Practice keeps Barrington perfect in West
Even during a practice 40 minutes before Tuesday’s match, Barrington outside hitter Peyton Lang could tell her team was ready for Fremd.
“We had a real good practice on Monday with a lot of energy,” said the 6-foot-1 junior. “Our passing was good, our hitting was great. Everything was good.
“Then in our practice before the match (on Tuesday) you could see we were all excited and really ready to go.”
That could not have been more true.
The Fillies exploded to an 11-1 lead and never looked back in a 25-11, 25-14 victory over Fremd.
Barrington (10-2) improved to 4-0 in the Mid-Suburban West, one match ahead of defending champ Schaumburg (3-1) and two ahead of Fremd (2-2) and Palatine (2-2).
No one was more ready to play than Lang, who delivered a career and match-high 10 kills on 13-of-14 attacking while her classmate Lauren Shectman had one of her top matches with 6 kills (6-for-7) and 5 blocks. Senior Madison Keller also added 2 kills and 2 blocks in the middle.
“Sometimes the middles go unheralded but both our ours were real active tonight,” said Fillies coach Rob Ridenour.“Lauren had a real nice match, and so did Madison, who has been working hard in practice on getting into the offense. She works real hard on being available (instead of just jumping) and she got rewarded this match.”
Back-to-back aces by Julia Thompson gave the Fillies an 11-1 lead.
An ace by Lauren Dunseith made it 15-5.
Leading 17-9, Dunseith (23 assist) made a terrific save on a Fremd serve that just clipped the net and almost fell to the floor for an ace. But Dunseith fisted it back up and moments later Shectman got the point for Barrington with a block.
“We had so much energy,” Shectman said. “We were verbal and communicating together. When we are having fun, that’s when we are doing well.
“Fremd’s middles are so good and they were really tipping well. So eventually, I kind of got used to it.”
Shectman ended Set 1 with a kill.
The Fillies jumped ahead 9-3 in Set 2, thanks to three straight kills by Olivia Szuszkiewicz (13-of-15, 6 kills) and an ace by Natasha Singh.
The Vikes came to within 12-11 but Barrington pulled away with 5 straight points, including 4 with Thompson at the service line. Lang had back-to-back kills in that rally and Thompson rifled an ace for the 17-11 lead.
“In Set 2, we were right for a while but they scored those points in the middle and that was the set,” said Vikings coach Curt Pinley. “I think their outside hitters do a very nice job. They are very aggressive and make you block them.”
Claire Brady (5 kills), Marilyn Lortz (3 kills) and Jessi Wiedemann (2 kills) were top attackers for the Vikes (11-6, 2-2) while Lortz handed out 13 assists.
Pinley felt freshman Lane Hindenburg also made her presence felt at the net.
“Lane does a fantastic job working real hard at the net to get touches,” he said. “She is really coming along and expectations are real high at this point.
“Barrington just came out so aggressive with its serve and we really haven’t seen that from any team. They don’t let you breathe.”
Top servers for the Fillies were Amanda Dee (2), Szuszkiewicz (2 aces) and Emily Casaletto (2 aces).
“Curt (Pinley) always has a good team,” Ridenour said. “It’s always a tough match for us. It was good to get a win like this tonight.”