Huntley primed for big season

This is the year Huntley volleyball has been anticipating since 2008.

That was the year coach Michelle Jakubowski elevated three promising freshmen to her varsity team: libero extraordinaire Amy Dion, hard-hitting outside hitter Sam Boesch and point-scoring machine Ashley Smith.

The following year they were joined on the varsity by classmates Taylor Nepermann, another solid hitter, and middle blocker Jaina Jackson, who had grown to 6-feet, 2 inches.

A year later the core group added setter Elizabeth “Eli” Manning, a transfer from Marian Central. They were also joined by Nicole Levra, a setter and defensive specialist, middle blocker Hailey Vitacco and defensive specialist Aryana Burgos.

Only reserve hitter Kadie Lowery graduated from last year’s team. Collectively, the Red Raiders possess 16 seasons of high school varsity volleyball experience.

“We’ve all played together for so long on the varsity together, and so many of us have played (club) together for so long that the team chemistry overall is overpowering,” Dion said. “That will take us further than our skill will.”

And their skill’s not bad either. The members of Huntley’s varsity team have been hearing others speculate for years how good their group could become once the core matured into seniors.

“Parents from different schools would say we’re going to be the school to beat,” Jackson recalls. “At clubs, different moms always said that. Now it’s finally here.”

Funny thing is, the Red Raiders are flying mostly under the radar thus far in 2011 despite their experience and some impressive credentials.

This group made back-to-back sectional final appearances in 2008 and 2009, losing to Crystal Lake South and eventual state champion Cary-Grove, respectively.

They also boast a pair of Atlantic Coast Conference signees in Dion (Maryland) and Boesch (Wake Forest).

And this season they will compete in the Asics Challenge at Mother McAuley, courtesy of their victory last fall at the Asics Preview.

Yet, Huntley has no national ranking despite these noteworthy accomplishments. Heck, the Daily Herald has the Red Raiders ranked No. 4 to open the season, one of the only news organizations in Illinois currently ranking them at all.

But there’s a reason people doubt Huntley.

For all their obvious talent and previous successes as they built toward 2011, the Red Raiders hit a major speed bump last fall when they couldn’t advance out of the regional tournament they hosted. Huntley lost on its home court to DeKalb 25-2, 25-21, thus ending its season with a 32-5 record.

Such a defeat wasn’t part of the grand scheme the eight juniors on the team had envisioned, but it is why the Red Raiders now must make believers of the doubters and earn their respect. If the loss had a silver lining, it was that it drove an already hardworking team to work even harder.

“Because of that loss I think we all have more motivation,” said Boesch, who finished last season with 287 kills, second only to Smith’s 314. “When you reach those points where you’re sick of practicing we look back and remember how much it hurt us not to make it out of a regional. It pushes us.

“Everything happens for a reason. Maybe that happened to push us even further this year.”

If the team has a backbone, it’s Dion. One of the most athletic 5-foot-6 female athletes in the area, she dives to the floor for digs and springs up quickly as if her joints are filled with Silly Putty instead of tendons and cartilage.

A two-time all-area selection, the affable senior is one of the finest defensive players currently competing in Illinois. Last season she registered 435 digs and made only 34 serve-receive errors in 459 attempts (92.6 percent). She also posted 46 aces, 53 kills and 40 assists.

“She’s such a coachable athlete,” Jakubowski said. “She’s willing to go the extra 1,000 miles for you. She’s a great team leader, sometimes a quiet leader. She definitely leads by example, just going out there with hard work.

“She’s also in the back pushing them and telling them what to do. She knows the game so well that she’ll tell girls where to hit and what position they need to be in. It’s been an amazing four years to coach her.”

Dion also has big-time tournament experience in other realms, as does Boesch. This summer they were both members of the Sky-High 17-U Black team, which won the AAU national championship in Orlando for the second straight year.

“That’s what I say when people ask me what I did over the summer — I say I won a national championship,” Boesch said with a laugh.

Jakubowski has switched the offense from a 6-2 to a 5-1 with Manning at setter. With Boesch, Smith, Jackson and Nepermann ready to put assists down, she’s bound to be successful.

But what will ultimately define success for this group?

“I don’t think anybody puts any pressure on them because they have some really high expectations and put pressure on themselves,” Jakubowski said. “Part of my job is keeping them grounded. We have these end goals, but it’s not all about that. There’s just more to it.

“I just want them at the end of the year to be playing their best ball and be having fun with it. You can say you want to win a regional and you want to go downstate, but as I told the girls that’s everybody’s dream. The way the state runs everything in (Class) 4A, it takes a lot to get down there. The stars have to align.

“I don’t want to base whether we had a good season on whether or not something like that happens. It’s about everything else coming together, playing well and having fun with it.

“I think everything else would just be icing on the cake.”