Schaumburg steps up against Barrington

Schaumburg struggled somewhat in its regional semifinal victory over Rolling Meadows on Tuesday night.

The Saxons knew that effort would not cut it in the regional final against Barrington.

Sixth-seeded Schaumburg responded on Wednesday, using a focused attack to defeat third seed Barrington 25-20, 25-22 in securing the Bartlett regional title.

Schaumburg (20-16) advances to St. Charles East sectional semifinals, where it will play Fremd at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

"We played tonight with passion," said Schaumburg coach Kyle Reid, whose program wn its fifth regional title and first since 2006. "We started off well, continued to play well, and never took our foot off the gas pedal."

Senior Sanup Desai (11-for-13, 8 kills) and senior Glenn Frost (11-for-13, 6 kills) paced the Saxons' attack.

"We didn't play at all like we wanted to (Tuesday)," said Desai of the Saxons' turnaround. "Today we came in focused and ready to play - we came with energy."

Schaumburg never trailed in the two games, which featured 7 ties. Frost always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. The senior had several key moments including a game-changing kill that broke a 21-21 tie in the second game.

"Someone needed to step up, and I was willing to do it," said Frost who also had 2 aces. "We tried to come in with a lot of energy and set the tone."

"There are times people tested Glenn (Frost)," said Reid of his senior hitter. "But he has the ability to jump and reach, keeping the ball in play."

Junior setter Blake Nelson kept the Saxons' attack humming, while junior Sean Dumine and sophomore Jason Wojcik contributed to the attack in the middle.

Senior Joe Davidson (6 kills) and sophomore Tommy Leonard (5 kills) helped Barrington (18-16) to 5 ties in the tight second game, but the Broncos could not break through.

"A couple of unforced early errors cost us some early momentum," said Davidson of the Broncos' attack. "But we battled hard, we just could pass that threshold."

Austin Czarnecki and Juan Mendez aided an active Broncos defense.

"We had a lot of chances to make plays," said Barrington coach Rob Ridenour. "In the end Schaumburg made the plays. But I'm very proud of the senior leadership."