Girls volleyball: Mazur, Fremd volley past Barrington

Fremd's Jess Mazur is quite versatile on a softball diamond where the all-area pitcher can strike out batters or hit home runs.

She bring that versatility on the volleyball court, too.

Mazur collected 5 kills, 3 aces, 2 blocks, 1 assist and 1 dig as the Vikings earned a key 25-19, 25-23 victory at Barrington on Tuesday night when the teams played a “Volley for the Cure' match to raise money for breast cancer.

The victory kept Fremd (14-7, 6-1) tied for first in the Mid-Suburban West with Schaumburg (6-1), while Barrington (13-9) slipped to a 1½ matches behind at 5-3 in second place.

Mazur's back-to-back kills in Set 1 helped the Vikes find some breathing room at 18-12 and they never trailed the rest of the match, opening up leads of 11-3 and 19-13 in Set 2.

“Jess did a really nice job all around,” said Fremd coach Curt Pinley, who is trying to lead the Vikings to back-to-back divisional titles for the first time in program history.

“I thought she did a really nice job picking up her defense. She did a great job blocking and even had a dig and assist late in the match. We can't always get her the ball, but when we do she tends to terminate most of the time. She is having a nice season.”

Mazur enjoyed a nice junior season in softball last spring, batting .488 and threatening to break many major power records in program history.

“I love both sports,” said Mazur who is uncommitted but leaning toward a collegiate softball career. “They're both amazing sports. They definitely push you mentally and physically.”

The Vikings showed both those qualities in the final set when they held off a valiant effort by the Fillies, who rallied to tie the set at 22-22 on back-to-back aces from junior Peyton Tilly.

Pinley called for a timeout and the Vikes came back to grab a 24-22 lead thanks to a service error and kill down the line by junior Heidi Sayre.

A dig by Suzana Andrade de Oliveira went over the net and fell for a kill to make it 24-23 before Sayre stepped up again with the match-winning kill, a crosscourt shot that went right to left.

“We came back from deficits of 11-3 and 19-13 and tied it at 22,” said Barrington coach Michelle Jakubowski. “We just didn't serve aggressive enough. We practice that and we have to get better at it. We are making too many errors and beating ourselves.”

Senior Andi Capel (8 kills) and Tilly (4 kills) led the Fillies' attack, which was set by Tara Kozak (11 assists) and Felicia Guagliardo (5 assists).

Bailey Madrzyk and Kate Schechtman each chipped in while Andrade de Oliveira had 6 digs and teammate Paige Ramel had a pair of blocks with a kill.

“Fremd is nice team,” Jakubowski added. “At the end, we have to set up. We are not finishing right now. We can't wait until it's 11-3 and 19-13 to start playing because at some point it starts to catch up to you.”

Peyton Hooker caught a hot hand for Fremd midway through Set 1 when she put down kills off sets from Sarah Straup for 11-7 and 12-8 leads.

Straup showed her attacking kills when her dump put the Vikings in command 16-11 in Set 1.

Senior Jess Rizzo's back row kill made it 24-19 before Hooker (4 kills) put down back-to-back kills to end the set.

Straup wasn't done leaving the attack mode, as the senior put down a pair of perfect dumps to the deep corner for leads of 13-7 and 20-18 in Set 2.

“She did a nice job with those,” Pinley said. “It's something she is working on — to become a little better setter offensively — and it's working,”

Straup handed out 14 assists with Rizzo also collecting 5 kills.

Fremd's Maddie Aichinger was 9-of-10 serving and she led the back row with 8 digs followed by Rizzo (5) and Sayre (4). Jules Tangney and Sayre also had blocks for Fremd.

“I thought Sarah distributed the ball very well to a variety of people,” Pinley added. “I think it was a real team effort. Some nights one or two people stand out but tonight everyone came together and played well as a team.”

“We brought it together at the end,” Mazur said of the Vikings' play late in Set 2. “It's definitely a mental game and we got it together as a team and we were able play together.”