Huntley sweeps Prairie Ridge in Valley opener
The Huntley girls volleyball team shook free from Prairie Ridge once the Red Raiders shook off a bit of rust.
Idle Huntley enjoyed the long holiday weekend off after opening the season with 7 straight victories, including a tournament title at Plainfield North. After falling behind the visiting Wolves early in both games Tuesday, the Red Raiders fell into their rhythm and methodically pulled away for a 25-15, 25-18 victory to improve to 8-0, 1-0.
“We have lots of slow starts and we’d like to fix that,” said Huntley coach Michelle Jakubowski. “We apparently like to be down 5-1 before we really start to play, but in the end they did what they had to do. We played side out ball, we got back the lead and we separated with some good serving and put balls away when we needed to.”
Game 1 featured five ties and three lead changes until Huntley reeled off 5 straight points on the serve of senior Sam Boesch to spark a 14-4 run. In fact, the Wake Forest recruit initiated the spree with a vicious kill from the back row that deflected out of bounds off the Prairie Ridge block. Boesch led all hitters with 11 kills.
Senior middle Jaina Jackson (4 kills) and senior outside hitter Ashley Smith (3 kills) each contributed big hits to propel the run, which staked Huntley to a 16-11 lead.
Prairie Ridge (1-2, 0-1), a young team overall with a freshman and three sophomores in the lineup, committed 5 service errors in the first game. That’s the cost of doing business, according to Wolves Coach Stefanie Otto.
“We’ve been talking about serving more aggressively, so I’m accepting of some missed serves at the beginning of the year,” Otto said. “I will live with those as long as they’re going to serve aggressive. We’ll erase those errors as the season moves along.”
The Wolves again grabbed the early lead in Game 2, jumping to a 5-1 advantage behind a kill and an ace from junior Mackenzie Humm bundled with 3 Huntley hitting errors.
The lead changed hands three times and the Wolves found themselves in a 15-15 tie after Boesch misfired on back-to-back spike attempts. Undeterred, Boesch bounced right back and terminated one of setter Eli Manning’s 19 assists with a powerful shot to the floor to ignite a 10-3 closing run.
“We trust each other as players a lot,” Manning said, “so even if we make a few mistakes we get right back into it and we’ll get the next one.”
Boesch appreciates such confidence.
“I want to be there to put that ball away,” she said. “I want to get that point for my team and just continue to play.”
The match ended on a funny play when Smith’s get-me-over third hit caught the tape and fell straight down to the floor untouched on the Wolves’ side of the court.
“Literally, everyone on the court was just waiting for it to topple over,” Smith said. “Is it going to be on our side? On their side? It’s just a moment I will never forget. It’s a great way to be remembered by PR, I guess.”
“Coach J said to end it with authority, but I think that’s the best way it could have ended,” Huntley libero Amy Dion said with a laugh. Dion made 16 digs in the match.
Humm finished with 5 kills, 3 aces and 3 assists, sophomore Kennedy McNeil added 5 kills and sophomore setter Taylor Otto notched 7 assists for the Wolves.