Girls volleyball: Fremd orchestrates a winning effort against Palatine

As Palatine coach Dan Gavin said, the highlights for the Pirates on Thursday night came before the match, and with about a minute left.

In between Pirates libero Alyssa Kronberg's excellent rendition of the national anthem and senior Claire Chaplinsky apparently escaping a serious injury, Fremd was singing a winning melody on the court.

The Vikings were able to move into a first-place tie with the Pirates and Barrington in the Mid-Suburban West by taking a 25-22, 25-18 triumph in Palatine to complete the first round of divisional play.

All three teams will start round two with 4-1 records.

Just three weeks ago, Palatine handed Fremd a 25-20, 25-15 set loss in the Peggy Scholten Classic at Fremd.

"This was a huge win for us," said Vikings senior outside hitter Bailey Hooker, who put down a key kill that gave Fremd a 23-17 lead in Set 2. "We've been working so long for this and it paid off. We changed up our serve receive and we trusted our offense."

On the rally after Hooker's kill, Chaplinsky (7 kills) went up for an attack and came down on the floor in pain with a foot injury. But to the delight of the crowd, the Rhode Island recruit got back on her feet and walked off the court.

Gavin replaced her in the lineup with freshman Emily Campe, who immediately put down a kill that made it 24-18.

The Vikes proceeded to earn the winning point when Southern Illinois recruit Ysabel Lee put down the match winner.

"I thought we were lot more aggressive than the first time we played them," Lee said. "Coach (Curt Pinley) told us we shouldn't be rolling and tipping as much, and that made a difference."

The Pirates (10-3) also received 4 kills from Corey Rinella, who was honored before the match for Seniors Night along with Chaplinsky, Sydney Christiansen, Kronberg, Brooke Bauer, Ally Foltman and manager Brianna Marshall.

Christiansen handed out 16 assists with 2 aces and Memphis-bound Kronberg finished with 11 digs.

"There were two good things," Gavin said. "Alyssa did a great job on the national anthem and Claire's injury doesn't look serious. Other than that, there weren't a lot of good things for us."

Back to back aces by Christiansen gave the Pirates a 7-4 lead in Set 1 but junior middle hitter Jessica Mazur's powerful serve helped turn the match in favor of Fremd.

After a side out kill by junior Jess Rizzo made it 7-5, Mazur reeled off 4 straight points. Senior Kailyn Bryk's kill gave Fremd a 9-7 lead.

Rizzo's kill with senior Rebecca Uhrich at the service line gave Fremd its biggest lead at 19-13.

A service error got Fremd to set point at 24-20 before the Vikes eventually wrapped it up on a backhanded kill by Rizzo.

"We've really been trying to focus on finishing sets," Pinley said. "We have been competitive but we get to a point where we can't finish."

"So we had some drills in practice trying to compete more and with consequences. Tonight it all came together. What we have been practicing happened on the court."

An ace by Rizzo gave Fremd a 3-0 lead in Set 2 and the Vikings never trailed. The lead grew to 7-9 on service point by Hooker.

Palatine got to within 11-10 on a kill by Chaplinsky.

Pinley called for a timeout and Bryk came back with a crosscourt kill to make it 12-10.

Palatine edged back to within 12-11 but that's as close as it would get.

Senior Natalie Freund (15 assists) set Bryk for another kill and a service point by Karolina Sas made it 14-11.

Freund made an acrobatic move to leap for a pass and punched it down for a kill that gave Fremd a 17-13 edge.

An ace by Haley Holz (1 block) brought the Pirates to within 19-17.

But the Vikes reeled off 5 straight points, four coming with Rizzo at the service line.

"We struggled in our serve and serve receive game," Gavin said. "And Fremd played with a great sense of purpose. They were disciplined, they scrapped and they played as a team. When you do those things, good things are going to happen."

Rizzo led Fremd with 5 kills, followed by Bryk (3) and Mazur (2). Hooker, Rizzo and Sas all had 5 digs while Bryk led with 3 blocks.

Fremd opens second round divisional play at Conant on Tuesday while Palatine host Hoffman Estates.

"It's a whole new season and we're excited." Pinley said. "We don't play Palatine again until our last conference match and it would be great to be in a position for that match to mean something. But there is a long way to go."