Girls volleyball: Hersey tops Palatine in a thriller
Mid-Suburban East girls volleyball champ Hersey and West Division winner Palatine never lost a divisional match all season.
They didn't deserve to lose one in the conference championship matchup, either.
The two 10-0 division teams played a heart-wrenching thriller from start to finish.
It finally ended when Hersey sophomore setter Emma Strozewski set classmate Amy Morgan for the winning kill of the 43rd annual MSL title match at Palatine on Thursday night.
Morgan's 11th kill of the match fell to an open space in the middle of the floor and gave Hersey a 22-25, 25-21, 29-27 victory for a record-tying 11th MSL crown in 21 title-match appearances. Barrington has also won 11 crowns.
Huskies senior Liz Fuerst walloped a career-high 17 kills while classmate Katie Rozanski added 8 kills and 4 blocks as Hersey rallied from a 23-20 deficit in the third set.
After Huskies coach Nancy Lill called her second timeout, Fuerst's kill got the Huskies to within 23-21.
If not for libero Emma Frankiewicz' terrific save while sliding on her knees to keep a Pirates' smash from hitting the floor, Palatine would have been serving for match point.
Instead, the Huskies were able to convert Frankiewicz' outstanding dig into a kill by Mary O'Shea to make it 23-22. Frankiewicz finished with 21 digs.
Back-to-back kills from Fuerst on left-to right sets in front of the net from junior Maggie Reisel pulled the Huskies into a 24-23 lead.
Refusing to fold, junior Claire Chaplinsky (team-high 13 kills) answered right back for the Pirates (23-12). She put down a kill off a set from classmate Sydney Christiansen (35 assists) for a 24-24 tie.
It was then tied at 25, 26 and 27 before a service error and Morgan's kill sent home a big crowd which clearly got its money's worth.
"To be honest, I don't focus on that," said the 5-foot-8 Morgan about her match-winning kill. "It was all of us working to get that last point. We brought out energy the second set. We knew we had to come out stronger. When we have our energy, we tend to get into the match more."
"Wow, could Amy play any better?" said Hersey coach Nancy Lill, who won her 10th MSL title and 889th match in 29 seasons. "She just really found the holes on the floor.
"And how about Zoe Strozewski (3 kills, 3 blocks)? She's a 6-foot-1 middle hitter who was making all those great passes when they were trying to serve short."
Zoe's sister Emma (17 assists) and Reisel (20 assists) directed the attack.
"Palatine gave a phenomenal effort," Lill said. "They've had a great season and they left it all on the floor. Dan (Gavin, Pirates coach) did a great job. They made us battle to the end."
Hersey (23-7) ended up scoring 3 more points than Palatine, which was led on attack by Chaplinsky and seniors Heather Holz (10 kills) and Sarah Udonis (7 kills, 2 blocks).
"It was a great match," said Gavin, whose Pirates also lost to the Huskies in the 2012 title match in Arlington Heights. "That's as good as it gets when it comes to high school volleyball. I thought our girls responded well to adversity and I thought our back row players stepped up on serve receive and got us into our system."
Pirates junior libero Alyssa Kronberg collected 14 digs.
"Their libero was outstanding," Lill said. "We tried to keep away from her, but she was unbelievable."
Pirates senior defensive specialist Alexis Serna contributed 11 digs.
"I'm so proud of our team," Serna said. "We played so well. From the front row to the back, everyone was clicking. This is only going to fuel us for the future. It was such a fun match to play in."
Fuerst has been a part of four title matches, and her Huskies have won three of them.
"Even when it was 23-20, we had no doubts," said the 5-10 Indiana University-Purdue Fort Wayne recruit. "We all just supported each other, stuck together and stayed positive. Otherwise, if we don't, we know it will go downhill."
No one led by more than 2 points until Set 1 got into the 20s.
Zoe Strozewski blocked an overpass to get Hersey to within 21-20 but a back row kill by Chaplinsky and kill by Holz made it 23-20.
Reisel quick set Zoe Strozewski (23-21) before a service error made it 24-21.
After a kill by Rozanski, Palatine won it when Christiansen set freshman Haley Holz for the deciding kill.
Hersey charged ahead 6-2 in Set 2 and led 10-5 on an ace by Dani Havel. The Huskies gained their biggest lead of the match at 19-13 and then held off a late bid by Palatine,
Morgan also put down the winning kill in Set 2.
"They're (Palatine) a great team," Fuerst said. They have amazing players and play strong defense. I give them kudos."
"I'm extremely proud of my girls," Gavin said. "I thought we played well. Give credit to Hersey. They played an outstanding match."