Girls volleyball: Scouting the Mid-Suburban League championship
47th MSL girls volleyball championship
Hersey (24-5, 10-0) at Fremd (26-3, 10-0)When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Floor director for Hersey: Hersey's Nancy Lill comes into her record 21st title game (16 of the last 17) with 1,002 wins after hitting the milestone 1,000 last Friday night with a win over Evanston. Lill, who has led Hersey since 1988, has won the MSL title match 11 times and Hersey has won 12 times, the first in 1975. Lill's career record stands 1002-309-5 and she has won or tied for the MSL title 22 times. Lill is assisted by Jodi Blazek, Amy Ohrt, Ben Chin, Mary Williams and Daiva Fuerst.
Floor director for Fremd: Fremd 's Curt Pinley, now in his 21st season leading the Vikings' program, will be coaching in his fifth title match, including three of the last four. Pinley has 493 wins as the girls coach, and he has won more than 500 as the boys coach at Fremd. All three of Pinley's previous appearances in the girls title match have been against Hersey. His Vikes won in 2016. Pinley is assisted by Nick Vassos, Dan Hutton, Vania Acic, Mark O'Kelly ad Kelly Pecka.
The cast for Hersey: Olivia Mellen (5-5 So. DS/OH), Sydney Pape (5-7 Sr. DS), Maddie Mullin (5-4 Jr. L), Allie Korba (5-8 So. S), Ellie Muglia (5-9 Jr. OH), Kaiya Eshoo (5-8 Sr. S), Juliette van den Herik (6-1 Sr. MH), Kate Lubbe (6-0 Sr. RH), Kayla Kramp (5-7 Sr. DS/OH), Janine Boyan (6-0 Jr. MH), Nora Zielke (5-9, Sr. OH), Morgan Breden (5-10 Sr. RH/MH), Kati Kaburov (5-11 Sr. OH), Lauren Lubbe (6-0 So. MH).
The cast for Fremd: Kayla Kraske (Sr. OH), Cassie Seaver (Sr. OH), Breslin Reid (Sr. OH), Izzy Segoviano (So. DS), Samantha Gump (So.), Demetra Yianis (Jr. DS), Lydia Vander Ark (Sr. S), Kristel Kouatchou (Jr. OH), Elaina Rizzo (So. S), Rylen Reid (So. OH), Jessica Xu (Sr. DS), Claudia Wala (So. MH), Rian Baker (So. S), Allie Belmonte (Jr. MH).
The auditions: Hersey and Fremd got here by going 10-0 in their respective MSL divisions. They were co-champions of their divisions a year ago but missed out on the title match due to the tiebreaker (Barrington defeating Buffalo Grove).
Hersey lost only one set in its 10 East matches this year. It came in the Huskies' final match, a 25-14, 21-25, 25-20 win at Buffalo Grove.
Fremd also dropped just one set in West play when it defeated visiting Barrington 22-25, 25-18, 25-15 to complete the first round of league at 5-0.
Starring role: The game features one future D-I player. Hersey's all-time leaders in kills, Kati Kaburov, is a Boston College recruit. "Obviously, we know she is their go-to person," said Fremd coach Curt Pinley. "But you can't fall asleep on everyone else. If you spend too much time focusing on one aspect of the match, then the rest of your game falters. We'll talk about her but we'll also spend time talking about the things we can do once the ball travels over the net."
Live from Palatine: These two teams are playing each other for the third time in four years for the MSL title game. The previous two times, Hersey won in Palatine (2016) and Fremd won in Arlington Heights (2017). "Fremd has the advantage of playing on their home court," Hersey coach Nancy Lill said. "But most of our team has played in the championship before. It will come down to consistency and the ability to not get caught up in the atmosphere but keep our composure and play our game."
Lill on Fremd: "Fremd has an outstanding team. They are young and talented. They have a strong outside attack, run a quick tempo offense and play solid defense. I expect a very competitive match. Our team is absolutely thrilled to be representing the East Division in this match."
Pinley on Hersey: "They're a fantastic program and Nancy does a great job with them. Year in and year out they're very tough. Obviously, they've got a real nice attack on the outside. I think for sure we're going to have to play consistent volleyball. It's not so much what Hersey can do but a little more what we can control on our side of the net. If we control that, we can compete with them."
Sidelight: State power Benet is the No. 1 team in the Daily Herald Top 20 with a sterling record of 34-0. The Redwings' coaching staff is quite familiar with Fremd.
Benet head coach Brad Baker is the father of Vikings' setter Rian Baker while Redwings assistant coach Kyle Reid is the father of the Vikings' outside hitters Breslen and Rylen Reid.