Akinola, Schaumburg take command at Fremd

The second set of Tuesday's Mid-Suburban West girls volleyball showdown was going along as expected.

Visiting Schaumburg and Fremd were dueling in a tight battle with the lead going back and forth.

Never was a team ahead by more than 2 points when they reached a 14-14 tie.

But everything changed then on a side out kill by Schaumburg senior slugger Oyinkan Akinola, who had an eye-popping 16 for the match.

Senior Hannah Moore proceeded to the service line and didn't leave until she'd reeled off 8 more points for the Saxons, who never looked back in a 25-21, 25-19 victory.

"Hannah played aggressively, and with composure," said Saxons coach Jeanette Pancratz, whose team improved to 7-4 and took over sole possession of first place with a 4-0 record. "I was real pleased with the focus we had and how everyone on the floor took ownership of her role."

Moore was stellar playing her role as libero and server, producing the clutch run at the line which swayed the match in the Saxons' favor.

Her 8 service points included 2 aces. a block and kill by Akinola, a kill by Abbie Rahn and a nifty surprise attack by setter Megan Hayes (8 assists, 9 digs) that made it 23-14 before the run was finally halted by senior Lane Hindenburg's kill.

"I was just looking for holes on the court and for weak passers," said Moore, who had 9 digs and was 18-of-18 serving. "I knew I couldn't go at their libero because she's good and gets everything up."

It seemed liked Akinola was putting everything down.

She had 8 kills in each set, including the match winner into a double block.

"She (Akinola) just had a fantastic match," said Fremd coach Curt Pinley, whose team is 9-3 and 3-1. "They went to her front row and back. She stayed aggressive the whole match."

Rahn added 6 kills while Katherine Coombs had 2. Senior Jada Blackwell contributed 10 assists and was 8-of-8 serving with an ace.

"It was one of our best matches in terms of making adjustments," Pancratz added. "Kudos to Fremd. They stayed persistent the whole match."

Hindenburg led the Vikes with 10 kills while sophomore Ysabel Lee had 4 and senior Hope Schroeder 3. Carly Roberts set the offense with 18 assists while Aubrey Stegich had 19 digs and Sarah Roberts 17.

"We know any team that comes on our home court is going to give us its best match," Pinley said. "And I thought Schaumburg did. We had to answer, and we didn't."

Fremd owned a 17-12 lead in Set 1 when Olivia Bergles blocked an overpass.

Pancratz called for a timeout and got the Saxons right back on track as they came back with an Akinola run of 4 straight points (3 kills, 1 block).

Blackwell's ace tied the set at 18-18 and the senior proceeded to serve the Saxons to a 21-18 lead with a hitting error by Fremd, a block by junior Lexi Ross and an Akinola kill.

Ross, who stands 5-foot-6, led Schaumburg with 4 blocks. "She played huge," Pancratz said.

Akinola, Coombs and Mallory Gerber each added 2 blocks for Schaumburg.

"It's still the first round," Pancratz said. "There are a lot of matches to play."

Fremd comes back to play today at Barrington (6 p.m.).

"We've got a little work to do," Pinley said. "We've got to put this behind us because we come right back and play (today)."

The Saxons will play their next match (Thursday against Hoffman Estates) as the first-place team in the West.

"We all feel so good," Moore said. "We are all so proud of each other. But we've got to keep working hard and playing as a team.

"We played as a unit (against Fremd). We picked each other up and stayed positive all the way through. We knew where to hit the ball. We had the right placement."

And they are now placed on top of the standings.