Schaumburg tops Fremd, grabs MSL West lead

Schaumburg's girls volleyball team jumped into sole possession of first-place in the Mid-Suburban West on Tuesday night.

And leaping as well as anyone for the Saxons was 5-foot-4½ junior Lexi Ross, who came up with 5 key blocks in the home team's 25-17, 25-19 "Volley for A Cure" victory over Fremd.

Ross, considerably shorter than her net opponents, takes the Saxons team motto ('Choose to Fight') to heart.

She sure is a fighter at the net.

"Lexi, wow," said senior teammate Megan Hayes. "She played awesome. She and Abbie (Rahn, also a junior who put down 8 kills) really stepped up.

"Lexi put up a big block on their big hitters and that made a huge impact for us. You wouldn't expect it from her, but she is smart and she's really aggressive, just like our whole team."

That team is now 15-6 and 7-1 in the West, one match ahead of Fremd (15-6, 6-2) with two matches left.

"I'm so happy we came through and played as a team," Ross said. "We really tried to live up to our logo (Choose To Fight). I know I'm the shortest one out there (at the net) so I have to really get up. My teammates really encourage me."

Ross' block in the first set gave Schaumburg an 11-8 lead which increased to 13-9 on a kill by Katherine Coombs.

Fremd coach Curt Pinley called for timeout but the Saxons kept their momentum and built the lead to 16-11 on a block by senior Oyinkan Akinola (match-high 11 kills, 3 blocks, 5 digs).

Back-to-back blocks by Ross got the lead up to 20-14, forcing Pinley to use his second timeout.

But the Vikes, led by senior Maisie Koo's 5 kills, never got closer than 7 points the rest of the set.

"Schaumburg played a great match," Pinley said. "I thought we did a nice job isolating their one outside hitter but Abbie Rahn had a great match and I thought she was the difference."

Rahn finished her attacking night with a nifty off-balance kill outside of the sideline that made it 24-16 in the second set.

Fremd held off 3 match points with a hitting error by Schaumburg, a tip by Lane Hindenburg and an ace from sophomore Ysabel Lee (3 kills, 2 aces, 1 block) before the Saxons collected their 25th point.

"We just didn't play the defense we needed to win this match," added Pinley, who received 4 kills from junior Mackenzie Bednarek.

"Fremd is obviously a team to be reckoned with," said Saxons coach Jeanette Pancratz. "I'm proud of how our girls rose to the challenge. It was exciting.

"I thought we stayed disciplined and focused on what we needed to accomplish."

The Saxons accomplished their attack from the setting of Jada Blackwell (12 assists, 5 digs, 1 ace) and Hayes (7 assists, 10 digs, 1 ace).

Senior Hannah Moore (15 passes, 1 ace) sparked the winners' back row with 11 digs while Hayes had 10.

"It's exciting," Hayes said of gaining first place. "We've put in a lot of hard work at practice. We knew were going to be a good team but it really came together quickly because everyone has worked together."

The Saxons' remaining West matches are at Hoffman Estates on Thursday and home versus Conant a week from Thursday.

"We've got to play every match one game at a time," Pancratz said "We had good team chemistry tonight. It was a positive environment on the court whether we won the point or not."