Fremd tunes up with senior night victory

Alex Tangney hit her notes perfectly.

Then she was right on key with her shots.

Fremd's 6-foot-1 middle hitter made the most of her senior night, singing the national anthem like she always does prior to home matches and then putting down 3 kills on 5-of-6 attacking as the Vikings girls volleyball team posted a 25-8, 25-11 victory over visiting Hoffman Estates.

Tangney was honored before the game along with fellow seniors Holly Straup, Becca Stapleton and Mackenzie Bednarek.

"Alex had a great senior night," said Fremd coach Curt Pinley, whose team (15-8, 5-4) won for the fifth time in its last six Mid-Suburban West matches. I'm proud of her."

Also being a member of Fremd's choir, Showchoir and My Acapella group, Tangney has been mixing volleyball and singing for a long time.

Last year, she tried out for NBC's The Voice, and one day she wants to go to Nashville because of her passion for country music.

"I'm planning on trying out again for the The Voice when it comes here in February," said Tangney, whose back-to-back kills in Set 1 gave the Vikes an 18-6 lead.

"She has a fantastic voice," Pinley said. "That's great (trying out The Voice) for her. I am very excited for her."

Tangney plans to study vocal performance at Harper Community College .

"This was really exciting," Tangney added about senior night. "I was happy to get to play so much. I'm really hard on myself so I felt really good playing the way I did."

The Vikings have been playing some of their best volleyball, winning eight of their last 11 matches.

Junior Isabel Lee led the attack on Tuesday with 9 kills followed by Stapleton (10) and Jenny Miller (4).

Lee (3) and Bednarek (2) led in blocks while Straup collected 5 digs and was 4-of-5 serve receiving.

Junior setter Natalie Freund directed the attack with 23 assists. Sara Ganas, Stapleton and Karolina Sas each served 2 aces.

Hoffman (1-26, 0-9) was led by senior Lauren Schrader (3 assists), senior Krista Lynch (5-of-5 attacking 1 kill), Monraia Wilson (2-for-3, 1 kill), Francesca Van (10 digs) and sophomore Sandra Chmielewski, who was 6-of-7 attacking and 3-of-4 serving with 2 aces.

"She (Chmielewski) stepped up," said Hawks coach Dan Hutton. She played all-around and was serving well. My libero (Van) always play solid.

"Fremd is a tough team and always plays well at home. Curt does a great job with his girls. They play hard."