Girls volleyball: Fremd bounces back to beat Lake Zurich
Breslin Reid's playing status was questionable after suffering an ankle injury in last week's match with Hoffman Estates.
But the Fremd senior was ready to go on Monday against Lake Zurich and now hopes her younger sister Rylen is ready on Tuesday when the Vikings host Mid-Suburban West rival Palatine.
Breslin Reid put down 10 kills with 5 digs and 4 aces to help lead the Vikings to their eighth straight win on Monday night.
Fremd rallied for a 19-25, 25-18, 25-25-16 triumph in the nonconference match.
"Breslin stepped up huge," said Fremd coach Curt Pinley, who has the Vikes off to an 8-2 start.: She went down with an ankle injury against Hoffman but she came out tonight and we really needed her. I thought she did a fantastic job. Without her, we really would have struggled to win this match."
The Vikes have been without outside hitter Rylen Reid for two weeks due to shin problems.
"Rylen has been working though some pain and making adjustments," Pinley said of the talented sophomore. "We've kind of shut her down for a few weeks so we'll see what (Tuesday) brings."
Breslin Reid brought Fremd fans to their feet when she clubbed big kills for the 24 and 25th points in Set 2.
She then served the Vikes to a 5-1 lead in Set 3, with 4 straight points and a pair of aces.
An ace by Heidi Mason got the Bears to within 8-6 before Fremd began building the lead.
Three more service points by Breslin Reid made it 19-10, with sophomore Claudia Wala putting down one of her 5 kills. Cassie Seaver added 3 kills for Fremd and Allie Belmonte had a pair. Senior Lydia Vander Ark and sophomore Rian Baker directed the attack with 8 assists apiece.
"I thought Rian Baker also stepped up in a key moment and did a really nice job in that third set," Pinley said. "That proved to be a little bit of a difference maker, too. That was a lot of play for her. She hasn't played for while working through some knee issues."
Lake Zurich was led on attack by Chelsea Williams (9 kills, 8 digs) and Katie Keenan (6 kills). Setter Leah Salit handed out 20 assists with 2 kills and 3 aces. Jarynn Hartmann also had 2 kills while Sophia Arias collected 7 digs.
"I don't think our record (6-14) shows what we're going to be capable of,' said Bears coach Rachel Wiatrowski. "We kind of have a six-week plan going which includes really bringing along our underclassmen at a fast pace and giving them a lot of touches.
"We want to put them in scenarios where they have to struggle and fight through things so they just want to go get after it."
The Bears displayed vast progress from the first time they faced Fremd at the Peggy Scholten Classic two weeks ago. Fremd won that time 25-12, 25-4.
"That first set tonight was some of the best volleyball we've played," Wiatrowski said. "We're very, very young. We have two freshmen, three sophomores and Leah is our senior. And Kaylie (Freeland) plays three rotations as a senior so we're really just working on confidence and the ability to not hold on to mistakes and play through to the next point."
Pinley was impressed by the visitors.
"Lake Zurich did a fantastic job," he said. "They were a completely different team than we saw the first time. They came out with a lot of intensity and did a nice job handling us in Set 1."
They made us work really ha rd in the last two sets. I tip my cap to them. They actually had more intensity than us. We had to try and match their energy level."