Conant has big reason to celebrate
While the Conant girls were celebrating a perfect first half of the conference season with plenty of hugs and photos with friends and family, the Fremd girls were huddled up near the bleachers behind the Cougars' bench, quietly contemplating their first Mid-Suburban League West loss of the year.
It only counted as one match, but after defeating No. 13 Fremd 25-21, 25-20 on Tuesday night in just 41 minutes, the Cougars (13-4, 5-0) were taking their time enjoying their new position - alone atop the division standings.
"This is only half way - we've got some other great teams in the division and we don't want to look past anybody," said Conant coach Peggy Scholten, whose 14th-ranked squad plays at Hoffman Estates on Thursday. "But it was a great win. We're going to enjoy it tonight and we'll be back at it tomorrow."
After falling to Fremd 27-25, 18-25, 19-25 on Sept. 6 at the Early Bird Classic, the Cougars trailed the Vikings (13-5, 4-1) only once all match - 5-4 in Game 2.
"We wanted revenge on them," said Conant senior Katherine Hozian, "but we didn't get ourselves too overworked because we didn't want to get nervous. We just came in really pumped up."
It showed. A solid service game by junior Mandy Larsen and 5 of the first 6 points in Game 1 by Conant had the Cougars fans rocking Perry Gymnasium as Fremd called its first timeout.
"It was definitely a big game for us, but we realized it was just one game," said Larsen, who recorded 10 kills and 8 digs. "Our coach always says that you have to play fearlessly and joyously."
Fremd wasn't enjoying that same joyous experience, as it struggled with, among other things, its serve receive.
"We've actually been serve receiving very well this season," Fremd coach Curt Pinley said. "It definitely was a hiccup tonight, though."
The Vikings trailed 15-9 following back-to-back aces from lefty Tricia Kutrumanes (3 aces, 21 assists), faced an 18-11 deficit, and were losing 24-18 in the first game after a 4-point service game by Hozian (5 kills, 11 digs), but kept battling. A kill and 2 service points from junior Tess Dinterman (10 of 11, 4 kills) inched Fremd within 24-21.
"Fremd's a very good team - we played them earlier in the season and they beat us in three games," Scholten said.
Not this time. Conant senior Georgie Kutrumanes (7 kills) finished off Game 1 with an unreturnable cross court blast.
Libero Lynette Mueller (15-of-17 serve receive) had 12 digs for Conant, including a highlight-reel, point-saving dive that helped Conant take a 24-18 lead in Game 1.
For Fremd, sophomore Alexandrea Messner recorded a team-high 7 kills, senior Kaitlyn Pascus had 6 kills and an ace, and Kayla Price added 8 assists.