Girls volleyball: Fremd, Rolling Meadows set for rematch in 4A sectional final
In a rematch of the Mid-Suburban League championship two weeks ago, the Class 4A Fremd sectional will come down to the top-seeded host Vikings and No.2 Rolling Meadows.
Coach Pete Gavin's Vikings (32-6) posted a 25-15, 25-21 triumph over No. 4 Stevenson (22-16) at Tuesday night's semifinals in Palatine while Jack Nickle watched his Mustangs (31-8) score a 25-19, 25-19 victory over No. 3 Barrington (28-10).
First serve for Thursday's title match will be 6 p.m.
"Each time we played Rolling Meadows (two two-set wins) we knew they didn't play as well as they could," Gavin said. "They showed tonight exactly why they're the two seed. They're a really talented team with really good kids. Their coaches do an awesome job and we know they're going to come out a totally different team from the last two times."
"It is very hard over the course of a 35- to 38-match season to maintain a high level the whole way," said Nickle , whose team was led by senior Lucy Pufundt's 9 kills. "But I really feel we're playing some of our best volleyball now. We are confident, relaxed and ready to go."
In the first semifinal, Fremd was ready to go, breaking out to an 8-1 lead after 5 straight points, including 2 aces (5 for the match), from senior Katelyn Chuang.
As usual, setter Victoria Belmonte efficiently dished the ball out to her hitters, led by Sasha Sallade who ended the match with a long crosscourt smash for her seventh kill. Akshara Jay added 6 while 6-foot-7 senior Elly Jo Fay played a big role with 3 kills and 3 kill blocks.
"We knew we just had to keep our composure in the second set," said Belmonte, who dished out 17 assists. "Stevenson had a lot of good swings."
Top hitters for the Pats were Illinois-bound Ava Wysocki (7 kills) and Abby Inman (6 kills) while Ryler Bondad had 18 assists and 8 digs.
"We just did not play well enough to win," said Patriots coach Tim Crow. "Fremd was very steady, had good ball control and just took care of business. We had a good season, especially having four sophomores in the lineup. We still won a share of our conference and won a regional."
Coming off its first regional since 2000, senior Mary Hamann's kill off a quick set from Griffiths got the Mustangs to the sectional final.
"We played super confident with consistency pretty much all the way through and lots of energy," Hamann said.
Back-to-back aces by Pufundt gave Meadows an 8-3 lead and Sara Buchholz' ace pushed the lead to 11-6. Gaby Zielinski's sideout kill made it 17-11 and Dalia Grandberry's tip kill gave RM a 23-18 advantage.
"Our setters (Carmen Powers and Lainey Griffiths) did a great job," Nickle said. "They've kind of been a special tag team all season with a different front row/back row set up and it's really helped out. And I thought we were strong in serve and passing (sparked by libero Jelena Jevtic)."
Addie Brookbank (11 kills) and Whitney Hall (6) led the Barrington attack while setting was handled by Eve Adler (9 assists) and Jaelyn Connole (8 assists).
"Rolling Meadows played great and we didn't," said Barrington coach Michelle Mayer. "When we did some good stuff, something bad happened. We'd get a big kill, then miss a serve or not win a free ball. The girls did a really good job this season. We just didn't have enough in us to finish. I feel for our girls, feel for the seniors but they had a great run and it's always hard and sad when it comes to an end."