Girls volleyball: Unbeaten Huntley tops Hampshire
With Hampshire threatening Huntley's perfect start to the young volleyball season Thursday night, Red Raiders coach Karen Naymola called timeout midway through the second game.
Naymola's team wasn't playing poorly. They were aggressive with their shots but having trouble getting them to hit the floor against the scrappy Whip-Purs.
The talk did the trick. Trailing 17-13 at the time, Huntley went on a 12-2 run to win the second game and take the match, 25-20, 25-19.
Huntley senior Aleah Amelio had three straight kills in the closing spurt to make it 22-18, all on sets from Taylor Jakubowski.
"The block was cheating to the outside," Amelio said. "I didn't have a big block on me. I could just swing away and not worry about getting blocked."
Amelio led Huntley with 8 kills and freshman Emma Konie - a lefty like Amelio - had 7.
"Hampshire did a great job defensively and it was starting to get a little frustrating for our hitters when they are swinging away and Hampshire is making some beautiful digs," Naymola said. "During the timeout we talked about mixing up our shots to get them pulled up on defense. Make them be disciplined."
Huntley (5-0, 5-0) also had to come from behind in the first game.
An ace by Sophie Holtz gave Hampshire its biggest lead, 12-9. The Red Raiders scored the next four to go ahead, the last on a blast from Amelio. Back-to-back kills from Julia Johnson gave Huntley a 17-14 lead.
Up 22-20, Jakubowski stepped to the service line and scored the final three points. She executed a perfect slide play with Loren Alberts to make it 24-20, then served an ace to end the match.
Hampshire middle Lucy Magnussen helped the Whip-Purs start strong in the second game. She had consecutive tip kills to tie the score at 7, then slammed a ball down moments later for a 9-7 lead.
"Our problem is with the first contact does not allow us to use her more," Hampshire coach Ramon Borrero said. "Today, ironically, we used her more against what I consider is the best serving team in the league. We passed better today and we used her."
Hampshire (5-5, 1-4) built its 17-13 lead on Gianna Garza's winner before the Red Raiders' strong finish sparked by Amelio, Jakubowski (20 assists) and Sarah Zayas (13 digs).
"Offensively she (Amelio) had a great game for us," Naymola said.
Magnussen finished with 5 kills and 2 blocks, outside hitter Maggie Seagren added 6 kills and captain Sophie Holtz set 11 assists.
"We are playing some moments where we can compete against anybody," Borrero said. "We need to maintain our consistency. I still believe in our group. We have a lot of talent but we need to be more consistent to the end of the match. We're still working on that."