ST. CHARLES — St. Charles North initially looked like it was in for a back-and-forth contest against Huntley on Wednesday.

As the first set progressed, the two teams, which both ended the 2024 season with 32 wins, exchanged points feverishly, with neither team getting as much as a three-point lead before the other came back.

And after taking a timeout trailing 17-14, the Red Raiders looked ready to come back again with two straight points.

St. Charles North middle Sidney Wright had other plans.

“I knew I had to give 110% to help bring my team back,” the Illinois State commit said. “We knew we had to come back out strong and play our best, especially after coming out of the timeout.”

The senior middle’s play at the net propelled the North Stars to eight straight points to take the first set, and the team used that momentum to secure a 25-16, 25-15 victory over the Red Raiders.

“She just works her butt off and bails us out of a lot of plays,” North Stars coach Lyndsey Hawkins said of Wright. “She got some great blocks, but also her ability to transition fast and get back in there to get us a kill is what really started that momentum for us.”

Wright finished the night with eight kills, tying her career-best, while also adding three blocks. And a lot of her success came from the mix-ups from setter Mia McCall, who used her arsenal of quick and far sets to finish the night with 20 assists.

“I feel like it’s really important to run your middles, especially when you have someone like Sidney coming in so fast,” McCall said. “It separates the blockers and gives me an option everywhere, and I can usually set up a one-on-one with my pins. So having her commit and hold the middle blocker just gives everyone an opportunity to score.”

After securing the first set, the North Stars did not let down the pressure, taking an early 4-0 lead and never letting the Red Raiders any closer in the set. Jumpstarting that advantage was senior Haley Burgdorf, who had five of her team-high 10 kills within the team’s first 10 points of the second set.

“It was definitely nice getting that advantage because then you get to have more fun and creative with the plays,” Burgdorf said. “It’s such a momentum changer when all the energy is on your side. It just keeps it flowing and keeps us going.”

Meanwhile, the run ended up being too much for the Red Raiders (3-1) to handle in their first nonconference match of the season.

“We just let one or two errors turn into three or four,” Huntley coach Karen Naymola said. “Once we did that, they started to get that momentum.”

Naymola said while the offense struggled in the contest, the defense played really well for the Red Raiders, with senior libero Sophia Tocmo controlling the back line and sophomore middle Lucy Watson (five kills, three blocks) controlling the net.

“(Tomco) was playing really well for us,” Naymola said. “She served, received and passed really well and did a nice job.

“Lucy also had some big blocks and kills for us. And credit to our pin hitters because when they were swinging away, it would send that out of system ball that gave her a field day.”

Naymola said while it was a tough way to go out, it was good her young team got this experience out of the way early in the season.

“This was obviously going to be a tough match, and we knew that coming in,” Naymola said. “I would rather we play games like this every time we had an opportunity because these are the games that are going to make you better. These are the games that expose some weaknesses, and it’s early in the season so we know that we have things that we can work on and continue to get better.”