decisive 3rd set, KP out-killed SHS by a 14-4 advantage.
Summit had little time to ponder their lost opportunity against the Dragons as Dayton came in on Friday, Senior Day, to take on SHS. The Hilltoppers couldn't slow the Bulldog offense and had trouble getting their offense in gear as the team fell 25-13, 25-19 to Dayton. Summit mustered only 9 kills in the match while Dayton hit for 14 but the major problem was the serve receive as the Bulldogs nailed Summit for 13 aces while Summit could only get 2 aces. Dayton also served at a 90% rate while SHS was only 85%. This was the difference in set 2 as the Bulldogs trailed late 19-18 after a Val Guzman kill but nailed 4 aces in the last stages of the set to blow open the set and close the set and match on a 7-0 run for the 25-19 win. Summit players could only shake their heads as they had only given up 3 aces till that point of the match.
The day belonged to the seniors as Hannah Calabrese, Aila Poticano, Rau Soares, Sandra Bazalar, Mel Campos, Emani Miles and Angela Scott saw their 4 year career come to a close at home. Happy tears were shed and emotional goodbyes were shared by the players as the girls celebrated their improvement and resiliency as a team this season through multiple injuries, heart-breaking losses and major upsets of teams in the county.
In game 1, Summit opened up the first match against their cross-town rivals, the Kent Place Dragons. The match opened up perfectly for the Hilltoppers with a 25-8 dominance of the Dragons. Val Guzman led the team with 5 points with a 10/10 serving performance and a team leading 3 aces and 4 digs. Grace Galuppo and Gabby Mejia ran a balanced offense with 4 players hitting for 2 kills apiece. Summit hit for a .438 hitting efficiency and passed at a 2.0 rating in set 1 and looked poised to upset the Dragons.
Set 2 was a different story for the Hilltoppers. Summit passed for a 1.27 rating which led to few offensive opportunities. SHS hit for only 4 kills and a .058 efficiency and served just over 70%, ingredients for a less than stellar performance.
Set 3 did not start much better and SHS was down 8-2 before the set was less than 5 minutes old. But this Hilltopper team has shown all year that despite the situation, their effort never wanes. Summit went on a 10-2 run after a Kent Place attack error fueled by kills by Grace Galuppo and Angela Scott and an ace by Val Guzman. The teams settled into a side-out battle for the remainder of this exciting decisive set.
SHS trailed 22-23 before the Hilltopper defense forced a middle attack error and followed that up with a Casey Nardino kill. Serving for the match, Val Guzman put in play a tough serve that forced the Dragons to send the ball over on a free but SHS was unable to get the kill despite a great attack attempt by Nardino. KP didn't miss the 2nd time, tying the score up at 24. Down 24-25 and facing a match point, SHS got a break when the Dragons served the ball into the net but the Hilltoppers could not capitalize as the team saw the Dragons hit for a kill while Summit got a hitting error to close out the match 27-25.
Despite the close game, the difference in the match was the offensive output of the Hilltoppers from set 1 compared to set 2 and 3. In set 1, SHS out-killed KP 8-5 and had 1 hitting error to KP's 6. That was a 14-6 scoring advantage in that set alone. In contrast, sets 2 and 3 saw SHS hit for only 8 kills and garnering 7 errors while KP hit for 22 kills while committing 18 errors. That was a 29-26 advantage for the Dragons but more importantly, a 14 point advantage in offensive production by Kent Place. In the decisive 3rd set, KP out-killed SHS by a 14-4 advantage.
Summit had little time to ponder their lost opportunity against the Dragons as Dayton came in on Friday, Senior Day, to take on SHS. The Hilltoppers couldn't slow the Bulldog offense and had trouble getting their offense in gear as the team fell 25-13, 25-19 to Dayton. Summit mustered only 9 kills in the match while Dayton hit for 14 but the major problem was the serve receive as the Bulldogs nailed Summit for 13 aces while Summit could only get 2 aces. Dayton also served at a 90% rate while SHS was only 85%. This was the difference in set 2 as the Bulldogs trailed late 19-18 after a Val Guzman kill but nailed 4 aces in the last stages of the set to blow open the set and close the set and match on a 7-0 run for the 25-19 win. Summit players could only shake their heads as they had only given up 3 aces till that point of the match.
