Hoffman regional hopes still alive
A tough first-game loss didn't diminish Hoffman Estates' upset hopes in Thursday night's Buffalo Grove Class 4A girls volleyball regional semifinal.
Those hopes were enhanced for the 12th-seeded Hawks when they beat No. 5 Elk Grove in the second game.
And they came true when a kill by Hoffman junior Lauren LaMasse completed a 23-25, 25-20, 25-20 victory.
"This is probably the best we've ever played together," said Hoffman senior Alex Wulbecker, who had 12 kills and 17 digs.
"The team I saw today is the team I've been trying to get out and put on the court all year," said Hoffman coach Dan Hutton. "I told the girls that team is inside of them and they have to bring it out and put everything on the floor."
The Hawks (11-22) did and advanced to Saturday's 2 p.m. regional final against No. 4 Fremd (30-6), which beat No. 13 Rolling Meadows 25-17, 25-10.
Megan Bernardoni and LaMasse had 8 and 6 kills respectively and Jada Stotts had 21 digs and 3 blocks. Setters Becky Gilbert (59-for-60, 16 assists, 12 digs) and Stephanie Schwarz (35-for-35, 10 assists and senior Ali Hair (11 digs) helped Hoffman break away after Elk Grove (23-13) rallied to tie Game 3 at 17-17.
"Even though we lost (Game 1) we knew we gave them a lot of points and if we eliminated the mental errors we could pull it out," Wulbecker said. "The difference was we knew it was either win or go home. After we got the second game we realized it was attainable and that pushed us to our limit."
Hoffman went ahead to stay in Game 2 at 12-11. Krystina Leazer had 10 kills, 18 digs and 3 aces, Olivia Roback had 18 digs and Katie Loos had 6 kills and 8 digs as Elk Grove's last lead in Game 3 was 5-4.
"Hoffman really played great defense," said Elk Grove coach Joe Di Silvio. "I told (Hutton) I thought the ball was going to hit the floor and then an arm comes out of nowhere. Those girls had a lot of desire to win this match."
Fremd had no desire to be part of a similar script as it broke away from a 13-13 tie in Game 1 and broke out to a 9-3 lead in Game 2 for its first 30-win season since its 1987 fourth-place team went 33-6.
"It feels great," said senior middle Kaitlyn Pascus, who had 7 kills and 5 block kills and was 12-for-12 serving. "Thirty shows our hard work is paying off."
Stephanie Alesia had 6 kills and Colleen Andersen had 3 kills in the Vikings' diverse attack. Natalie Bruck (11 assists) and Kayla Price (7 assists) combined to go 42-for-42 setting.
"Rolling Meadows did a great job of keeping the ball off the floor and making us have to work for every point," said Fremd coach Curt Pinley, whose team is going for a second straight regional title. "In Game 2 we kind of took control and at this point of the season that's what you need to be doing if you want to continue on."
Meadows (15-22) did continue after avenging a pair of Mid-Suburban East losses by beating No. 17 Buffalo Grove 25-16, 25-21 in Thursday's regional quarterfinal. Seniors Katie Stensland (15 assists, 10 kills), Dana Demmert (10 digs, 7 kills), Michelle Waisgainis (6 kills), Casey Ryan (5 blocks) and Sara Sompolski (16 digs) led the way in the 2 matches.
"We came out strong and stayed strong throughout the (BG) match," said Meadows coach Janet Opels. "That kind of carried over to the first game with Fremd."