Girls volleyball: Huntley rolls past Cary-Grove
Huntley sophomore libero Luma Acevedo felt, in her team's first two matches, pre-match jitters were definitely a factor.
On Thursday, Huntley didn't have the look of a nervous group, especially at the service line.
"We went out thinking, 'Get the ball in the court, take a deep breath and just play aggressive,' " Acevedo said. "We're a very new and very young team, so I think maybe we've been a little nervous. This game helped calm down us down."
After some tentative serves in their first two matches, the Red Raiders looked much more confident Thursday against Cary-Grove - firing 10 aces on their way to a commanding 25-17, 25-11 Fox Valley Conference victory.
Acevedo and sophomore outside hitter Ally Panzloff led Huntley (2-1 overall, 2-0 FVC) with three aces each. Sophomore setter Maggie Duyos had two, and outside hitters Emma Konie and Lizzy Williams each had one.
Huntley coach Karen Naymola said it was nice to see her players be aggressive.
"I know we have good aggressive servers on the team. In our first two matches, it was like we were afraid to make any mistake," Naymola said. "I think we had five [service errors] in our first two matches so I was very proud and impressed of them to go back out and be aggressive."
It was Acevedo's serving that helped the Raiders close out the first set on a 10-2 run after the teams were tied at 15.
Huntley's Avary DeBlieck had back-to-back kills for a 17-15 lead. Later, a kill from Panzloff gave Huntley a 18-16 lead. Acevedo had a run of seven consecutive serves, including all three of her aces. Emily Willis had a key block late, and Konie finished the first set with a kill.
Acevedo said her teammates encouraged her to stay aggressive at the service line. Panzloff called Acevedo "one of the most consistent servers" on the team.
"I'm really just doing it for my teammates," Acevedo said. "They keep me going. They're super fun to play with. I love to play for them, and in front of my parents and sister. I just want to keep pushing for them."
Panzloff's three aces all came in the second set, which quickly got away from the Trojans (0-2, 0-2). Her third and final ace gave Huntley a 14-6 lead as C-G struggled to control the ball and find its offense.
"We just weren't moving really well," C-G coach Patty Langanis said. "I felt like when we served tough, [Huntley] was struggling too. But we weren't able to gain any control and run any of our offense, and [Huntley] was kind of able to swing freely at the net."
DeBlieck led the Raiders' attack with six kills, Konie had five kills and Panzloff had four. Duyos had 18 assists and eight digs, and Acevado had nine digs.
DeBlieck (6-foot-2), Panzloff (6-1) and Konie (5-10) give Huntley three difficult matchups for opposing teams. Konie, an Illinois-Springfield commit, is a returning starter for the Raiders and led them with 333 kills last year.
Everyone else on the team is a first-year starter, although some did get playing time last year.
"We didn't have many practices, so we're just trying to go into every game and learn something new," Panzloff said. "We're really working on talking and communicating more."
The Trojans were led by Juliana Chapman with five kills and Lauren Passaglia with 12 assists and a pair of kills. Julia Rice had three kills for C-G, which still is searching for its first win.
C-G coach Patty Langanis said she saw some improvement from a season-opening loss to Burlington Central on Tuesday.
"I think we played much better tonight, which was good to see," Langanis said. "We were able to keep up with the speed of Huntley. We reacted better than I thought we were going to after Tuesday night ... and I thought we showed a lot of heart and hustle, defensively. The girls weren't giving up. It was just really nice to see that, even in that second set. They kept fighting."