The day belonged to the seniors as Hannah Calabrese, Aila Poticano, Rau Soares, Sandra Bazalar, Mel Campos, Emani Miles and Angela Scott saw their 4 year career come to a close at home. Happy tears were shed and emotional goodbyes were shared by the players as the girls celebrated their improvement and resiliency as a team this season through multiple injuries, heart-breaking losses and major upsets of teams in the county.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
HILLTOPPERS CORRALED BY FARMERS
In the return match versus the Union Farmers, Summit looked to use their confidence and play coming off the victory over RC to help them defeat this divisional foe on their Senior Night. Unfortunately for SHS, the match played out eerily similar to their prior match with the Hilltoppers unable to muster any offense against a very tough defending and hitting team.
Summit was in the match early much like they were at home in set 2 of their 25-21 set loss but just like the prior match, a run in the middle of the set decided the set outcome early for the Farmers. Summit had the lead at 9-8 after a Rau Soares ace but Soares had a service error to knot up the score at 9. Union then went on a 7-0 run that had the Farmers up 16-9 and on their way to a 25-15 set win.
The 2nd set mimicked set 1 at home in the prior match with SHS trailing early and just never being able to stop the Union offensive onslaught despite great receiving and transition defense. Summit's offense was just not able to put the ball away and Union kept the pressure on with key kills that extended 3 lengthy runs to put the set and match away 25-8. Summit trailed 10-3 after the first run, 17-6 after the 2nd barrage and lost the set on another 8-2 run. Despite the lopsided score, SHS actually ran 1 more attack attempt than in set 1 (31-30) but had only 3 kills vs. 6 in set 1.
The standouts of the match were undoubtedly Val Guzman who led the team with 5 kills and was the only front row player with a positive hitting %. Val also led the team in serve receptions and gave up only 1 ace. Jocelyn Mendez was incredible defensively, leading the team with 8 digs and passing at an impressive 2.44 rating, with most of her passes being perfect 3's.
JV did not play due to Union playing in the UCIAC Semi-Finals.
Varsity drops to 7W-12L.
Summit was in the match early much like they were at home in set 2 of their 25-21 set loss but just like the prior match, a run in the middle of the set decided the set outcome early for the Farmers. Summit had the lead at 9-8 after a Rau Soares ace but Soares had a service error to knot up the score at 9. Union then went on a 7-0 run that had the Farmers up 16-9 and on their way to a 25-15 set win.
The 2nd set mimicked set 1 at home in the prior match with SHS trailing early and just never being able to stop the Union offensive onslaught despite great receiving and transition defense. Summit's offense was just not able to put the ball away and Union kept the pressure on with key kills that extended 3 lengthy runs to put the set and match away 25-8. Summit trailed 10-3 after the first run, 17-6 after the 2nd barrage and lost the set on another 8-2 run. Despite the lopsided score, SHS actually ran 1 more attack attempt than in set 1 (31-30) but had only 3 kills vs. 6 in set 1.
The standouts of the match were undoubtedly Val Guzman who led the team with 5 kills and was the only front row player with a positive hitting %. Val also led the team in serve receptions and gave up only 1 ace. Jocelyn Mendez was incredible defensively, leading the team with 8 digs and passing at an impressive 2.44 rating, with most of her passes being perfect 3's.
JV did not play due to Union playing in the UCIAC Semi-Finals.
Varsity drops to 7W-12L.
Friday, October 23, 2015
HILLTOPPERS SWEEP RC LIONS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2011
The Summit Hilltoppers hosted the Roselle Catholic Lions yesterday and took both the Varsity and JV matches for the first time since 2011. RC was ranked as the #7 team in the county on the Varsity level but was just coming off a mild upset loss to Kent Place earlier in the week.
