Fast finish for Fremd nets 7th straight

Fremd’s closing act for its Mid-Suburban League season was as good as it gets.

After falling in Set 2 by 8 points and starting out tied 5-5 in the final set, the Vikings finished with a 20-11 run to post a 25-17, 17-25, 25-16 victory in the MSL second-place crossover match at Buffalo Grove.

The Bison (14-16) picked up momentum with its second set victory and then appeared to be maintaining it in Set 3 before Christine Cammenga stepped to the service line.

The Fremd senior (14-of-15, 3 aces) reeled off 7 straight points for a 12-5 lead and Fremd (23-6) never looked back for its seventh straight win.

Sparking Cammenga’s big service run was senior middle Claire Brady, who had 4 kills and a block point during the rally.

Brady was steady as ever, connecting on 17-of-18 attacks for 10 kills.

“Claire came up huge,” said Vikings coach Curt Pinley. “It was one of her best matches all season. She was really dominant inside and we needed her to be. She’s been that steady all season. She will always put together a match like that.”

Brady also put down the match-winner when she hustled to an errant pass and swiped it over the net.

“We had a lot of energy to start, then we got in a slump and sort of stayed in it until the end,” Brady said. “We got the energy at the end and everyone just wanted to keep the ball in play. We weren’t trying to kill it as hard as we could. Instead we just tried to get it in.”

Brady, as usual, was taking her cues from senior Marilyn Lortz (30 assists), who had a nifty second-attack kill for a 21-11 lead in Set 1.

“This was good preparation for our invite at Lake Park (this weekend),” the talented setter said. “We just had to compose ourselves and focus for the final Fast Fremd finsih set. We were cheering each other on and when we play like that, we normally do well.”

Pinley’s attack was led by sophomore Lane Hindenburg’s 14 kills while sophomore Maise Koo added 4. Libero Nina Scott had 7 digs and 10 serve receives.

BG was led on attack by Alaina Murphy (9 kills) and Sarah Rivera (5). Alyssa Mills and Mary Zawlocki each added 4 while sophomore setter Marie Georgoulis collected 25 assists.

“We played pretty well in Set 2,” said BG coach Matt Priban. “We didn’t take advantage of some of the opportunities we had in Sets 1 and 3. We didn’t put down some balls we normally do. We’ve just got to work on that and move on.”

The two teams will meet in 7 p.m. semifinal of the Hersey regional next Tuesday.

“We just didn’t have a lot of energy in Set 2,” Pinley added. “BG took that away. Hats off to them. It says something about our girls to be able to get the energy back for Set 3 and finish.”