Girls volleyball: Barrington downs Palatine to win MSL championship
After Barrington won its match at Palatine on Thursday night, Fillies junior standout Kayln Brookbank called it magical.
But she wasn't exactly referring to the Fillies (23-12) earning their fifth Mid-Suburban League girls volleyball championship in seven seasons with a 25-16, 25-22 decision.
"We won in two sets," said Brookbank, who certainly waved a magic wand with her match-high 15 kills.
"It's pretty cool (winning the title)," said Fillies coach Michelle Mayer after leading her team to the program's record 16th MSL crown. "And we won it two, something we have not done too often this season. Twenty-one of our 35 matches this season have been in three sets."
Palatine (26-7) did all it could to extend it to three sets, pulling to within 22-21 in Set 2. A serving error got the Pirates to within 23-22 before Eve Adler (22 assists) set junior Lexi Szlezak for her third kill of the match.
Szlezak then recorded her fourth kill for the match winner.
Brookbank, the MSL East Player of the Year, also had 5 digs and an ace. Kinley Shinhoster and Maddie Regas each had 2 aces while libero Ella Krull paced the Barrington defense with 10 digs. Ingrid Wright added 2 kills and 1 block.
"I'm really proud of the girls," Mayer said. "It was a great, tight second set. We gave away seven serving errors but we battled when it was 18-18. Kayln did a great job going back and serving aggressively (her ace made it 21-18) and my other pin (Szlezak) stepped up and got three of our last four kills so it was awesome."
Shinhoster got the Fillies off to a great start in the first set with 5 straight service points for a 6-0 lead forcing the Pirates first timeout.
The big start included a kill from Brookbank, and an ace and a block of an overpass by Alessandra Mirkovich.
Barrington extended the lead to 14-7 on a service point from Jaelyn Connole (4 kills), bringing the Pirates' second timeout.
A kill by Mid-Suburban West Player of the Year Zoe Johnson pulled the Pirates to within 19-14 but they never got closer.
Connole's ace and a hitting error by Palatine ended the set.
The second set delivered much more drama as the hosts rallied from a 10-6 deficit.
The Pirates took their only leads of the night at 14-13 and 16-15 on an ace from Brooklynn Chesak.
But the Fillies nudged ahead 21-18 following a smash by Brookbank, crosscourt kill from Connole and an ace by Brookbank.
After the Pirates' second timeout, the hosts came back to within 22-21. That's when Connole back set Brookbank for her a kill to make it 23-21.
"The second set was definitely better than the first set where you could see we were a little nervous and I think the nerves got the better of us," said Pirates coach Dan Gavin. "We played a little tentative after that and Barrington kept its foot on the gas and played very well.."
Gavin liked the way his team turned it around in the second set.
"I thought the second set was a different story," he said. "A play here, a play there and it could have been different so I'm proud of how the girls responded. Honestly, I don't think anyone played their best match tonight. I think that's one of the great things about this team. They do things together and tonight we didn't play our best match but we don't really need to rely on one or two players stepping up. Everyone buys into doing their job and when we do that, we're a pretty tough team to beat."
Barrington has been a tough team to beat in MSL title matches. They've dropped only three in 19 appearances.
After the game, Mayer handed out ring pop candy to her players.
"That has been a tradition I've done the last four years, starting the year we went downstate," she said. "For four years I've done the ring pop every time they've won a trophy. It's really cool that they won a championship and you should get a ring, so we do candy rings.
"I've got a lot sitting at my house so hopefully we can keep using them."
The Fillies hope the magical run continues in their own sectional beginning next week.
"We just really played as a team and we all knew we wanted to win," Brookbank concluded. "We just had a lot of fun and had a lot of energy."