Trojans done waiting

The Cary-Grove volleyball team’s Sam Mainzer (from left), Kelly Lamberti, Kayla Klinger, Abbey Heredia, Colleen Hargrove and Colleen Smith celebrate Thursday after defeating Huntley, 25-8, 25-17, in the IHSA Class 4A Huntley Sectional final. (Lauren M. Anderson – landerson@nwherald.com)

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

HUNTLEY – Sometimes when a moment has taken so long to arrive, it doesn’t live up to the grandiose expectations.

That was not the case for Cary-Grove’s volleyball team Thursday.

The Trojans knew early they were capable of great things, and many players had been waiting to hold a sectional trophy for at least three years.

So when C-G defeated Huntley, 25-8, 25-17, to win the Class 4A Huntley Sectional title, lifting the plaque, celebrating with fans and checking off another accomplishment on the season’s ever-growing list was as exciting as the players hoped.

“Ever since I’ve been watching [Cary-Grove volleyball], I’ve been waiting for this,” said setter Abbey Heredia, whose 19 assists helped the Trojans (35-4) earn their first berth in a supersectional since 2001. C-G will face St. Charles East at 6 p.m. Saturday in the Class 4A St. Charles East Supersectional.

“This is the best senior year I could ever have asked for. ... I’m so happy that we’ve been able to do all we wanted to do.”

C-G coach Patty Langanis stressed that although the Trojans would
celebrate their win Thursday night, they would put their “game faces” back on quickly for today’s practice.

“We’ve worked very hard to be able to enjoy this win,” Langanis said, “but we’re not done with all we want to accomplish yet.”

The Trojans’ tunnel vision helped them when Huntley played the second set with an aggression the Red Raiders did not show in the first.

Nothing went right for Huntley (29-10) in Game 1, and little went wrong for C-G. Senior middle blocker Colleen Hargrove (eight blocks) helped the Trojans pull away, serving five consecutive points, including two aces, that gave C-G a 10-2 lead.

C-G rolled to a 19-5 advantage behind crosscourt kills from junior outside hitter Kelly Lamberti (11 kills), Heredia’s sets to the outside corners, and aggressive serving.

“Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong for us,” Huntley coach Michelle Jakubowski said. “Cary-Grove is a great team, and we will not take anything away from them. There’s going to be things that you just can’t do to stop them ... We just couldn’t hit, we couldn’t serve ... you can’t give [C-G] free balls. They’ll take advantage of it.”

The Trojans weathered a more inspired Huntley attack in the second game. Huntley sophomore outside hitter Ashley Smith’s block and kill tied the game at 5, Huntley forced C-G into a few hitting mistakes and the Trojans were called for a lift violation that tied the game at 10.

A Trojans service error knotted the score at 13, but then Huntley was called for a four-hit violation and Lamberti came up with three consecutive kills to help C-G pull ahead, 17-13.

“We’ve been working very hard on focusing only on the next point,” Langanis said. “We started to make some errors [in Game 2], but that point-by-point mentality came through in the end.”

Huntley pulled within a point, 17-16, but C-G junior setter Colleen Smith went to the service line and served six consecutive points to put the Trojans up, 24-16. Lamberti’s kill put the match away.
It was Huntley’s second consecutive trip to a sectional final and although the Raiders were sad to end their season, Jakubowski
was proud of all they’d accomplished.

“This was an awesome group of girls,” Jakubowski said. “In my 14 years of coaching, this was my best team. They were a pleasure and ... we will miss the seniors very much.”