Huntley holds off Rockford Boylan
Huntley girls volleyball coach Michelle Jakubowski says her teams likes to save its final push for the last few points of the game.
"It takes a lot of energy to stay up all the time in a close game," Jakubowski said. "My girls have a lot of energy. We just want to keep in check and then really push those final points."
The Red Raiders were able to do just that Tuesday night, outlasting Rockford Boylan 26-24, 25-19 in the second semifinal of the Class 4A Huntley sectional. The host team will now get a shot at its first sectional championship since 2001 when it faces Cary-Grove (34-4) at 7 p.m. Thursday. The winner will advance to Saturday's St. Charles East supersectional against either the defending state champion Saints or York. Huntley, which lost to Crystal Lake South in a sectional final last year, lost to Cary-Grove twice this season in Fox Valley Conference play, both times in 2 games.
Tuesday's Game 1 was close throughout, and Huntley (29-9) had to fight from behind after trailing 19-15, 20-17 and 23-20. Facing that final 3-point deficit, the Red Raiders used a kill from Ashley Smith and two hitting errors from the Titans (23-11) to forge a 23-23 tie.
But a kill from junior Ise D'Angelo put Boylan at game point. The Titans couldn't close the deal, though. A Smith kill and Boylan hitting a great spike from sophomore Amy Dion out of bounds made it a 24-24 game. Another Smith kill made it 25-24 and Huntley won Game 1 when senior setter Amanda Carroll placed a backward tip into the right corner of the court to give the Red Raiders the win.
"That was huge," said Jakubowski of Dion's play and Carroll's game-winning shot.
After spotting Boylan a 4-0 lead in Game 2, Huntley came back and owned the rest of the contest. Carroll ripped off 5 straight service points, 3 coming on Boylan hitting errors to tie it at 5-5. Huntley eventually broke out to a 13-8 lead but Boylan came back strong to take a 14-13 advantage, and also led 15-14, before Dion served 5 straight points to give Huntley a 19-15 lead.
But Boylan came back to tie it again at 19, before Carroll stepped to the line again and used kills from Dion, Sam Boesch, two Boylan hitting errors and a match-ending ace to send the Red Raiders to the sectional title match.
"Our team can fight back," said Carroll. "We have a lot of heart. Even if we're down it doesn't faze us."
Carroll had 21 assists to lead the Huntley offense, while Dion had 17 digs and Alison Blanken 7 digs. Smith had 8 kills, sophomore Jaina Jackson added 6 and junior Kadie Lowery came off the bench to contribute 4 kills in Game 2.
"It's different people every night for us," Jakubowski said. "Tonight, Blanken picked us up and Kadie Lowery came out of nowhere in that second game."