Preview: Girls volleyball playoffs
Girls volleyball
Class 4A Barrington sectional
Teams: No. 2 seed Hersey (29-7), No. 3 Conant (29-7), No. 4 Fremd (31-6), No. 9 St. Viator (19-18)
Today's semifinals: Match 1: St. Viator vs. Fremd, 6 p.m.; Match 2: Hersey vs. Conant, 7 p.m.
Thursday's championship: Match 1 winner vs. Match 2 winner, 7 p.m.
All-conference players to watch: Conant: Tricia Kutrumanes (5-foot-9 Sr. S), Mandy Larsen (5-10 Jr. OH), Katherine Hozian (6-0 Sr. OH), Lynette Mueller (5-3 Sr. L); Hersey: Shelly Mueller (5-10 Sr. S), Katie Lill (5-10 Jr. OH), Ann Carroll (6-0 Sr. MB), McKenzie Forbes (6-0 Sr. OH), Becca Haraf (5-5 Jr. L); Fremd: Stephanie Alesia (Sr. OH), Kaitlin Pascus (Sr. MH), Natalie Bruck (Sr. S); St. Viator: Emily Leazer (5-10 Sr. So)
Coaches corner: Conant Hall of Famer Peggy Scholten has won 578 matches in 32 seasons with the girls and also 218 as the Cougars boys coach before retiring last spring. Hersey's Nancy Lill has won 580 matches in three years at Wheeling and 21 at Hersey. Fremd's Curt Pinley has won 509 matches combined as a boys and girls volleyball coach in the Mid-Suburban League. Viator coach Charlie Curtin is in his third season coaching the Lions.
How the teams got here: Thanks to St. Viator's three-game upset of top-seeded Lake Zurich, this sectional features four area teams. Curtin's Lions, who entered the match at 18-18, stunned the 33-4 Bears 21-25, 25-17, 26-24. Setter Carlyn Clevenger was 14-of-14 serving with 4 aces while handing out 15 assists. Emily Leazer (9 kills), Christina Brinkman (7) and Stephanie Rountree (6) led the attack as Viator won its second regional title in school history, the first coming in 2005
Hersey advanced with a 25-16, 25-16 triumph over Barrington as Jamie Welter (5 kills), Katie Lill (4) and McKenzie Forbes (4) and Ann Carroll (4) led the attack. It was Hersey's 18th regional title, 17th under Lill. She has also won all eight of the school's sectional crowns.
Conant won its ninth regional under Scholten with a 25-20, 25-16 victory over Warren in the Blue Devils regional. Katherine Hozian (7 kills), Mandy Larsen (6), Kelsey Paulson (5) and Georgie Kutrumanes (5) led the Cougars attack while Tricia Kutrumanes handed out 17 assists. The Cougars won a sectional crown in 2002.
Fremd advanced to its third regional crown under Pinley with a 25-21, 25-17 triumph ta the Buffalo Grove regional. Stephanie Alesi (5 kills), Alex Messner (4) and Natalie Bruck (4) led the Vikings attack.
Fremd has won five regional titles in school history and one sectional in 1987.
- John Leusch