At long last, Saxons capture title at Hersey

Back in 2004, a freshman setter helped lead the Schaumburg girls volleyball team to a second-place finish at the Hersey Invite.

After another second in 2005 and a third last fall, it's not hard to imagine what the now-senior setter was hoping for Saturday in her final season as a Saxon.

Well, there's no more imagining for Drewann Pancratz.

The Saxons won their first Hersey Invite championship in Pancratz' four years with a 25-20, 25-16 victory over Lake Zurich.

"We've been talking about this (winning the title) since my freshman year," said Pancratz, an all-area basketball and volleyball player. "I always wanted my team to win this."

Pancratz sure helped her team win it, handing out 76 assists along with nailing down 21 kills.

Her top targets were Gabrielle Blackwell (32 kills), Monica Sanchez (18), Alexandria Jackson (16), Heather Bolger (16) and Gryte Satas (7).

Sanchez led an effective serving effort by the Saxons with 6 aces, while Sarah McGinn, Bolger, Blackwell and Pancratz each had 3.

The Saxons (12-3) pulled out a 25-20, 10-25, 25-17 victory over Hersey (11-5) in the semifinals.

Schaumburg's title-match win avenged a three-game loss to lake Zurich in the Saxons' first match of the day.

"We knew what was going to happen the second time we played them," said Blackwell, who along with Jackson had 8 blocks while Satas led with 11. "We were able to better pick up the tips from their setter (Lydia Bauer), and our defense was lot better picking up all their tips and at blocking. We were a lot more aggressive."

"In the morning, the girls knew what they had to do but didn't put it into action," said Saxons coach Jeanette Pancratz, the mother of Drewann. "In the championship match, the girls stayed focus and did what they had to do. We had a lot of coverage around the blocks and we served better."

There was a bit of Mid-Suburban League girls volleyball history when Schaumburg defeated Hersey in the semifinals.

In a rarity, both teams had daughters of their coaches playing. And both coaches have won more than 600 matches in their careers.

Huskies coach Nancy Lill watched her daughter Katie, a sophomore, collect 28 kills and 30 digs in five matches Saturday.

Other top attackers for the Huskies were Lauren Dembkowski (51 kills), McKenzie Forbes (17), Shelly Mueller (13 kills), Grace Nowack (12) and Ann Carroll (10), who also led the Huskies with 17 blocks.

"We learned a lot," Carroll said. "We have to stay together as a team. It's disappointing not to win it all, but we took a lot out of this.

"We got off to a slow start in the third game (against Schaumburg). It was hard to recover, but Schaumburg is a great team."

Hersey defeated Mundelein for third place.

Huskies setter Shelly Mueller handed out 113 assists from 263 sets and also served 56-of-57 for 6 aces.

"She did a great job connecting with her hitters," added Carroll, who also had 6 aces while Dembkowski had 7. "She was all over the court against Mundelein."

Nancy Lill called it a "frustrating loss" to the Saxons.

"But they're a great team," said Lill, whose team had won the tourney invite the last three years. "And we weren't connecting on all cylinders.

"Sometimes we play awesome and then sometimes we're up and down. We need to find consistency."

Stevenson Invite: Conant (7-8) went 2-3 as Michelle Kopecky (34 kills), Katherine Hozian (31) and Mandy Larsen (28) led the Cougars' attack set by Tricia Kutramanes (114 assists).

Kutramanes and Larsen were selected to the all-tourney team.

Wheeling went 2-3 in the incite. The Wildcats (6-9) were led on attack by Lidia Villalobos (23 kills), Bianca Szafarowicz (19), Lindsey Mills (13), Annemarie Spieza (11) and Carly Speidel (10).

Janelle Schroeder set the offense with 66 kills.

St. Viator Invite: Elk Grove (10-6) went 4-1 and took third place as Anie Fitzpatrick (21 kills), Michelle Johnson (14) and Katie Spychala (13) paced the attack set by Kelsey Prochenski (35 assists) and Jessica Condon( 24).

Maine East Invite: Prospect (4-6) went 1-4 in the tourney, getting its win over Elgin Larkin.

The Mid-Suburban East leaders were paced on attack by Rachel Hunt (20 kills), Tracy Hefferan (18), Megan Murray (17), Lindsey Valentino (13) and Hillary Trebels (7), who played in two of the five matches.

Senior Jackie Canonaco quarterbacked the offense with 82 assists from 230 sets.

Glenbard West Invite:ŒMost of the time coaches would prefer not to sweat out nail-biting games. But for Benet Academy girls volleyball coach Brad Baker, it was a pleasure to see his unbeaten team pushed a little bit.

The 13-0 Redwings completed a 5-0 title run at the Glenbard West Hilltopper Invite by knocking off Fremd 25-20, 27-25 in the championship match Saturday afternoon in Glen Ellyn. Benet did not drop a game in the tourney, but did face a game-point at 25-24 in the finale before winning the final 3 points to hold off Fremd (9-7).

"I thought our best volleyball of the day was the last 5 points," said Baker, whose team reached the finals with a 25-21, 25-20 victory over Geneva just prior to the title match. "We hadn't seen many pressure situations. It was good to see how they reacted."

The Vikings knocked off Glenbard East in the semis but could not contain Benet's 1-2 punch of Natalie Patzin and Ariana Mankus in the finals. Patzin had 11 kills and 5 digs in the title match, while Mankus had 9 kills, 9 digs and 4 aces.

"It seems like every day a different player steps up," Baker said. "It's nice to have so many options."

Patzin had the hot hand early on with 6 kills as Benet built a 14-11 lead in Game 1. Fremd hung tough, however, and trailed just 22-20 following a kill by Kaitlyn Pascus (4 kills, 6 blocks). The Redwings closed out the opener with a kill from Patzin and a pair of Vikings errors.

"We remain calm under pressure," said Patzin, who rifled off 5 aces in the semifinal win over Geneva. "We're working real hard so I think we deserve it."

Fremd led 13-8 in Game 2 and later erased a 21-18 deficit to take leads of 23-22 and 25-24 before coming up just short. Strong defense from Patricia Fehr (6 digs) and Danielle Warner (5 digs) kept Fremd in the match until the very end.

"Benet's an outstanding team and obviously their record reflects that," said Fremd coach Curt Pinley. "But I thought we played a fantastic game. We stayed with them the entire time and we even had some leads late."

-- Stan Goff