Scouting the Class 4A Huntley sectional

Class 4A Huntley sectional

Pairings: Cary-Grove (33-4) vs. South Elgin (15-18), 6 p.m. Tuesday, followed by Huntley (28-9) vs. Rockford Boylan (23-10).

How they got there: Cary-Grove defeated Dundee-Crown and Barrington to win the Barrington regional; South Elgin beat Streamwood and Elgin to win the Larkin regional. Huntley knocked off McHenry and Crystal Lake South to win the CL South regional; Boylan dumped Rockford Guilford and Hononegah to win the Rockford Auburn regional.

Outlook: All signs point to a potential sectional final between Cary-Grove and Huntley, but after being upset in the regional final by Jacobs a year ago, Cary-Grove coach Patty Langanis won't be thinking about anything but South Elgin Tuesday night. "We're just approaching it one point at a time," Langanis said Monday night." We have people like Abbey Heredia, who has been a starter for years and is a fantastic leader, and girls like Kelly Lamberti, those girls have been through the pain of being upset so from a coaching standpoint they give me a bigger support staff. We're just going to try to be really sharp and focus on the right things." Heredia, who will play at Jacksonville State next year, is the setter and floor leader for the Trojans, who haven't lost to an Illinois team this season. She has formidable weapons to go to in Lamberti, a 6-foot junior and emerging senior Kayla Klinger, among others. South Elgin, meanwhile, is on 12-4 run since starting the season 3-14. "From the beginning of the year to now we're 100 times better," said Storm coach Joni Melahn, whose team won the program's first regional championship on Saturday. "A couple girls have developed and are playing like they should and we had a couple good tournaments at the end of the season at Conant and Elgin that gave us some confidence I'm just thrilled that we're still practicing." While Melahn says her whole team has stepped up, she points to the consistent play of senior middle Alyssa Krause, senior middle Amber Schnecke. and junior outside Laura Ballance as being the key, as well as consistent passing and receiving that has been led by liberos Katelyn Stonecipher and Sarah Haveman as well as junior setter Courtney Sanocki. "We run our middles a lot and you can't run middles without good passing and receiving," Melahn said. "Our back row has been playing well." Melahn also said she's been pleased with the play of junior right side Jasmine Kuro. "Something has really clicked for her lately," Melahn said. "Our kids are capable of making big plays. It's just a matter of how many we can make." Both coaches agree they don't know a lot about each other's teams. "We talked a little about South Elgin but we don't know a lot about them," Langanis said. "All we can do is control what we can. We don't care who we're playing, we'll just play it one point at a time like we have all season." Melahn believes her team will be loose and ready to play and have fun tonight. "I know (Cary-Grove) has a strong middle and some strong jump-servers and that they're a strong team," Melahn said. "All I said to our girls was 'Why not?' Why not go out there and try your hardest and do your best? Who knows what might happen?"

Tonight's second match pits the host Red Raiders, who advanced to a sectional final last year, against a Boylan team that upset perennial power Hononegah in the regional final Saturday. The Titans won their first regional title since 2003 and just the fourth in program history."We've been playing increasingly better as the season has progressed," said Boylan coach Amanda Carlson. "We've peaked here at the end of the season and really started to click." The Titans are not an exceptionally tall team but Carlson says they make up for that with speed. "We run a fast offense," she said of her team's 5-1 set. "My belief is the only way you beat size is with speed and Huntley does have some size. We know they've got a good setter and an excellent libero and the rest of their girls are solid. And they have more size than us." Boylan's strength is on the outside with 6-foot-1 senior Morgan Phillips and 5-11 junior Ise d'Angelo, who combined for 300 kills in NIC-10 play, where Boylan finished second behind Hononegah. Phillips had 11 kills and d'Angelo 7 in the regional title match. Six-foot senior setter Megan Gendron had 330 assists in conference play. "Boylan's really good," said Huntley coach Michelle Jakubowski. "They've got a good senior outside and a good senior setter. It should be a good matchup. As long as we play our game, serve well and control the ball I think we can play with anybody in the state." Jakubowski says her team is playing its best volleyball right now, which has been helped by the return of 5-11 sophomore outside Sam Boesch from a shoulder injury. She had 23 kills in the two regional matches. "She's really getting into a groove and it's made us a lot stronger having her back," Jakubowski said. "It's taken the pressure off Ashley (Smith) and some of our other hitters. We're hitting our peak at the right time." Other Huntley leaders include sophomore libero Amy Dion, sophomore outside Taylor Nepermann and senior setter Amanda Carroll. Experience is also a key. Huntley's been to this level, Boylan hasn't, and despite still being a young team Jakubowski acknowledges the experience factor. "Even though we're still young, all they know is they played in the Sweet Sixteen last year," she said. "They still have that energy. The girls are very excited to be playing." And Carlson knows that ultimately, beating a team on its own floor in the postseason is difficult. "Playing on their floor will be tough," she said.

Advancement: The winners come back to Huntley Thursday at 7 p.m. for the sectional championship and a berth in Saturday's 6 p.m. St. Charles East supersectional against the winner of the Geneva sectional. At Geneva, defending state champion St. Charles East takes on rival St. Charles North tonight, followed by Geneva against York.

-John Radtke