Huntley tops Batavia

Technically, Huntley did not play a perfect match in a 25-15, 25-20 victory at Batavia Wednesday night in a marquee matchup between a pair of 30-win teams.

It only felt that way to the Bulldogs.

Huntley came close putting down 25 kills before making the first of just 2 hitting errors in the match early in Game 2.

“We are big on cutting down on our errors and making other teams make errors,” Huntley junior Ashley Smith said. “We do a lot of hitting drills in practice and try to perfect it.

“Our passing is getting much better, our hitting and setting, everything is coming together.”

Huntley coach Michelle Jakubowski credited Smith's play moving from outside to the right side to block Batavia's best hitter Caitlin Piechota as one of the keys to the win the second this year for the Red Raiders (30-4) over the Bulldogs (30-5).

After Batavia's best surge of the night, an 8-0 run that trimmed a 21-12 deficit to 21-20 late in Game 2, Smith followed a Bulldog hitting error with three straight kills to end the match.

“It was just a team effort, it's about how the team works collectively, but it was nice to get the last couple points,” Smith said.

Smith was part of a balanced Huntley attack that saw Sam Boesch lead the way with 8 kills and Smith, Jaina Jackson, Taylor Nepermann and Hailey Vitacco all finish with at least 5 kills.

“She (Smith) did a really nice job and that's not a position she's played all year,” said Jakubowski, adding the 30 wins are the most in her five seasons as coach. Two of Huntley's losses are to No. 1 Cary-Grove. “Thirty means a lot. Not many teams get that. We stepped it up.”

Jackson, Boesch and Vitacco all had 4 kills in Huntley's easy Game 1 win. The score was tied just once at 1-1 and Batavia never got closer than 19-14 down.

For all Huntley's firepower, Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne was most impressed with junior Amy Dion, calling her one of the best liberos she has seen in her 24 years as coach. Dion's best dig of the night kept a long rally going that Nepermann finally ended with a kill and a 20-12 lead in Game 2.

“It was similar,” Trippi-Payne said of this loss and an earlier 2-game loss to Huntley. “In order to beat a team like Huntley you have to serve it tough and you have to pass the ball. We missed our serving zones a lot tonight. And they served us very aggressively. We don't see a lot of teams that serve as well as Huntley does. They took us out of system a lot.”

Piechota, one of three seniors along with Ellen Jaudon and Blaire Theuerkauf who played their final home match, led the Bulldogs with 8 kills.

“We were really excited to play them, we were pumped,” Piechota said. “We have grown so much from that game (the first loss) so we thought it would be a really good game and to go undefeated at home but it didn't turn out as we planned. It's all right. We still have playoffs and we will go there strong. They are a great team. They deserved that win.”