Girls volleyball: Barrington finishes off Fremd

After playing a competitive match in a two-set loss to defending Mid-Suburban West champion Palatine on Tuesday night, Barrington's girls volleyball team was hardly short on confidence one night later.

"We saw what we needed to work on from that match," said Fillies 5-foot-5 senior defensive specialist Erin Crowther. "And we brought it tonight."

And it was Crowther who brought the hosts back on Wednesday from 18-16 deficits in each set with her service arm to help spark a 26-24, 26-24 victory in the Mid-Suburban West.

Barrington senior Gabby Morris put down the last 2 kills of the first set and the final one of the match to finish with 13 kills. Sophomore teammate Peyton Tilly added 7.

The Fillies improved to 4-8 and 2-1. Fremd dropped to 6-5 and 2-1.

Barrington senior setter Chloe Layton handed out 14 assists while Crowther served a pair of aces.

Crowther's first ace tied the first set at 18-18 after the Fillies had been down by as many as 5 points.

The set was then tied six straight times before the final two kills by Morris.

"I always want to help my team out as much as possible," Crowther said. "We work on serving a lot so I went back there feeling confident of serving the ball in."

In Set 2, Crowther once again took over the serve with the Fillies down 18-6 and this time she recorded 4 straight points (1 ace) propelling the hosts into a 20-18 lead.

Jessica Mazur's kill ended Crowthers's clutch serve run and the set was then tied from points 20 to 24 before Cecelia Stack and Tilly teamed up for a block which made it 25-24. Morris then put down her second set winner to end the match.

"We knew both games would be tough," Crowther said. "But we thought we could do it after how we played the night before."

Crowther also does it with her defense and passing.

"She is just so confident," said Barrington coach Michelle Jakubowski. "We've moved people into more individual roles and Erin is playing more right side defense. She is running down tips which we weren't getting to before. And she is so confident in her serve receive."

Jakubowski also was proud of her team's attacker.

"Gabby, Peyton and Andi (Capel, a junior who had a big dig and kill late in Set 1) are really doing the job," she said. "The pin girls kept the ball in play and did a nice job hitting.

"Fremd is a great team. We were so close with Palatine. There were a couple of points we didn't get. But when we were close with Fremd, we got them. I was just really proud of the girls with their fight and finish."

Sara Ganas finished with 7 kills to lead Fremd followed by Bailey Hooker (5) and Kailyn Byrk (4), who also had 3 blocks.

Natalie Freund handed out 22 assists while Karolina Sas had 6 digs and Freund 5.

"Barrington did a really nice job staying aggressive the whole match," said Fremd coach Curt Pinley, who has 388 career wins with girls program (he is also the boys varsity coach). "And there were a couple of times in the late teens of each set where we became a little less aggressive. Both sets were really close so we're right there."

The Vikings were competing in their third match in three days and will play five more this weekend at the Glenbard West Invite.

"We're grinding a little now," Pinley said. "We had a tough match with Lake Zurich (two-set loss) on Monday and a three-set match (win) with Schaumburg (Tuesday). We're competing now so that's all I can ask from these girls in the early part of the season."