Fast-thinking Barrington takes MSL West lead

Barrington's girls volleyball team got severely tested with tough early season invites at Jacobs and Prairie Ridge.

"After facing those kind of teams, it makes the game a little slower," said Barrington second-year coach Michelle Jakubowski.

And now the Fillies are in the fast lane in the Mid-Suburban West.

Their 3-0 start after Wednesday's 25-20, 25-21 triumph over visiting Conant puts the Fillies in first place, a ½-game in front of Palatine (7-2, 2-0).

Barrington (6-10 overall) has already equaled all of its wins in the West a year ago.

"These girls really want to turn it around," Jakubowski said. "Obviously, everyone knows the great tradition of Barrington girls volleyball, but you've got to make your own path. You can't go down the path already traveled."

The Fillies' winning path this season has been based on a balanced attack, and Tuesday was no exception.

Senior Megan Talbot (6-foot-2), junior Gabby Morris (5-8) and freshman Peyton Tilly (6-2) each had 6 kills while 5-10 sophomore Andi Capel added 4.

"That's usually how we go," Jakubowski said of her team's evened-out approach. "Megan (Talbot) is stepping up and putting the ball down now ."

Talbot, who recently committed to Illinois State to play basketball, and junior Cecilia Stack came up with back-to-back blocks of overpasses that went down for kills and gave Barrington an 18-9 lead in Set 2.

But just as in Set 1, the Cougars were difficult to put away.

They closed back to within 21-18 when junior middle blocker Ayla Kljako (3 kills, 2 blocks) took her turn at blocking an overpass for a kill.

"I thought Alya played very well in the middle," said Cougars coach Drewann Pancratz. "We had those lulls where we broke down on serve receive. But we were right there in both sets. We've just got to push a little harder at the end."

Battling to the end, Conant (3-12, 1-2) got a kill from Rachel Delanois (4 kills) to get to within 24-21 before a quick set by Fillies junior Ana Zawisza allowed Talbot to put down the match winner.

"We are all just meshing real well and playing together as a team," Talbot said. "We have been trying to step up our game because we didn't play as well as we wanted last year."

Zawisza finished with 21 assists while seniors Olivia Hagan and Jessica Hauser sparked the back row with 5 digs apiece.

"Ana runs a great offense and you can see by the stats she distributes the ball to everyone," Jakubowski said. "Since our passing has come around, it has allowed us to get the ball to the right side Andi (Capel) which is really nice."

In Set 1, the Fillies gained a 5-1 lead behind the serve of Zawisza, who had an ace during the 4-point run.

The Fillies surged ahead 16-10 on a pair of service points by Claudia Locke, including an ace.

An ace by Hagan made it 21-15 but the Cougars drew to within 23-20 before Barrington put the set away on a kill and block by Morris.

"Gabby Morris is really stepping up as a six-rotation player," said Jakubowski, who has not had the services of 6-0 senior outside hitter Katie Clement (illness).

Pancratz is without sophomore setter Kristina Loznjakovic (concussion). So instead of the 5-1 offense in which they began the season, the Cougars are running a 6-2 with junior setters Kelly Czerpak and Michaela Vasalos, who had been playing libero for the junior varsity team.

"They are doing a nice job," Pancratz said. "We've had ups and downs during the season. There are challenges as we go on, and we have to face them and find a way to make things happen."