Summit felt pretty good about their performance against Westfield and their ability to be competitive against the best in the county. Taking that confidence in this match, Summit jumped out to a 4-0 lead behind 2 aces by Valerie Guzman and a kill by Angela Scott. Two aces and 2 kills by Casey Nardino, 2 kills by Val Guzman and a kill apiece by Rau Soares and Angela Scott had SHS up 17-4 in a 10-0 run that saw the best of Hilltopper volleyball on display. Despite Roselle Catholic outscoring Summit 11-8 the rest of the way, Summit was never threatned in the set and won 25-15.
Nardino and Scott combined for 7 of Summit's 11 kills and hit a combined .461 to lead the Hilltopper offense. Nardino also led the team defensively with 6 digs and was a perfect 10/10 from the serving line with 2 aces. The team hammered down 11 kills with a .250 efficiency while serving at 86%.
Set 2 had a different feel as the set was tight through the early stages. Although SHS held a 7-5 lead early thanks to an Angela Scott kill, the Lions came roaring back to take the lead at 8-7 fueled by 2 Summit hitting errors. Summit kept finding Nardino on offense and the junior kept the Lions at bay with key kills during the set such as the one that got SHS tied at 9-9. But it was the reemergence of Valerie Guzman on the outside that sparked the Hilltoppers on another dominant run as Summit went on an 11-4 run to jump out to a 20-13 lead that saw Nardino and Tabatha Meneses hit for 2 aces and Guzman nail 3 kills. Although RC crawled back to within 4 at 21-17, Nardino hit for a crucial kill after she passed up a perfect pass and dug another ball in transition to stop the Lion momentum cold at 22-17. Guzman and Scott kills wrapped up the set and match 25-19 for the first Summit win over a top 10 opponent since 2011.
Summit hit for 13 kills in the set at a .275 efficiency and added 6 aces to run away with the set by scoring 19 of the 25 points in the set. Val Guzman scored 7 points in the set with 5 kills and 2 aces and was the team leader in the set in kills, aces and digs.
For the match, Casey Nardino and Val Guzman led the way with 7 kills apiece and they both hit for 4 aces although Nardino was a perfect 18/18 from the service line. Summit gave up only 4 aces in the match and Gabby Mejia and Grace Galuppo ran a lethal offense with 22 assists combined.
Varsity is now 7W-11L.
JV Routs RC
For the second year in a row, the Hilltoppers took on the higher seeded Lions and came away with the win on the JV side. The squad rebounded back from their tough loss to Rahway by fixing the service and passing errors that plagued them versus the Indians. Summit won 25-12, 25-16 in a match that was a total team game and sam many players on the court. JV is now 11W-7L and 4 wins away from the program record of 15W-10L.
Summit felt pretty good about their performance against Westfield and their ability to be competitive against the best in the county. Taking that confidence in this match, Summit jumped out to a 4-0 lead behind 2 aces by Valerie Guzman and a kill by Angela Scott. Two aces and 2 kills by Casey Nardino, 2 kills by Val Guzman and a kill apiece by Rau Soares and Angela Scott had SHS up 17-4 in a 10-0 run that saw the best of Hilltopper volleyball on display. Despite Roselle Catholic outscoring Summit 11-8 the rest of the way, Summit was never threatned in the set and won 25-15.
Nardino and Scott combined for 7 of Summit's 11 kills and hit a combined .461 to lead the Hilltopper offense. Nardino also led the team defensively with 6 digs and was a perfect 10/10 from the serving line with 2 aces. The team hammered down 11 kills with a .250 efficiency while serving at 86%.
Set 2 had a different feel as the set was tight through the early stages. Although SHS held a 7-5 lead early thanks to an Angela Scott kill, the Lions came roaring back to take the lead at 8-7 fueled by 2 Summit hitting errors. Summit kept finding Nardino on offense and the junior kept the Lions at bay with key kills during the set such as the one that got SHS tied at 9-9. But it was the reemergence of Valerie Guzman on the outside that sparked the Hilltoppers on another dominant run as Summit went on an 11-4 run to jump out to a 20-13 lead that saw Nardino and Tabatha Meneses hit for 2 aces and Guzman nail 3 kills. Although RC crawled back to within 4 at 21-17, Nardino hit for a crucial kill after she passed up a perfect pass and dug another ball in transition to stop the Lion momentum cold at 22-17. Guzman and Scott kills wrapped up the set and match 25-19 for the first Summit win over a top 10 opponent since 2011.
