'Unbelievable' Dinterman sparks Fremd to third straight regional title

When it came to crunch time, Fremd's Tess Dinterman was big time.

After her girls volleyball team lost Game 2 of the Palatine Class 4A regional final by 13 points, Dinterman came up with the best effort of her high school career and helped lead the No. 6-seeded Vikings to a 25-15, 12-25, 25-12 victory over No. 14 Carmel.

Dinterman put down Fremd's first 5 kills of the decisive game and also served for 3 points as the Vikes built a 14-4 lead and never looked back to become the school's first girls volleyball team to win three consecutive regional crowns.

"Tess Dinterman may have played the best single game that I've ever seen from a Fremd volleyball player," said Vikings veteran coach Curt Pinley. "She was unbelievable. They had no answer for her."

Now the Vikings (25-11) hope to have an answer for No. 2-seeded Lake Zurich when the two teams meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Stevenson sectional semifinal.

Dinterman finished 19-of-19 attacking with 9 kills. The three-sport standout was also 12-of-12 serving with 2 aces and she had 2 blocks.

Her fifth kill of Game 3 - on a quick set from junior Kayla Price (31 assists) made it 7-2.

"All of Kayla's set were perfect," Dinterman said of her big run. "Every single one. I couldn't have done it without those."

"Tess was on a roll," added junior teammate Alex Messner, who finished with 6 kills, 11 digs and 3 blocks.

Senior Colleen Andersen, who has played on all three regional championship teams, added 5 kills along with classmate Elizabeth Dotson.

"That's what we wanted - three (regionals) in a row," Andersen said. "It was a little disappointing to lose Game 2 like we did, but we had a lot of energy for Game 3."

Sophomore Megan Mowery served 3 aces in Game 2 for Carmel and ended up with 5 kills and 13 assists. Junior Hana Turner put down 7 kills for the Corsairs, while senior Sarah Stanton had 3.

Sophomore Taylor Roby contributed 3 blocks and 2 aces for Carmel, and junior Karrah Toby had a pair of aces.

"We lost Game 3 the same way we won Game 2," Stanton said. "It was disappointing, but we fought hard all the way to the end. It was an awesome season."

"The difference was that we couldn't adjust to their tips and attacks," said Corsairs coach Bill Szczesniak, whose team (16-19) upset No. 3 Libertyville (26-10) on Thursday. "They were very smart in finding the holes in our defense. They played a very smart volleyball match. They kept the pressure on us. They are a good solid team."

In Game 1, Fremd broke a 6-6 tie with 7 straight service points by Price. During the rally, Messner had 2 block kills, and Dotson had a kill.

Senior libero Lena Brottman, who led the defense with 14 digs, later served 6 straight points, including back-to-back aces, for a 20-10 lead.

"We talked before the match about doing something that had never been done at Fremd," Pinley said.

About an hour later, the Vikings did exactly that - winning a third straight regional and seventh in school history.