Huntley dumps Storm; BC wins
Frazzled pre-match nerves are as common on the opening night of the girls volleyball season as sideouts.
But Huntley took the floor perhaps more nervous than in previous years with three freshmen making their varsity debuts in Tuesday's nonconference match against visiting South Elgin.
Freshmen Amy Dion (libero), Ashley Smith (right side) and Sam Boesch (outside hitter) more than held their own, and the dependable combination of junior setter Amanda Carroll to senior middle Allyson Stellmach and junior outside hitter Toni Jaehnig proved too much for the Storm defense to handle in a 25-10, 25-17 Huntley victory in the season opener for both teams.
Jaehnig (10 digs) and Stellmach each finished with a match-best 7 kills and Carroll recorded 23 assists.
"A lot of people came in nervous and the freshmen were so nervous," Carroll said. "I was actually nervous, but it went real well and we played as a team."
Huntley coach Michelle Jakubowski learned that, yes, her kids can play. After Jaehnig delivered 4 early put-aways to stake the Red Raiders to a 14-4 lead in Game 1, Boesch angled a spike to the corner of the South Elgin side to make it 15-4 and Smith pounded a kill moments later to make it 18-7.
Dion was perhaps the most impressive of the rookies. The first-year libero made 16 digs, including a diving, one-handed stab that ricocheted off her fist and over the net for a point that gave Huntley a 12-3 lead.
"Amy Dion did an amazing job back there running the floor," Huntley coach Michelle Jakubowski said. "It's her back row to play, so hopefully we can continue that way."
South Elgin struggled with serve receive and defense. The Storm trailed 17-4 before junior Amber Schnecke tallied a block kill. Senior Christie Cortese followed with an ace, but Jaehnig's 5 kills in Game 1 were too much to overcome. Ashley Smith's back-to-back aces put an exclamation point on a lopsided first game
South Elgin fell behind 18-10 in Game 2, but rallied to within 18-14 on a service error by the Red Raiders, a pair of aces from junior Alyssa Krause and a tip-down by Schnecke. However, 6 hitting errors in the second game kept the Storm from making a legitimate charge.
"I just felt like we were one step behind on everything," South Elgin coach Joni Melahn said. "We were a half second behind on our hits, a half second late on reading the defense. We were just a half second or a half step behind on all our plays today. We had trouble reading their hitters and we weren't moving a lot.
"We've been working a lot on serve receive, so I knew our defense wouldn't be at its best, but serve receive didn't help us at all this match either."
Senior libero Genevieve Johnson led South Elgin with 11 digs and Schnecke posted 4 kills.
Burlington Central d. Kaneland: By scores of 25-13 and 26-24, Burlington Central (1-0) opened the season with this nonconference win over Kaneland. Leading the Rocket attack were Stephanie Holthus (11 kills), Molly Turk (19 assists, 3 kills), Meghan Zusada (4 aces, 6 digs) and Taylor Scully (3 kills, 8 digs). Audrey Djukic added 4 kills.
CL South d. CL Central: Behind solid efforts from Jordan Guida (25 assists, 2 aces), Katie Trayser (5 kills), Ervin Johnson (8 kills, 5 blocks), Beth McGinn (6 blocks, 3 kills) and Caitlin Schumacher (5 kills), Crystal Lake South took this crosstown matchup by scores of 25-11 and 27-25.
Hoffman Estates d. Bartlett: Toughing it out for 3 games, Bartlett (0-1) fell 12-25, 25-23 and 25-23 in nonconference action against Hoffman Estates. Despite the loss, the Hawks had key play from Carly Sahagian (16 kills, 9 digs, 3 aces), Kelly Kraft (12 digs, 2 aces), Alyssa Cazzato (22 assists) and Danielle Marciniak (5 kills).
Westminster Christian d. Keith School: Backed by a strong defense, Westminster Christian (1-0) defeated Keith School in two games by scores of 25-12 and 27-25. Warrior efforts were led by Sarah Rodgers (2 aces, 2 kills), Hannah Graves (11 assists, block, ace) and Jessica Benson (6 kills, ace).