With a key Fox Valley Conference match against Huntley looming, Hampshire‘s players hit the history books.

“Funny thing, we were actually looking it up,” senior outside hitter Elizabeth King said in anticipation of Tuesday’s showdown. “This is only our second time beating Huntley. It’s really huge.”

Whether it was only the second time or not, the Whip-Purs certainly made a statement Tuesday night on their home floor. Hampshire broke a 10-all tie in the first set and ran away from Huntley for a 25-15, 25-20 sweep to end the first half of the FVC schedule undefeated.

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Huntley’s Mia Jacobelli and the Red Raiders get revved up after a point in varsity girls volleyball at Hampshire High School in Hampshire on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (Patrick Kunzer for Shaw Local/Patrick Kunzer for Shaw Local)

The Whips last topped the Raiders Aug. 13, 2021, during the COVID-19-shortened season, and Tuesday’s victory was the program’s first in nine tries against Huntley. The Raiders have won three straight FVC titles.

“At the end of it, I did tell them, ‘Take a deep breath, enjoy it for today, because tomorrow it starts over again,’ ” Whips coach Omar Cortez said. “You’re basically 0-0, you’re still trying to fight. We’ve still got a second round of conference to go around.”

King, a UIC commit, led the Whips’ offense with eight kills, a block and three aces. But Huntley coach Karen Naymola thought it was the defensive play of senior libero Peyton Wurtz, at 5-foot-6, that tipped the scales.

“You have to credit their libero; she might be one of the best in the conference,” Naymola said. “I thought she did a phenomenal job all over the court. And as a hitter, when you’re swinging away and she’s digging, then we try to get cute and fancy, and that’s when some of those errors come in.”

Huntley was up 9-7 in what was a tight first set until a five-point service run by King, including all three of her aces. After Huntley (7-3, 7-2 FVC) called a timeout trailing 13-10, the Whips (20-4, 9-0) closed the opening set on a 12-5 run. Katelynn Petterson had three kills during the run while Anna Schiltz provided a big block.

“I feel like our serving was really good, and we kept them out of system,” Wurtz said of the first-set win. “I feel like their strongest hitters were their middles ... so us keeping them out of system allowed us to shut them down.”

Defensively, Wurtz had an all-or-nothing approach.

“Honestly, for me, I was just like, ‘Nothing hits the floor,’ ” Wurtz said. “A hole in the block, I’m there. Focusing on tipping, just thinking no ball is going to hit [the floor].”

Huntley was led by junior outside hitter Izzy Whitehouse with seven kills and junior Summer Massow with four kills and a block. Abby Whitehouse had nine assists, Sophia Tocmo had 12 digs, Emily Ernst had five assists and Catherine Callahan added six digs. Lucy Watson had a pair of kills and a block.

Izzy Whitehouse had five of her seven kills in the second set, but any time the Raiders went on a spurt, the Whips had an answer. King, Petterson, senior Hailey Homola, and freshman Lily Ingve all came up with blocks to stop a run from Huntley. Schiltz and Keira Skerke both had three kills in the second set, with Skerke providing the match clincher.

Still, Naymola felt her team’s fight in the second set was more indicative of her team’s talent.

“Once we started to play aggressive and swing away, I thought we were fine,” Naymola said. “Moving forward, I’ll be excited when we see Hampshire again.”

After Tuesday’s matches, Hampshire leads Prairie Ridge by one in the loss column and Huntley by two.

King said she dreamed of this win three years ago.

“I remember freshman year us getting absolutely smoked by them,” said King, who was in seventh grade the last time Hampshire beat Huntley. “And thinking freshman year, we’re going to beat them, it’s going to happen ... and it happened. I was shaking the whole day with excitement, just trying to calm myself down.”