Timely victory for Barrington against Buffalo Grove
The Barrington girls volleyball team picked the right time to start playing its best.
That was evident on Monday evening when the Fillies gutted out a 25-12, 16-25, 25-16 victory over Mid-Suburban League rival Buffalo Grove in the Grayslake North regional quarterfinals held in Grayslake.
Barrington, the 13th seed, moves on to play fourth-seeded Wauconda in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Grayslake North High School.
"We just don't want the season to end," said senior middle hitter Megan Talbot. "We had a good week of practice and we're just trying to maintain a high level of energy."
Energy was definitely the operative word in the third and deciding set.
In a game that was tight throughout, Talbot nailed 3 kills during a stretch that helped Barrington (14-22) push ahead for good at 16-14. From there, the Fillies went on a 9-2 spree to close out the game. During the run, senior libero Olivia Hagan accounted for 5 service points. She finished with 8 serving points to accompany 10 digs on the night.
Meanwhile, Talbot tallied 7 kills, and sophomore outside hitter Andi Capel had 6 kills and 7 service points.
Junior outside hitter Gabby Morris led Barrington with 11 kills and junior Ana Zawisza was busy dishing out 25 assists.
"We came out hard in the first set because it's never easy beating a team twice in a week," said Barrington coach Michelle Jakubowski, whose team has now rolled off five wins in its last six matches, including a victory over the Bison last week. "Our mission is to continue to compete. Tonight some things weren't too pretty, but we also did some pretty good things."
As for Buffalo Grove, coach Matt Priban was extremely proud of his girls despite the season coming to an end.
In the second game that evened up the match, right-side hitter Sasha Rozhko's service ace tied the game at 7-7. Rozhko's second ace in as many points then put Buffalo Grove ahead for good at 8-7.
"We're a little inexperienced and we gave it our all in the second game when we evened the match up," added Priban, whose team finished 6-20. "But we couldn't maintain our energy as well as our confidence after that. Our momentum didn't carry over."
For the match, Rozhko finished with 3 service aces and 3 kills. Libero Kiarra Akiyoshi had 12 digs while defensive specialist Riley Cross added 10. Outside hitter Nicole Langer added five kills and middle hitter Kanella Kalyviaris had 3.
Setter Hannah Schuler dished out some nice passes to the tune of 15 assists.
"I don't play year-round and we couldn't do it with out each other's support," said Talbot. "We've had an up and down season, but I think we're hitting our stride at the right time."