Emotion carries the day in Lake Zurich's victory
After dropping the second game to Fremd 25-14, Lake Zurich girls volleyball coach Matt Aiello sent a message to his Bears.
"Coach sat us down and told us this is your chance to show what you're going to do in conference this season," said Bears senior tri-captain Crystal Wright. "He told us to go out and play with emotion."
The Bears sure listened to their coach, a former all-state volleyball player for Buffalo Grove High School who also coaches the varsity boys volleyball team at his alma mater.
Lake Zurich (7-3) raced out to a 6-0 lead in Game 3 and then finally put away stubborn Fremd (5-4) for a 25-20, 14-25, 25-20 nonconference triumph in Palatine.
"Oh my gosh," said Wright, a 5-foot-9 outside hitter who led all attackers with 10 kills and also collected 17 digs. "This was a great team effort.
"Everyone picked each other up. We kind of sped up our game and started putting balls in the corner. And Melissa Miehlke (junior libero who had a team-high 19 digs) put out some kind of effort."
Setter Lydia Bauer, who helped lead the Bears girls basketball team to the sectional finals a year ago, also turned in a fine effort setting and attacking.
The 6-foot junior collected 17 assists, 5 kills and 4 blocks.
"Lydia is basketball star, but she isn't too bad in volleyball, either," Aiello said. "While it was a brand-new sport for her coming into high school, she is starting to understand the game and seeing the floor better. She is such a competitor.
"She has started to show flashes of great things. And the nice thing about this season, she's showing them more consistently."
Aiello also liked the job sophomore Monica Kloep produced as the setter (10 assists) for her rotations.
Game 1 was tied at 18-18 when Bauer snuck a kill over the net -- and the Bears never trailed again in the game.
Wright's ace ended it.
Fremd jumped ahead 11-3 in Game 2, thanks to 8 straight service points, including 2 aces by Kaitlyn Pascus.
The Bears never got closer than 6 points in the game.
In Game 3, Amber Miehlke (15-15, 3 aces) served the Bears to a 6-0 lead with the help of 2 aces and 2 kills from sophomore Jenn Grunden (6 kills).
Fremd refused to surrender, and the game was tied at 20 before Zurich ran off the final 5 points -- ignited by Bauer's quick set to Brittany Murawski.
Wright served the final 4 points, getting 2 kills from Amber Miehkle and 1 from Grunden.
"We're growing," said Aiello, whose Bears were 10-25 in his first season and return 10 players this fall. "We're just trying to learn how to win. Tonight, we just wanted to show that we can get over the hump against a great team, and we did. This was a big step forward."
"They're very tough," said Fremd coach Curt Pinley, who was the Palatine boys volleyball coach when Aiello starred for Buffalo Grove. "And Matt does a great job with his teams."