Sam Bam! Boesch, Huntley hold off Jacobs
Her name is Sam, as in bam.
Or as in wham, which describes Huntley junior Sam Boesch's collision with a metal fire extinguisher casing in the middle game of Tuesday's girls volleyball match at rival Jacobs.
Boesch dented the casing with her sternum while trying to chase down a ball in the corner. She said she had trouble taking a deep breath the rest of the match. But it was her two ferocious swings late in the decisive third game BAM! BAM! that took the air right out of Jacobs' upset bid.
With the score tied at 22, Boesch crushed 2 of her team-high 11 kills down the left sideline on consecutive sets from Eli Manning to lift Huntley to a 2-point lead. The Red Raiders then served long, allowing the Golden Eagles back within a point. However, Jacobs returned the favor by serving into the net as Huntley survived a Fox Valley Conference Valley Division thriller, 25-18, 23-25, 25-23.
The victory kept Huntley (17-2, 4-1) within a game of first-place Cary-Grove (18-0, 5-0) prior to their showdown next Tuesday in Huntley. Jacobs (8-6, 2-3) lost a chance to tie the Red Raiders for second place.
"We had to put the ball away every opportunity we got and fight for every point," Boesch said. "This was pretty important. We stressed before we played that we had to go get this one. It may not have been pretty, but we pushed through it."
Down the stretch Boesch took advantage of Jacobs' shorter block on the right side and the defense couldn't adjust in time.
"We knew we had to stop the big outside hitters on the blocking end of it and the back-row end of it," Jacobs coach Lisa Dwyer said. "At times we did great and other times near the end they were one up on us. That was it. We knew it was coming, but the hitter won that one. And she's a good hitter."
The Golden Eagles broke free of a 10-10 tie in Game 3 with 4 straight points: kills by middle Nikki Madoch and setter Quinn Leuhring and 2 hitting errors by Huntley. Jacobs still led 16-12 when Huntley sophomore middle Hailey Vitacco turned the momentum by blocking Madoch and Alyssa Ehrhardt for consecutive points.
"The biggest difference was momentum," said Ehrhardt, who finished with a match-high 15 kills. "Once you lose it the other team has control."
An ace by Huntley libero Amy Dion (25 digs) and a booming spike by junior hitter Ashley Smith (10 kills) tied the game at 17 apiece. After three more ties, Huntley took a 22-20 lead on kills by Jaina Jackson and Taylor Nepermann, but Jacobs knotted the match with 2 straight kills from Ehrhardt, one from the back row, the other a nifty tip.
The rest played out in favor of Boesch and Huntley, whose "Raider Nation" student section outnumbered that of Jacobs 3-1.
"This game was crucial as far as the conference championship and regional seedings," Smith said. "And because Jacobs is our hometown rival."
Taylor Lesner notched 11 kills and 17 digs and Leuhring finished with 35 assists and 10 digs for Jacobs.