Girls volleyball Cook County notes: Gavin brothers see their teams start fast in MSL; St. Viator’s surging

Nearly midway through the Mid-Suburban League girls volleyball season, there's a couple of brothers who are enjoying life at the top of the two divisions.

Fremd coach Pete Gavin has the Vikings atop the MSL East at 4-0 while brother Dan Gavin's Pirates are leading the West with an identical record.

The two teams have a combined overall record of 28-7.

Here's more on those two teams and others in the area:

Fremd: In trying to defend its Mid-Suburban division championship, Fremd (16-4) has gotten off to a great start in first place at 4-0, including a three-set win at Barrington on Tuesday and a two-set win over defending MSL East champ Rolling Meadows.

But that's hardly the main concern of the Vikings.

"We've talked about this season," said Fremd coach Pete Gavin. "The mindset is that at every point we are just trying to get better. Not necessarily to win a match but just to get better. I keep reminding them when we have waves where we struggle and staring at the scoreboard, we have to remember our goal is to just be getting better for the postseason and that seemed to help us come around in the last two sets against Barrington."

In the Rolling Meadows match, the Vikings were led on attack by Emily Karmazin (6 kills), Harper Neill (5), Mercelina Cebula (5) and Akshara Jay (3). Setting the offense were Madison Drenth (11 assists) and Kay (8).

Palatine: After a 2-1 weekend, losing to Glenbrook North and defeating Jacobs and Lake Forest, the Pirates are sitting at 12-3.

Veteran coach Dan Gavin said Zoe Johnson continues to be a rock in all phases for the Pirates. Alaina Ratay is growing into a leader as she facilitates the offense. The middles (Delila Kessler, Baeley Berry and Quinn McMahon) along with outside hitter Brooklyn Chesak all have had moments where they have taken over matches offensively. Sydney Branch, Sammie Kendrick, Johnson and Chesak anchor serve receive.

"Overall, I think the girls are happy to be where we are at record-wise but I'm hoping we want more," Dan Gavin said. "This is one of the most talented teams I've had in my 20 years. If we are willing to pair the potential with hard work and maintain a focus on getting better every time we take the court, it should be a fun second half of the season."

Hersey: The Huskies will take a 6-6, 2-2 record into Thursday's match at Rolling Meadows, coming off a two-set MSL East win at Hoffman Estates.

Top contributors were outside hitter Macey Teuscher, who has 13 kills in her last three matches. Outside hitter Ana Spillson has 16 while freshman MH Morgan Matteucci has 12. Assist leaders are Rachael Stark (22) and Vicky Vasilopoulos (25) while Freya McBride served 6 aces.

Buffalo Grove: The Bison (7-9, 2-2) have been very competitive in the Mid-Suburban East under first-year coach Tara Braceros.

In a tight two-set loss at Hersey, sophomore rightside Olivia Hill had 2 aces, 7 kills and 4 blocks while Ava Lo Verde contributed 13 digs and 2 aces.

The Bison went three sets with Barrington as Hill collected 3 aces, 13 kills and 3 blocks. Sophomore setter Alex Tohter had 29 assists, 4 digs, 1 kill and 1 block.

St. Viator: After a big two-set win over 13-3 York, the Lions (12-3) went 3-0 at the Conant quad on Friday.

New Hampshire pledge Avery Albritton had 16 kills against Conant and hit .750, both career highs.

Olivia Walberg had 14 kills and hit .320.

"She has really stepped up this year and is one of our go to attackers," said St. Viator coach Charlie Curtin, who also received 40 assists and 3 kills in the three matches from junior Olive Meyers. "She ran a very efficient offense," Curtin added.

Abigail Sheldon had 10 aces in the quad (5 apiece vs. Rolling Meadows and Conant) and has a team-leading 34 aces on the year.

Leyden: The Eagles began the week at 3-9 and 0-2 after finishing third in their own Invite.

Senior Olivia Prokop was named to the all-tournament team.

"We recently pulled up a sophomore setter (Kasia Wadolkowski) and now have the option of running a 6-2 when needed, which has added a lot of stability to our team," said Leydne coach Emmett O'Keefe. "With both Kasia and Aleks Manojlovic, our returning senior setting our offense it has improved significantly. We have had more kills and a higher hitting percentage in each of our matches over the last week than we did in the season before making the roster change."

In Leyden's loss to Downers Grove South last week, senior outside hitter Daniella Sarnecke led the team with 4 kills. At the Eagle Invite, senior right side hitter Sarah Skorna averaged 6 kills in five matches while seniors Antonina Saminska and Julia Radziszewski also contributed offensively.

Schaumburg: Heading into this week, the Saxons have competed 18 of their 35 scheduled matches under first-year coach Adam Bloniarz. Last weekend they went 2-3 in the Glenbard West Invite, placing sixth out of 15 teams.

"I’d argue we had one of the toughest roads to the fifth-place match, facing Glenbard West and St. Ignatius, who ultimately competed in the championship," Bloniarz said. “Despite the 2-3 record, our wins were significant."

The Saxons (8-10) defeated Lake Park and Glenbard East, two teams they had previously fell short to earlier in the season.

"This past weekend, however, we showed up with the right mindset and competed at a high level in every match," Bloniarz said.

Bloniarz added that senior captain Katelynn Caldwell set the tone all weekend, leading the offense with poise.

"We also saw strong contributions from Larissa Baldwin and Urte Luksas," he said. "Urte, returning from a sprained ankle, had an outstanding weekend, leading the team in both kills and blocks."

Conant: First-year Conant coach Brain Blonziar says the Cougars (6-14) are working hard on the fundamentals and looking forward to the second half of conference this week.

Feyza Erturk is leading the team with 51 kills while Ruhi Shah and Imma Papucci pace the defense with 60 and 58 digs, respectively.

Schaumburg Christian: Despite falling at Harvest-Westminster last Thursday in a NAC match, the Conquerors (8-2, 1-1) rose to the occasion at the Illinois Math and Science Academy Schwartzwalder Classic last Saturday, earning second place.

Schaumburg Christian went 4-1 record by defeating defending 2024 IHSA regional champion St. Edward 2-0, IMSA 2-1, Aurora Central Catholic 2-1 and Larkin 2-0.

Their only loss was in two sets to Class 2A Westmont, which was the tournament champion with a 5-0 record.

"We had a total team effort, playing great defense, passing well and keeping the ball in play to outlast the competition in many, many tight rallies," said Schaumburg Christian coach Steve Burmaster.

Schaumburg Christian has a homecoming match set for Friday against Willows Academy.

"We defeated Willows for the 2023 regional title and have developed a good rivalry since that point in time," Burmaster said.