Palatine tightens up MSL West race with win over Fremd
Palatine's girls volleyball team has heard it from its coach Dan Gavin all season.
"Like he says, when we play our best, we can pretty much beat anyone," said senior Rachel Houp. "And we were right on the spot tonight."
The Pirates were indeed, clicking on all cylinders as they became the only team in the Mid-Suburban West to defeat first-place Fremd twice.
After a three-game victory on the Vikings' floor three weeks ago, the host Pirates answered the call in two games on Tuesday night, winning 25-18, 25-21 to send the divisional race into an interesting finale next Tuesday.
Fremd (6-3) remains in first place by one match ahead of Barrington (5-4) and Palatine (5-4). Barrington (10-12) visits Palatine (9-13) on Tuesday.
The Vikings (15-7) can win a spot in the MSL title match with a victory at Hoffman Estates on Tuesday.
But wins by Hoffman and Palatine would mean a first-place tie and the Pirates would represent the West against East champ Hersey in the Oct. 22 championship match due to the tiebreaker.
"It's been like this all season," Gavin said. "Anyone can beat anyone. It's a very balanced division."
Junior Kaley Sierawski (Jacksonville State recruit) helped beat the Vikings with her match-high 13 kills while senior Hannah Guth (Seton Hall recruit) put down 4 kills.
Houp and senior Kelly Starrenburg each had 2 kills while senior Jenny Solberg (15 assists) and sophomore Laura Kluk (7 assists) set the offense.
"Jenny and Laura do a good job," Guth added. "We are gaining momentum toward the state tournament. Last week in practice we worked on being mentally tough and that really shined through in this match. We kept our focus and it resulted in a 'W'."
Solberg served 9 straight points in Game 1 and her ace gave the hosts an 11-2 lead. Fremd got back to within 17-13 on a kill by Colleen Andersen but the Vikes never got closer.
After an ace by Tess Dinterman brought Fremd to within 23-18, the Pirates closed out Game 1 with a Sierawski kill and a block by Houp.
"Palatine just had all the intensity and we didn't," said Fremd coach Curt Pinley, whose team was led on attack by Alex Messner (5 kills), Andersen (4) and Dinterman (4 kills). "Their fans were up for the game and we didn't answer with the same intensity. We'll just have to play better."
Palatine played with the same fire in Game 2 and jumped ahead 10-5. Fremd never got closer than 3 the rest of the way. Sierawski put down kills for the Pirates' final 2 points.
"Kaley had a nice match," Gavin added. "She made a nice adjustment after getting her first attack of the match blocked. Jenny and Laura did a nice job distributing the ball and our hitters were making some good swings."
Pirates senior libero Sydney Wiedemann came up with 11 digs while Solberg and Sierawski each had 6. Allison Richter also had a block for the winners.