Wednesday was only the third day of fall but summer has hardly disappeared from Huntley’s highly-ranked girls volleyball team.

That’s Summer Massow, a 6-foot junior middle, who recorded a career-high 7 blocks along with 5 kills Wednesday as the Red Raiders (8-3) surged past Barrington (10-6) in the third set for a 21-25, 25-23, 25-16 nonconference triumph.

The win came one night after Huntley’s three-match winning streak came to an end at Hampshire (20-4) in a Fox Valley Conference match. The Red Raiders have another key FVC match Friday against Crystal Lake Central.

“It’s a hard week for us so this was a great win,” said Huntley coach Karen Naymola, who was hired for the job 14 years ago by Barrington coach and former Huntley AD Michelle Mayer. “And I have to credit everyone. They all found a way to contribute and that’s kind of what we stress every match.”

Wednesday’s match in Barrington was decided in the third set as the visitors raced out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back. Massow started the set with a kill block and junior Mia Jacobelli ended it with back-to-back aces.

Jacobelli’s kill gave Huntley an 11-3 lead before Barrington got back to within 12-9 on an ace from Jaelyn Connole (5 kills, 5 assists).

But that’s as close as the hosts would get as Massow’s block extended the lead back to 15-9 and the Red Raiders kept the momentum the rest of the way.

“That loss (to Hampshire) fueled us 100 percent and we were all hungry and wanted to give even more effort,” Massow said. “We knew we had the effort to do it.

“I think our energy on the court was amazing. We all gave so much and we were supporting each other. We had each other’s backs and that really made a difference.”

Making a difference on attack were Jacobelli with her 15 kills, followed by Boise State recruit Izzy Whitehouse (11 kills) and 5 apiece from sophomore MB Lucy Watson (5 blocks) and Massow.

They took their cues from Wabash Valley recruit Abby Whitehouse ( 11 assists) and Marist pledge Emily Ernst (5 assists). Senior libero Sophia Tocmo led the defense with 15 digs while Indiana University at Pennsylvania-bound Rachael Hein had 9.

Barrington got off to a fast start in set one, taking a 4-0 lead behind the serve of Connole.

A block by Ingrid Wright (4 solo blocks) and ace by Kalyn Brookbank made it 11-4 before Huntley came back and grabbed the lead at 16-15 on a 4 service points from Tocmo.

The set was tied 18 when Barrington nudged ahead for good on a block by Brookbank. She would later serve 5 straight points including 2 aces to get the Fillies to set point at 24-19.

Despite falling behind 4-0 in set two, Barrington charged back to its first lead at 17-16 on one of Brookbank’s 14 kills. Lexi Szlezak added 10 kills for the Fillies while Alessandra Mirkovich had 3 and Eve Adler 2 along with 20 assists. Libero Ella Krull also had 2 aces for the hosts.

The Fillies led 21-17 on a big dig from Antonia Rojas which fell for a kill.

But Huntley scored 8 of the next 10 points, including 6 straight service points by Izzy Whitehouse with 4 aces for a 24-21 lead. A block by Ernst ended it at 25-23.

“We had an opportunity to win it in the second set but just didn’t finish,” Mayer said. “This is still September and we just want to get better.

“I thought our defense was greatly improved and I liked our energy on the court. We’ve just got to counter back tough when the other teams punch at us. But these girls are always ready to battle and I love that.”

Mayer’s daughter, Taylor, starred for Naymola from 2016 to 2019 before a standout career at Seton Hall. She was the Daily Herald Fox Valley All-Area captain in 2019.

“Her mother hired me and then I was lucky enough to coach Taylor for four years,” Naymola said.

“They (Huntley) used to handle us easily all the time when my daughter was there,” Mayer said with a laugh. “Now it’s just awesome volleyball whenever we play them. It’s fun.”

Naymola said it was fun to see her team running the offense in aggressive fashion on Wednesday.

“I’m proud of the girls,” she said. “We were so aggressive which was awesome to see. I thought we were a little hesitant against Hampshire and for us to just come out in this match swinging away and staying aggressive was huge.”