Hilltoppers Fall to Scotch Plains-Fanwood in Girls' Volleyball

It was definitely not a game to be short-handed.

The Summit Hilltoppers traveled to Scotch Plains-Fanwood on Wednesday afternoon seeking to pick up their second straight win and even their season record. But they went without starting center Megan Trindell, and her absence, along with a nearly flawless performance by the Raiders, was too much for Summit to overcome as they fell 25-9 and 25-15 to drop to 3-5.

“It is what it is,” said Summit head coach Antonio Martins. “I mean, we weren’t able to run some stuff because Megan wasn’t there. She’s one of our most athletic players and makes the first three rotations work.”

Trindell has recorded 40 kills this season out of the setting position.

But Martins was hardly offering Trindell’s illness as an excuse, acknowledging both the Raiders’ dominant service and his own club’s struggles in the reception department.

 “It was by far our worst passing game of the year,” he said. “But a lot of the credit goes to them. They got to the semifinals of county last year and serving and defense is their strength. They don’t have any weak rotations.”

Of Scotch Plains 50 points on Wednesday, 22 came off serves that Summit couldn’t or didn’t return. Much of that was simply solid serving by just about everyone in the Raider rotation. Some of it was lack of communication and reception errors by the Hilltoppers.

 “Against that team, if we’re not passing well, that’s really going to hurt,” Martins admitted.

Things started badly for Summit and never got much better as the Hilltoppers lost the first four points of the afternoon and eventually fell into a 19-5 hole. They made one brief attempt at a rally by scoring four of five points to narrow the gap to 20-9.

But a pair of Raider kills and two service aces allowed Scotch Plains to run off the opening game’s final five points for a 25-9 victory.

Behind a block and a kill by Lindsay Leiter, Summit raced to a 2-0 lead in the second game, but more service aces, along with more reception errors, staked Scotch Plains to an 11-5 lead. Summit wasn’t quite done, however, scoring the next four points as Nicole Johnson served up consecutive aces, and the lead was trimmed to 11-9.

“Nicole was really good tonight,” Martins said. “She’s coming along. She’s been a basketball player who is developing as a volleyball player. She’s showing flashes. Unfortunately, she just didn’t get many looks tonight.”

A service error, though, followed by two Raider aces extended the Scotch Plains lead to 14-9. The Hilltoppers got as close as 14-11 before Scotch Plains ripped off 11 of the final 15 points.

The stats were thin for the Hilltoppers. Johnson had two kills and two aces. Leiter added a kill, a dig and a block. Jeanelle Augustine contributed two aces while Emily Hu had two digs and two assists.

All is certainly not lost for Summit, which figures to make the playoffs for the first time in several seasons. Martins said he had his team figured for 4-4 right now so the squad is a game behind his preseason calculations.

 “The only game we lost that I don’t think we should have lost was at Kent Place when we had a 20-16 lead in the third game,” said Summit’s fifth-year head coach. “Realistically, we should make state. We may be 9-9, but we should make it.”

Martins said that while this year’s club lacks some of the offense of last year, it enjoys better balance, better passing and a little easier competition.

“That conference was really tough last year and that took a toll,” he admitted. “That team was probably a stronger hitting team, but this team can hit out of all positions, which is good.

 “But if our passing isn’t good against some of the better teams, we don’t always have the talent to make up for that.”

Summit will try to bounce back when it travels to Roselle Catholic on Friday before returning home to host Benedictine Academy on Tuesday.