Prairie Ridge setter Addi Smith has options everywhere she looks.

And more often that not, the Wolves senior knows exactly where to go with the ball.

“Addi Smith is one of the smartest people I know,” Wolves first-year coach Leah Groat said. “Academically, she’s super smart, and therefore a very high volleyball IQ too. She wants to know everything, and she sees everything.

“She’s not afraid to not set somebody who might be having an off night. She makes really smart decisions all the time. She’s just very smart and runs our offense really well.”

Smith made all the right decisions Thursday as Prairie Ridge picked up a key early-season win over Huntley 25-23, 19-25, 25-18 in Fox Valley Conference action in Huntley.

With the win, Prairie Ridge (6-1, 5-1 FVC) gave Huntley (5-2, 5-1) its first FVC loss of the season and only its fourth since 2022.

The Wolves (third place, Class 3A) and Red Raiders (fourth, 4A) advanced to the state tournament last year – McHenry County’s first state qualifiers since 2018 – and once again entered the season as top contenders in an always demanding FVC.

On Thursday, the Wolves were led by junior outside hitter Maizy Agnello, a Missouri commit, with a match-leading 17 kills, 10 digs and a block. Abby Smith, Addi’s twin sister, was second on the team with nine kills and junior Adeline Grider added seven kills and two aces.

Junior libero Tegan Vrbancic had a team-high 14 digs and Quinn Bruggeman added 10.

Addi Smith finished the match with 25 assists, two kills and two aces and said her talented teammates make her job look easy.

“Honestly, I thought we were pretty consistent the entire game overall,” said Addi Smith, who is committed to Purdue Northwest University. “We just did not let them get on runs in that third set. All of our hitters do a real nice job of dominating, so they make it super easy to where I feel like I can set every one of them and know they will put it away.”

After the teams split the opening two sets, Prairie Ridge grabbed control of the third with a six-point service run by Grider, who had two kills and an ace to help push the Wolves lead from 13-12 to 19-12.

Grider, normally an outside, has been playing middle blocker for the Wolves this year.

“She’s the most positive person on the court,” Smith said of Grider. “She’s very versatile. Wherever she’s on the court, whether it’s on the outside, the middle or the right side, you know she’s able to put the ball down and get some big kills. She’s also just super hyped, which gets everyone else around her very excited.”

Groat said Grider is one of the hardest workers on the team.

“Playing middle is maybe not her favorite thing, but she does it because it’s what is best for our team,” Groat said. “When she’s as successful as she is, it makes it that much more exciting for all of us.”

Huntley was led by junior Izzy Whitehouse with 12 kills and eight digs, senior Emily Ernst with 20 assists, sophomore Lucy Watson with eight kills, junior Mia Jacobelli with seven kills and senior Sophia Tocmo with 16 digs. Senior Catherine Callahan tallied two of the team’s three aces.

Huntley coach Karen Naymola felt the match was lost in multiple areas.

“The difference was our blocking and serving,” Naymola said. “We’re usually a really aggressive serving team, and when we were stressing to stop serving to their libero (Vrbancic) because she was passing the ball very well, we lost our aggressiveness. And then blocking, obviously they have a fast good offense but our timing was off. We were leaving seams and we weren’t blocking balls that we’d normally block.”

The Wolves also struggled to keep down Agnello, the area’s leader in kills last year with a school-record 483.

“You know she’s going to get the ball, and you know she’s going to get her kills,” Naymola said. “She’s just a smart hitter and we were way too early to jump with someone who jumps out of the gym.”

Prairie Ridge hopes Thursday’s key victory propels them to more big wins in the FVC and beyond.

“It gives us a lot of confidence going forward,” Addi Smith said. “We’ve had a rough first couple of weeks, but tonight it shows that we can come together, we can keep going and we can be a tough team in the state.”