Fremd edges Barrington in MSL title derby
Fremd will be playing in the Mid-Suburban League boys volleyball championship game for the second straight year.
The Vikings, needing a victory Tuesday night to share the MSL West title and move on to play for the crown, left no doubt in a 25-16, 25-12 victory at Hoffman Estates.
Both Fremd and Barrington finished 9-1 in conference play and split their head-to-head meetings but the Vikings advanced on a tiebreaker and will rematch East winner Buffalo Grove next Wednesday.
BG won the 2008 championship in 2 games over the Vikes.
"We came in wanting to win it in two,", said Fremd senior outside hitter Michael Williams. "The key was staying focused."
"We weren't exactly sure about all the tiebreaker scenarios," added Fremd coach Curt Pinley, "so we just wanted to come in and do it."
Junior Jeff Chappell led the Vikings in hitting with 7 kills while Cal Nolan and Brian Allen each had 6.
Senior Michael Smearman set 39-of-39 with 20 assists while classmate Ian Sykes was 7-of-9 with 2 aces from the service line for the Vikes, who completed the MSL West season in first place for 3 years in a row.
Fremd (23-5, 9-1) tied with Barrington in 2007 as well but the Broncos held the tiebreaker then.
"From 1 to 12, this is probably the nicest, hardest working bunch of kids I've ever coached," said Pinley. "I'm proud of these guys."
• Barrington came away with a decisive yet bittersweet 25-12, 25-20 win over Conant in the final game of the MSL regular season.
The Broncos finished the conference season 9-1 (21-11 overall) and split two thrilling 3-game matches with Fremd this year but won't be playing in the MSL championship game.
"We're a strong team - I expected that we'd have a very good season," said Barrington junior Joe Davidson (6 kills). "I think we've got a good shot (in the state playoffs). We've got to stay energetic and stay loud."
Broncos coach Rob Ridenour gave a lot of the credit for the stellar season to his seniors.
"I'm very proud of them," said Ridenour. "They came in with a vision of what they wanted their senior season to be like, and they've been tremendous all year."
Senior outside hitter Peter Lauterbach led the host Cougars (18-10, 5-5) with 5 kills and 8 digs.
"They (Barrington) made some incredible jump-serves tonight, probably some that you'd never see again," said first-year Conant coach Steven Peter. "They had us on our heels.
"Still, I'm proud of our guys and especially our seniors. They've played incredible all season."
Senior Randy Lorenz swatted 11 kills for Barrington, while classmate Christian La Bar contributed with 23 assists.
Senior libero Nick Leiding pitched in with 2 aces.
"School of course is our number one priority," said Leiding, "but you develop a chemistry with your teammates when you spend so much time together, both in and after school. You're usually spending more time with them than you are with your best friends.
"We've got a great group of guys. Me and Max (Deevy), Christian and Randy have been playing together for 4 years. With the chemistry we have, when we play like we did tonight we can be unstoppable."