advertisement

Girls volleyball: Huntley tops Jacobs to reach regional final

Everything was clicking for Huntley's girls volleyball team Tuesday night.

Playing before a raucous home crowd, the top-seeded Red Raiders downed No. 4 Jacobs, 25-15, 25-9 in the semifinals of the Class 4A Huntley regional.

Alyson Dixon had 7 kills and Erin Erb added 6 for Huntley, which advanced to Thursday's 6 p.m. regional final against No. 3 seed DeKalb, which beat No. 2 Belvidere North 21-25, 25-22, 25-22 in Tuesday's second semifinal.

"Everything was consistent, and everyone was contributing on offense," said Huntley coach Karen Naymola. "They're a very scrappy team on defense. Jacobs plays excellent defense, so we knew we had to mix up our offense, we couldn't just give the ball to our outside. And we knew we had to mix up our shots. They did a good job of tipping and keeping the defense on their toes"

Haley Arnieri had 19 digs, setter Kelsey DeWulf dished out 17 assists, and Caitlin Thorelius had 3 service aces for Huntley (23-13).

Bridget Wallenberger and Kyla Fitzsimmons each had 5 kills to lead Jacobs (17-20). Kassie Kasper had 7 digs and Paige Queffelec 9 assists for the Golden Eagles.

"We did not serve receive well, and they really found a lot of our weaknesses," said Jacobs coach Lisa Dwyer. "I've got to give them credit. We knew what was coming at us, we just didn't perform. We didn't execute."

Huntley took control with a 6-2 run midway through Game 1 to go up 17-11. A service ace by Thorelius and a hard kill by Aleah Amelio were the highlights of that spurt. The Eagles cut the deficit to 18-14, but a 4-point run with Arnieri at the service line put the Raiders on the verge of victory.

Huntley never let Jacobs get comfortable in Game 2, opening a 13-4 run on back-to-back aces by Erb and a tip kill by DeWulf.

With Huntley leading 23-9 and Jacobs serving, 2 tips by Sydney Holt finished off the game and match.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.