Girls volleyball: Huntley adjusts, knocks out St. Charles North

Huntley wanted to send out a message to the state Monday night.

The Red Raiders played their first match since middle Avary DeBlieck tore her medial patellofemoral ligament in the team's regional title win on Thursday and Huntley wanted to show that it could still win a state title despite losing its best player for the rest of the season.

Different Red Raiders stepped up as they adjusted quickly and came together to win their Class 4A Harlem sectional semifinal 25-20, 26-24 over St. Charles North.

"The message we want to send out there is that Huntley is still a force to be reckoned with," senior Maggie Duyos said. "Our goal is state, and we're going to push through sectionals and supersectionals and we're going to reach our goal at the end."

Huntley (31-6) didn't seem like a team that pieced together a new lineup in two days. The Red Raiders ran out to a 7-2 lead in the first set and never trailed in the opening set. The North Stars battled back to make it 10-7 and 18-16 Huntley, but both teams exchanged balls hit out of play on serves and attacks.

The Red Raiders secured the opening set when the North Stars couldn't get the ball over on set point.

St. Charles North adjusted in the second set and took a 3-1 set lead to start things off but Huntley battled back to take a 15-10 lead. Both teams continued to be aggressive with their hitting and failed to get serves in bounds, helping the North Stars to tie the set at 21, 22, 23 and 24.

The North Stars hit the ball into the net with the match tied at 24 and Duyos and Emily Willis combined to block St. Charles North's final kill attempt to secure the win.

"We had to play a little smarter," Duyos said. "We definitely had to adjust our hitting. Instead of hitting as hard as we could, we had to play smarter rather than harder."

Georgia Watson led the team with eight kills and four blocks while Ally Panzloff had nine digs and five kills. Duyos finished the night with 18 assists.

Huntley coach Karen Naymola was proud of how different players stepped up in DeBlieck's absence despite not being familiar with who might be next to them in the biggest match of the year.

"They just did a great job of adjusting," Naymola said. "Volleyball is a game of adjusting and that's a bigger adjustment than we would've hoped for, but it worked out and they played fantastic tonight."

Katherine Scherer led the North Stars (29-9) with five kills while Olivia Fulfs-Fortney added four kills and one block. St. Charles North knew Huntley would be without DeBlieck but needed to adjust to what the Red Raiders were doing offensively during the match.

North Stars coach Lindsey Hawkins thought her team adjusted in the second set but too many self-inflicted errors kept it from forcing a third set.

"When you're playing a team like that, you have to play clean volleyball," Hawkins said. "They did and we did not."

The Red Raiders will try to win their third straight sectional title when they play Hononegah on Wednesday. Huntley has made the adjustments to life without DeBlieck, now it's just up to the Red Raiders to do their part.

"We just want to play as a family now," Duyos said. "We did before but there's a shift and we're relying on every one of us."

Hononegah 2, Hampshire 0:

The Whip-Purs took on a Hononegah team that entered their Class 4A Harlem sectional semifinal match with a 33-4 overall record and a 18-0 conference record. The Indians attacked and served well while limiting what Hampshire could do at the net, leading to a 25-11, 25-16 win.

"I know the record doesn't show it, but the kids have improved and showed what they could be these last couple weeks," Hampshire coach Rejhan Vunic said. "I appreciate it."

Hononegah started strong and ran out to a 9-2 lead in the first set and never trailed in the match. Hampshire came back to make it a 10-5 Hononegah, but the Indians pressed forward, building a 19-7 lead on their way to a win.

Hampshire held firm in the second set and held Hononegah to a 12-8 lead but the Whip-Purs couldn't get closer than that the rest of the match.

"They were serving really tough, but their defense, they picked up a lot of big swings of ours, they moved it really well," Vunic said. "[Hononegah coach Kaylee Libby] coached them really well, it's a good program, good team."

Vunic was proud of how the team played in the last two weeks, fighting to win a regional title. Now with sectional experience for a lineup with sophomores and freshmen, the coach hopes nights like Monday will lead to growth to become a team fighting for a state title.

"It's a young squad," Vunic said. "They're showing what they can be and it's going to be a good few years with this core group moving forward."