Fremd sees the light, powers past Barrington
It just added to the drama of possibly the most entertaining boys volleyball match of the Mid-Suburban League season.
With separate 13-minute power outages in the first two games plunging the Barrington main gym into semi-darkness and slowing the momentum of both teams, it was visiting Fremd which played lights-out in Game 3.
The Vikings made a big-time rally late to outlast the Broncos and claim a thrilling 25-23, 18-25, 25-21 MSL West victory.
Barrington junior outside hitter Matt Logue (match high 12 kills, 9 digs) and sophomore libero Austin Czarnecki (24 digs) were outstanding in defeat, while Fremd senior outside hitter Eric Ciura got 2 of his 3 block-kills down the stretch to seal the win.
The lights went out for the first time midway through the first game, then for the second time during game point in the second.
"We just tried to keep our minds on volleyball," said Ciura of the delays, which featured table scorekeeper/fledgling DJ (and girls basketball head coach) Babbi Barreiro helping pump up the crowd with a disco-infused playlist that included the classic "Car Wash" as well as Lady Gaga's "Poker Face."
"This actually happened to us before, in the girls season," said Fremd coach Curt Pinley. "And when I walked in tonight, Chris (Bronke, Barrington assistant coach) told me that they'd already had the power go out a couple times today."
Barrington had all the power in the beginning of the deciding game. With Logue, Czarnecki and setter Rob Wiedner playing out of their minds on defense and Joe Davidson (9 kills) putting the ball down, the Broncos ran out to a 11-5 advantage.
"We've been up and down all season, but this match tonight was one of our highest 'ups,' " said Bronke, who coached team in the absence of Rob Ridenour, who missed the match due to an emergency appendectomy. "I'm really proud of the way the guys played tonight. After losing the first game they came out and completely controlled Game 2. This effort could put us on a great path toward the rest of the season."
But Fremd (15-8, 6-1) was able to put forth a sterling effort as well, coming back late to take a 1 point lead on a tremendous block from Ciura.
Ciura had another bock to give Fremd a 23-19 lead. An ace from Barrington's Chris Ganzer brought the Broncos (10-7, 4-3) within 2 but the Vikings were able to persevere at the end.
Senior middle Brian Allen led Fremd with 9 kills while senior setter Steve Maring was 66-of-68 with 18 assists.
"We really wanted to win this match," said Fremd defensive specialist Ben Greifer. "We've got a competitive streak in us that helps us excel at the end of games."
"We've been working in practice on drills that have consequences," said Pinley. "We've worked hard on learning to play through tough times in games."
Allen added to the Vikings' superior blocking on 5-of-7 with 2 block-kills, while Jeff Chappell added a couple of blocks from the outside hitter position.
"We didn't have anyone with more than 1 block," said Bronke. "That was the tale of the tape."
BG d. Hersey: MSL East leader Buffalo Grove stayed perfect in division play with a 25-18, 25-13 victory over visiting Hersey.
Chris Shanahan had 12 kills and Mike Jambrone and Nick Baronti both had 10 to complement a 52-for-52, 13-assist setting effort by Lukas Karch for the Bison (20-5, 7-0).
Hersey got 8 kills from Brandon Klein and 13 assists from Matt Cayton.
Prospect d. Wheeling: The host Knight stayed 1 game behind Buffalo Grove in the MSL East race after outlasting Wheeling 25-21, 21-25, 25-23.
Prospect (16-6, 6-1) got 6 aces from Casey Gallagher, 10 kills from Jake Suckow and 9 from P.J. Benson and 26 assists from setter Kevin Wolter.
The main contributors for Wheeling were Mitch Lewis (9 kills, 15 digs), Zah Kreul (3 blocks), Bikram Chohan (11 digs) and Alex Tapas (26 assists).
Schaumburg d. Hoffman Estates: Franco Fumagalli and Kyle Caldwell led the way for the host Hawks with 6 kills apiece, and Kaushik Andrea had 14 setting assists, but Schaumburg earned an MSL West win 25-22, 25-16.
Palatine d. Conant: Nat Pearson delivered 12 kills, 8 digs and 10-of-11 serving with 2 aces to help host Palatine drop Conant 25-20, 25-18 in MSL West play.
Adam Hebein contributed 11 digs and Justin Ginter had 23 assists for Palatine.
Conant (7-13, 2-5) was led by Zach Lindeman (7 kills), Vince Petrella (7 digs) and Sean Engelbreit (23 assists).