Friday the 17th saw the Hilltoppers take on Rahway on the JV and Varsity level and Bridgewater-Raritan on the 9th grade level as part of their Go4TheGoal event to help make the lives of kids and families affected by pediatric cancer. All teams donned gold laces in commemoration of the event and it a great afternoon for Volleyball!
The 9th graders knew they were in for a fight from the beginning of the set against the Panthers. Through six rotations, the Hilltoppers found themselves up only up 14-11 despite going through their best servers who have dominated recently. When Caroline Henry served again and got the Hilltoppers to an 18-13 lead, it all seemed to be going to plan but the very next rotation saw the Panthers rip off a 5-0 run and Summit saw the lead evaporate as the scoreboard read 19-19. A few rotations later, Gabbi Nowicka had SHS on the verge of the set 1 victory at 22-20 but a break of serve and a 3-0 run by the Panthers kicked the Maroon and White off their pedestal and Summit were facing 2 Panther set points at 22-24. The Hilltoppers fought off 2 set points but could not finish the job as the squad dropped a 26-24 set 1 decision to a very game and experienced Panther squad with the most club players and multi year experienced players that the Hilltoppers have faced this year, Ridge included.
Set 2 was a tight affair until Abby Cammarano stepped up to serve and ran off a 7-0 run that catapulted the Hilltoppers to a 14-7 lead. The teams settled into a very even set after that and that service run proved to be the difference in set 2 with the Maroon and White taking it 25-14.
The deciding set was a tense one as the Panthers continued to fight back and push the Hilltoppers through the first 6 rotations. Despite Molly Davies opening the scoring 3-0, Panthers responded right back with a 4-0 run that had them up 4-3. And so it went the first 6 rotations with the teams separated by a mere 3 points at 13-10 SHS thanks to each of rotations 4-6 scoring 1 point while the Bridgewater-Raritan crew could not do the same. But that all changed in rotations 7-12 as it was the Panthers’ turn to score 1 point in rotations 2 through 4 while the Hilltoppers could only manage a sole point on Caroline Henry’s service turn, knotting the score at 20-20 as Davies stepped up yet again and this time, Davies and the squad ran an unexpected 5-0 service run that sealed the deal at 25-20, a hard fought victory to improve the 9th graders to 4-0!