Girls volleyball: Barrington edges Hersey as new MSL format looks like a winner
With the realignment of Mid-Suburban League, two of the top powerhouse programs from the former West and East met in a divisional match on Tuesday in Arlington Heights.
The new six-team divisions were redesigned to bring more competitive play with the top teams now all in the East and the format worked like clockwork as host Hersey (0-2, 0-1) and Barrington (4-3, 1-0) went down to the wire in the Fillies' dramatic 25-23, 16-25, 25-22 triumph.
Barrington rallied from a 10-5 deficit in the third set before pulling out the match with the final two points coming on Jaelyn Connole's set to Kaelyn Brookbank for the 24th point and Connole's ace to win it.
"It was a real high-energy match and we fought the entire way," said Connole whose team trailed nearly the whole first set (from 2-1 to 23-22) before pulling it out with the final 6 points including Brookbank's match-winner for her match-high 16th kill. "We played with a lot of confidence in the third set."
Senior Vicky Vasilopoulos set teammate Macey Teuscher (numerous big kills in the match) for a crosscourt kill in that third set to give the hosts the 10-5 cushion. But the Fillies kept grinding away and pulled away to a 16-12 lead behind the serve of junior Antonia Rojas, who reeled off 5 straight points including 3 aces.
"Those aces were huge for us," said Fillies coach Michelle Mayer. "And she had 8 digs. She really stepped up in that third set."
"We haven't given up in any match this season and we've kept fighting in the third set," added Connole, a senior setter/right side (6 kills, 13 assists) who started on the Schaumburg varsity as a freshman and sophomore before transferring to Barrington last fall. "We have a lot of new pieces we are trying out and we are working together to get better."
Brookbank took her cues from Connole and junior Eve Adler (17 assists).
"No. 5, wow" said Hersey coach Laura Gerber praising the performance of Brookbank,a 6-1 junior outside. "I told our girls I was very proud of the way they played. It takes time to get used to playing next to new teammates and that was a good team we were playing."
One new player for the Huskies is freshman Morgan Matteucci, who contributed 4 kills including a big one in the final set that got Hersey to within 22-21.
Vasilopoulos was a big key in Set 2 when she served 7 straight points to put the Huskies in control at 10-2. She also had a big ace at the end of the third set.
Fillies libero Ella Krull collected 19 digs while teammate Lexi Szlezak had 9 kills, including a big one from Adler's set that gave her team a 22-20 lead in the final set.
"I'm really proud of the kids and how they don't give up," Mayer added. "We have a lot of girls who were out there last year but in minimal roles. Now we are asking them to be the person, and they're doing a nice job at it."