Summit hit for 13 kills in the set at a .275 efficiency and added 6 aces to run away with the set by scoring 19 of the 25 points in the set. Val Guzman scored 7 points in the set with 5 kills and 2 aces and was the team leader in the set in kills, aces and digs.
For the match, Casey Nardino and Val Guzman led the way with 7 kills apiece and they both hit for 4 aces although Nardino was a perfect 18/18 from the service line. Summit gave up only 4 aces in the match and Gabby Mejia and Grace Galuppo ran a lethal offense with 22 assists combined.
Varsity is now 7W-11L.
JV Routs RC
For the second year in a row, the Hilltoppers took on the higher seeded Lions and came away with the win on the JV side. The squad rebounded back from their tough loss to Rahway by fixing the service and passing errors that plagued them versus the Indians. Summit won 25-12, 25-16 in a match that was a total team game and sam many players on the court. JV is now 11W-7L and 4 wins away from the program record of 15W-10L.
COUNTY RUNS FOR JV AND VARSITY COME TO END
The JV Squad, #8 in the county, was hosting the Rahway Indians and hoping to make it 2 wins in a row over Rahway in a repeat performance of the match a few weeks ago where the Hilltopper serving and passing were impeccable in a dominant 2-0 win.
On this day though, the team could not repeat its performance as repeated serving and passing miscues gave the Indians ample opportunities to dominate Summit. The silver lining of the match was Captain Maddie Young's serving which brought the team pack from enormous deficits (19-10 and 20-12) to tie or within 1 at each set. The Hilltoppers, however, were not able to convert their opportunities at that juncture and fell to Rahway in the latter stages rather easily.
Meanwhile, the Varsity squad was facing a daunting task as the team traveled to #2 Westfield to take on the Blue Devils. Summit, a clear underdog, was looking to shock the county aby relying on their serving and passing to stay competitive with Westfield.
Set 1 started off rather ominously as a great Valerie Guzman serve led to a less than potent Blue Devil attack that was dug up by the Hilltoppers but yielded nothing other than a hitting error. On the next ball, Casey Nardino hammered a kill to even up the score but a quick service error gave the ball right back to Westfield and their serving offense went to work, creating poor attacking opportunities for SHS and running the score to 8-1 before it was done. Westfield maintained tha 6-7 point cushion throughout the majority of the set, leading 9-3 and 13-6, with Summit not being able to create a run of their own. At 15-7, the Blue Devils pushed their final run, a 10-3 run that closed out the score 25-10.
Although the score didn't indicate it, there were a lot of long rallies and transition defensive opportunities for Summit during the set. It was, in many respects, a good set by the Hilltoppers but the team struggled in closing out points. The team hit for only 4 kills and had 0 aces in the set.
The 2nd set was much more exemplary of the play of the Hilltoppers. Although the quad was down 0-2 early, an Angela Scott kill and a Guzman ace had SHS knotted up at 2 rather quickly. A Nardino kill and a Rau Soares kill had the team up 8-6 and Summit started to force Westfield into hitting errors as their block and transition defense were coming alive. But the Blue Devils had forced Summit into passing errors due to their outstanding serving attack and that facet of the game started to become a factor as the set wore on. Westfield jumped out to a 12-8 lead after a series of passing miscues and only a Soares kill broke the momentum briefly at 9-12. Westfield went back on serve and SHS was on the negative side of an 8-0 run that had Westfield up 20-9. SHS did not give in though, and outscored the Blue Devils 7-5 the rest of the way but the damage was done and the team fell to the #2 seed 25-10, 25-16.
Summit hit for 6 kills and a .211 hitting efficiency in the set and also hit for 2 aces.
