Girls volleyball: Fremd takes 3-set thriller over Barrington in MSL showdown
After winning its first Mid-Suburban League divisional title for the first time in three years last season, Fremd's girls volleyball team doesn't seem to have missed a beat.
The Vikings sure didn't miss their opportunity to remain in first place in the MSL East on Tuesday by rallying for a 21-25, 25-22, 25-23 victory over host Barrington, the MSL champion from 2021 to 2023.
Fremd (11-3, 3-0) nudged one match ahead of Barrington (9-5, 2-1) in the newly-formed MSL East division, which features the top six teams record-wise over the past three seasons. Buffalo Grove, like Fremd and Barrington, also entered Tuesday at 2-0 in the East.
"This is a very determined group we have but they know everyone in this conference is still hungry to improve themselves," said Fremd fourth-year coach Pete Gavin. "We knew everyone in the conference will be a battle and that's what we got tonight.
“That (Kayln) Brookbank (18 kills) is incredible and their setters do a phenomenal job. The way Michelle (Mayer) coaches them by running a different lineup really threw us off a lot. I thought Barrington did a nice job."
Doing a nice job on attack for the Vikings were senior MB Emily Karmazin (7 kills), sophomore OH Harper Neill (5), senior OH Greta Thompson (5) and senior OH Akshara Jay (4), who put down the match winner off a set from Neill. Jay and Neill have been teammates even before high school.
Jay's cross-court smash ended a set that was tied 12 times. The visitors got the lead for good at 18-17 when Neill served an ace off the net. Thompson's kill made it 19-17 and a hitting error put Fremd ahead 20-17.
Thompson's fifth kill of the match made it 24-21 before the Fillies staved off two match points with a block from Alessandra Mirkovich and a Vikings error.
But with the Fillies nursing a 24-23 lead, Neill pitched a 20-foot set to Jay on the left side and she slammed it home to keep the Vikings unbeaten in the MSL East.
"We tell ourselves every day that obviously winning conference is great but what really matters in the end is the state run,“ said Jay, who would like to play in college where she plans to study political science and head into the law field. ”Every day we are just working harder in practice and matches to get to that final end point. The end goal is getting as far as we can."
Despite trailing 19-12, Barrington got the best of the first set by rallying behind the serve of Eve Adler, whose 5 straight points put the hosts ahead 21-17. Fremd got within 21-20 but Maddie Regas served the final 4 points to give Barrington the win, the final points coming on Lexi Szlezak's kill off a set from Adler.
Set two was tight all the way with Fremd getting the final two points on a service error and kill by 6-foot-1 sophomore OH Zoe Horn.
"Zoe is just getting better and better," Gavin said. "And I know how hard she is on herself with some blocking stuff but I just reminded her that these are good varsity hitters. So I'm just really proud of her and our freshman Reese Newton who is just tough as nails and just doesn't seem to be impacted by anything."
Newton, a 5-4 defensive specialist, was 11 of 15 on serve receive and had some key serves.
Jay also had 9 assists for Fremd while Madison Drenth had 7 along with 6 of 6 serving with an ace.
"Akshara is an exceptional athlete," Gavin added. "She didn't get a lot of praise last year because we had some seniors who were pretty stellar and she was out for a while but she is one of the best players in the conference for sure. She is an incredible player. And Madison Drenth is doing a nice job setting as well."
Adler (27 assists) and Jaelyn Connole (6 kills, 11 assists) handled the setting for Barrington which also received 13 kills from Szlezak.
"I'm proud of our girls," Mayer said. "They never give up. They battled to come back in the first set. I'm just a little disappointed with our slow starts and putting ourselves in some hard, stressful positions but they always battle back.“
Barrington senior Ella Krull was hit by the ball and suffered an injury to her face during the third set and had to leave the match. Mayer expects her back soon.
“We were up 15-14 in the third set and obviously losing our libero (Krull) at that point doesn’t help,” Mayer said. “But I'm proud of the girls' fight. Our younger players just have to continue to grow and mature and I think in a month you'll see a different team. I'm proud of them. It'll be a good time playing them (Fremd) a few more times."