Fremd finishes off Palatine
A teriffic performance down the stretch put Thursday night’s Mid-Suburban West boys volleyball match in the win column for visiting Fremd at Palatine.
The Vikings rallied to score a thrilling 15-25, 25-19, 25-23 victory — not bad at all for a team that seemed totally out of synch in Game 1.
“I don’t know, it was like we weren’t alert or something at the start,” said Fremd setter David Kim.
“That beating we took in the first game woke us up,” added the junior. “We got our heads in the game, and our hitters were incredible. All I had to do was put the ball in the right spot and I knew they were going to kill it every single time.”
Vikings senior John Vandercar led the attack with 10 kills and 4 blocks.
“We were right there,” said Vandercar, who said his team didn’t panic after falling behimd 1 game to 0. “We had beaten this team earlier, so we knew we could do it again.”
Fremd and Palatine have now faced each other four times already this season, twice in conference and twice in tourneys, and have split the matches 2 apiece — with Fremd winning the last two.
“We came together as a team tonight,” added Vandercar, “and it was our intensity down the stretch that led us to this win.”
Fremd (10-13, 4-3) trailed thoughout most of the deciding game but fought back and a clutch ace from senior defensive specialist Mikey Nguyen brought the visitors to a 21-21 tie.
Then a couple hitting errors by Palatine (10-13, 5-2) and kills from Chris Leonard and Vandercar gave the win to the Vikings.
Kim finished 71-for-71 on serve for Fremd with 32 assists, while his counterpart across the net, Kyle Obernesser, was 87-of-88 with 28 helpers.
Palatine junior Danny Matijevic recorded 17 digs.
“You have to give all the credit in the world to Fremd tonight,” said Palatine coach Frank Stark. “Obviously, they made some great adjustments after the first game, and we didn’t.
“They were playing with a lot of energy and a lot of heart, and they were hitting the floor a lot. It was an impressive performance.”