Casey Nardino led the offense with 3 kills and Val Guzman and Gabby Mejia led the defensively with 4 digs apiece. Jocelyn Mendez passed for an astounding 2.3 pass rating giving up only 1 ace in the entire match and receiving the most amount of serves from the Blue Devils.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
JV IMPROVES TO 10W-6L WITH 3 SET WIN VS. ROSELLE
The JV Squad had a great battle versus the Roselle Rams to earn their 10th victory of the season. Summit won the first set 25-9, lost the second 22-25 and took the third set in a come from behind fashion 15-11.
The team hit for 10 aces in set 1 as the Rams were never able to run much offense and the Summit serving power was on full display as Summit scattered 10 aces to dominate the first set 25-9.
In set 2, Coach Ross played a great majority of the 9th graders and despite their best efforts, the squad came up a little short and dropped set 2 25-22. Missed serves were the story of this set as the team missed 6 serves to open up the door for the Rams to win the set.
The missed serves continued in the third set as Summit trailed 5-1 and 8-3 before Taylor Thompson led a charge from the service line that got Summit knotted up at 9 after hitting for 2 aces. The Rams took the lead at 10-9 but a change of serve later saw Katie Samay lead another ace barrage (2 aces) to give the lead to the Hilltoppers that they would not relinquish (14-10). Although the Rams got the ball back, a serving error ended the match 15-11 and gave the Hilltoppers the win as they head into their first round matchup versus the Rahway Indians tomorrow, October 21, at 4pm at home.
The team hit for 10 aces in set 1 as the Rams were never able to run much offense and the Summit serving power was on full display as Summit scattered 10 aces to dominate the first set 25-9.
In set 2, Coach Ross played a great majority of the 9th graders and despite their best efforts, the squad came up a little short and dropped set 2 25-22. Missed serves were the story of this set as the team missed 6 serves to open up the door for the Rams to win the set.
The missed serves continued in the third set as Summit trailed 5-1 and 8-3 before Taylor Thompson led a charge from the service line that got Summit knotted up at 9 after hitting for 2 aces. The Rams took the lead at 10-9 but a change of serve later saw Katie Samay lead another ace barrage (2 aces) to give the lead to the Hilltoppers that they would not relinquish (14-10). Although the Rams got the ball back, a serving error ended the match 15-11 and gave the Hilltoppers the win as they head into their first round matchup versus the Rahway Indians tomorrow, October 21, at 4pm at home.
HILLTOPPERS SWEEP SEASON SERIES OVER THE RAMS FOR 6TH WIN
The Hilltoppers tied the number of wins they had earned last year with a 2-0 victory over the Roselle Rams yesterday. Summit won 25-20, 25-15 and improved their road record to 3W-5L for the year. The team has now earned 12 wins thus far in the past 2 seasons, 4 wins more than the prior 2 seasons,
The squad started off with a bang as Angela Scott passed a perfect ball to Gabby Mejia who set her up for the match's first kill and the 1-0 SHS lead. SHS got up 2-0 after a Valerie Guzman ace and the 2 point lead was par for the course through the early stages of this set as service errors and hitting errors prevented the Hilltoppers from extending the lead.
Grace Galuppo hit for an ace near the midpoint of the match and Casey Nardino slammed a kill to open up a 13-7 lead, the largest of the set. The lead was, however, short lived. The Rams came charging back with 2 aces and with the help of 3 consecutive passing errors by Summit, Roselle had tied up the score at 14. But Roselle wouldn't go away and actually took the lead 18-19 on an ace but a hitting error knotted things up at 19 again. Rau Soares stepped up and got the set under control as she served the next 5 points, including 2 aces, to give SHS an insurmountable lead at 24-19. Summit wasn't able to close it out until a few points later but the set was well in hand at 25-20.
Nardino, Scott and Gartenberg all hit for 2 kills in a balanced Summit attack and the team hit for 7 aces as Guzman, Soares and Galuppo all hit for 2 aces apiece.
