Cary-Grove rolls to 3rd straight sectional crown

The Cary-Grove girls volleyball team has become knowm for its firepower, but the Trojans also win consistently thanks to brain power.

Coach Patty Langanis and her players study as much film as any volleyball program in the state. Among the things they noticed about Fox Valley Conference rival Huntley was a vulnerability to tipped balls in certain situations, so the Trojans attacked that weakness regularly throughout a 25-11, 25-17 victory in the Class 4A Prairie Ridge sectional title match Thursday.

The key player was Ashley Rosch, one of the most powerful hitters in the state. A heady tip to an open floor by the Illinois State recruit gave the Trojans their first lead of the opening game, 4-3.

A Rosch tip over the dual block of Huntley middle Jaina Jackson and setter Eli Manning made it 8-3.

Another Rosch tip caught the Huntley defense off guard and put the Trojans ahead 14-5. And so it went.

“When we see weaknesses we try to exploit them,” Langanis said. “Every coach does that; it doesn’t make us any more special. But what makes it special is that you have players that can do what you’re telling them to do and put tips in places that a lot of players would not be able to put them.”

Rosch, who closed out the match with a vicious spike, finished with a match-best 13 kills.

“We definitely worked on that (Wednesday) a lot in practice,” Rosch said of tipping. “I knew it was open and it was the easy way to score.”

The victory earned Cary-Grove (35-4) its third straight sectional title and the program’s fourth overall. The Trojans advance to the Lake Zurich supersectional against Stevenson (31-8) Saturday at 7 p.m. Stevenson defeated Lake Forest 18-25, 25-20, 25-23 to win the Buffalo Grove sectional.

Cary-Grove defeated Stevenson twice at the Jacobs Invite, including a 27-17, 27-16 victory in the title match on Sept 4.

“I just am so happy to be here right now,” said junior Jess Bartczyszyn, the third setter to lead Cary-Grove to a sectional title in as many years. “I’m so proud of our team and how far we’ve come because of how hard we’ve worked. We’ve still got a lot of things to work on but we’ve done a good job.”

Huntley (31-8) got an emotional lift from the courageous effort of senior outside hitter Sam Boesch, who played despite dislocating her non-hitting shoulder in warm-ups before Tuesday’s semifinal match. Boesch held her left arm still when running and was clearly not 100 percent.

“That thing is so painful for her and so awkward for her,” Huntley libero Amy Dion said. “For Sam to step out here and play for us was unbelievable.”

Boesch rotated out often, but she still managed 5 kills to finish her senior season with an even 400. Fellow senior Ashley Smith led the Red Raiders with 8 kills.

“I just wanted to be here,” Boesch said. “I didn’t want my senior year to end like that. I wanted to give it all I had no matter the pain or anything. I just needed to play that last game.”

Cary-Grove was simply too powerful for Boesch, Smith, Dion and the Red Raiders to overcome. Points came in runs for the Trojans, who got 5 kills and 10 digs from Melanie Jereb and 7 blocks by middle Sheila Wilhelmi in support of Rosch. C-G scored 7 straight points behind Jereb’s jump serve to take a 9-3 lead in Game 1 and they notched 5 straight points on Bartczyszyn’s serve to move to a 17-5 lead.

Huntley played its best volleyball at the outset of Game 2. Boesch opened the game with a kill, Aryana Burgos served an ace and Jaina Jackson added a kill off the Cary-Grove block to jump to a 5-0 lead.

But the Trojans tied the game 10-10 on a smart set kill by Bartczyszyn, who also had 20 assists. From that point forward there were three lead changes and four ties, the last coming at 16-16.

That’s when Cary-Grove gained separation. Bartczyszyn and Rosch each notched — what else? — tip kills to take an 18-16 lead, which ignited a 9-1 Cary-Grove run to close the match.

“We had a huge lead and we couldn’t keep it,” said Huntley coach Michelle Jakubowski, whose team reached the Sweet 16 for the third time in four seasons. “We had a couple of plays not reading a tip. They went where they knew they could go. It was there. We had people playing out of position obviously.

“You can’t change it. It is what it is, unfortunately. I’d have loved to have played them at full force.”

The loss ends the varsity careers of nine Huntley seniors, including Dion, Boesch and Smith, who each played four years of varsity volleyball.

“It’s been a great four years,” Boesch said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better team. They gave 100 percent all the time. They’re all my best friends. I can go to them for anything. It was definitely a season to remember.”