Dundee-Crown surprises Huntley

The shock waves were reverberating all around the Dundee-Crown High School campus Thursday night.

No, there wasn’t an earthquake in the Carpentersville area. The excitement came from host Dundee-Crown’s earthshaking upset win over Huntley by the scores 16-25, 25-20, 28-26 in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division girls volleyball action.

The visiting Red Raiders (9-3 overall) entered Thursday’s match undefeated in conference play at 4-0 after defeating Cary-Grove Tuesday night.

“This win was ginormous,” said an ecstatic Dundee-Crown coach Christine Hopkins-Muehl. “This is by far the biggest win of the year. After the first game, we told the girls we had to pick up the intensity and be more consistent. We played well in the second game and we refused to lose in the third game. We refused to give in. I am very proud of the girls.”

After losing the first game, the Chargers (9-7, 2-2) came back with great intensity in the second game. Led by 4 kills each by sophomores Frankie Cavallaro and Ashley Raby, the Chargers jumped off to a 15-6 lead.

The Red Raiders didn’t give up and got to within 2, 21-19, after a kill by Erin Lyman. But the Chargers evened the match and won Game 2 on a kill by Lauren Lococo.

The third game was a classic with 15 ties and lead changes. D-C was within match point after a kill by Raby gave the Chargers a 24-22 lead. But Huntley scored the next 2 points on a pair of kills from Lyman to knot the score at 24-24.

With the score tied at 26, the Chargers scored the final 2 points on a pair of kills by Raby to win the match.

Raby and Cavallaro paced the Chargers with 13 kills each. Kailey Moll added 12 kills for the winners.

“The third game was nerve-racking,” said Cavallaro. “I am still shaking. We jelled as a team and worked well together.”

Lyman led the Red Raiders with 15 kills. Emily Westermeyer added 9 kills with 4 aces. Rachael Kisten and Kelsey DeWulf had 5 kills each.

“We were really challenged tonight and our serve receive was awful,” said Huntley coach Karen Liss. “They came focused and ready to play and we didn’t. Give (D-C) credit. They fed off the emotion of the crowd and played with a great amount of intensity.”