Set 2 started rather nicely for the Hilltoppers as the team opened up a 4-1 lead behind Tabatha Meneses who hit for an ace and was then followed by a Casey Nardino kill. Roselle used 3 consecutive aces to get a 6-5 lead but SHS responded with an Alana Gartenberg kill, 2 straight aces by Nardino and 2 kills by Sterling Sidebottom to open up a 12-6 lead. After a switch of serve had the score flip to 13-7, Sandra Bazalar ripped the set open with 6 straight service points, hitting for 2 aces and allowing the Hilltoppers to convert easy free ball opportunities as Angela Scott nailed 2 kills to extend the lead to 19-9. Although the Rams were able to break serve, the celebration was short-lived as Summit got the lead back up to 22-10 after 2 Grace Galuppo aces. The writing was on the wall and the last few points were academic. Gartenberg and Nardino added kills in the tail end of the match to seal the deal as SHS took the set and match 25-15.
Summit hit for 9 kills in the set at a .286 efficiency and added 7 aces while serving at 88% and only giving up 3 aces. Amanda Fonseca and Gabby Mejia chipped in with 6 of SHS's 13 digs in the set to pace the defense.
Alana Gartenberg paced the offense for the match at 5 kills and Grace Galuppo led the ace barrage with 4 aces. Summit only served at 85% for the match but hit for 14 aces, a tremendous ace % of 29%. Casey Nardino led all scorers with 7 points (4k, 3ace).
Summit will take on #2 Westfield 5:30 tomorrow, Wednesday 10/21, in the first round of counties.
The squad started off with a bang as Angela Scott passed a perfect ball to Gabby Mejia who set her up for the match's first kill and the 1-0 SHS lead. SHS got up 2-0 after a Valerie Guzman ace and the 2 point lead was par for the course through the early stages of this set as service errors and hitting errors prevented the Hilltoppers from extending the lead.
Grace Galuppo hit for an ace near the midpoint of the match and Casey Nardino slammed a kill to open up a 13-7 lead, the largest of the set. The lead was, however, short lived. The Rams came charging back with 2 aces and with the help of 3 consecutive passing errors by Summit, Roselle had tied up the score at 14. But Roselle wouldn't go away and actually took the lead 18-19 on an ace but a hitting error knotted things up at 19 again. Rau Soares stepped up and got the set under control as she served the next 5 points, including 2 aces, to give SHS an insurmountable lead at 24-19. Summit wasn't able to close it out until a few points later but the set was well in hand at 25-20.
Nardino, Scott and Gartenberg all hit for 2 kills in a balanced Summit attack and the team hit for 7 aces as Guzman, Soares and Galuppo all hit for 2 aces apiece.
Set 2 started rather nicely for the Hilltoppers as the team opened up a 4-1 lead behind Tabatha Meneses who hit for an ace and was then followed by a Casey Nardino kill. Roselle used 3 consecutive aces to get a 6-5 lead but SHS responded with an Alana Gartenberg kill, 2 straight aces by Nardino and 2 kills by Sterling Sidebottom to open up a 12-6 lead. After a switch of serve had the score flip to 13-7, Sandra Bazalar ripped the set open with 6 straight service points, hitting for 2 aces and allowing the Hilltoppers to convert easy free ball opportunities as Angela Scott nailed 2 kills to extend the lead to 19-9. Although the Rams were able to break serve, the celebration was short-lived as Summit got the lead back up to 22-10 after 2 Grace Galuppo aces. The writing was on the wall and the last few points were academic. Gartenberg and Nardino added kills in the tail end of the match to seal the deal as SHS took the set and match 25-15.
Summit hit for 9 kills in the set at a .286 efficiency and added 7 aces while serving at 88% and only giving up 3 aces. Amanda Fonseca and Gabby Mejia chipped in with 6 of SHS's 13 digs in the set to pace the defense.
Alana Gartenberg paced the offense for the match at 5 kills and Grace Galuppo led the ace barrage with 4 aces. Summit only served at 85% for the match but hit for 14 aces, a tremendous ace % of 29%. Casey Nardino led all scorers with 7 points (4k, 3ace).
Summit will take on #2 Westfield 5:30 tomorrow, Wednesday 10/21, in the first round of counties.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)