Girls volleyball: Fremd is good as gold as 50th MSL champ
Gold is the traditional and modern material to represent a 50th anniversary.
Fremd's R & R girls, hardly noted for rest and relaxation on the court, certainly combined to be the golden girls at the 50th annual Mid-Suburban League girls volleyball championship on Thursday night in Palatine.
Senior setter Rian Baker (20 assists) hooked up almost a dozen times with classmate and co-Mid-Suburban League West Player of the Year Rylen Reid to help spark the Vikings' 25-22, 25-14 triumph over Hersey.
Reid ended up with a match-high 12 kills as Fremd won its second MSL crown in three seasons and in program history.
Both came under retiring coach Curt Pinley, who saw his team improve to 28-2 overall.
"I tell you what, when you think about it, they (Reid and Baker, who also had 2 aces apiece) have been playing together since they were little kids," Pinley said. "For them to be able to grow up together, be able to play volleyball at Fremd together and to have the success they've had, it's got to be very special for both of them and their families. I feel blessed to have kind of nurtured it along but the reality is that they've come from great volleyball families and they've been playing together a long time and I think tonight their connection really showed."
Right from the very first point of the night.
Racing backward for a save, Baker leapt in the air and as if she had eyes in the back of her head, lofted a perfect backhanded set to Reid, who put down the kill.
"There was a whole lot of Reid going on on that side," said Hersey coach Nancy Lill. "We had a hard time stopping her and we were out of system, which put us on the defensive the whole time."
The first set went on to be tied at 3, 4, 5, 8, 17, 20 and 21 before Fremd grabbed the lead for good on a kill by Claudia Wala (3 kills, 1 block). A double block by Fremd's Baker and Maeve Miller made it 23-21. Hersey sophomore Erin Dela Riva put one down to the floor to make it 23-22 before Fremd prevailed on another kill by Wala and the set-winner by Reid off Baker's set.
Isabela Segoviano (9 digs) and Samantha Gump (3) led Fremd's back row in passing.
"It's amazing, it's the best feeling," Reid said of the MSL crown. "It's a great way to finish our senior year. We love Pinley. He is a great coach and we owe a lot to him."
Set 2 had been tied six times when Wala stepped to the service line at 9-9 and served 6 straight points for a 6-point cushion.
Freshman Victoria Belmonte (6 kills) put down back-to-back kills to make it 21-14 and the Vikings eventually wrapped it up on an ace by Miller (3 for the match).
Belmonte delivered four of her kills in the second set.
"I think she wasn't feeling herself in the first set, a little scared because there were a lot of people in the stands and she'd never been used to that," Baker said. "In the second set, she started lighting it up and that made it a lot easier to go to Rylen because they had to worry about her (Belmonte) right side and outside. It just kind of worked out."
"Victoria is an outstanding player," Reid said. "She is going to be an amazing player the next three years here."
Lill has some amazing talent back the next few years.
"We've got some young pups and I thought they played well for sophomores who have never been on this stage," she said. "It's nice to see that. Fremd is a senior-laden team by far.
"Game 1 was great, we served tough and we did a lot of good things. I thought our libero (Olivia Mellen) was outstanding. She played amazing defense."
Sophomore Claire van den Herik led Hersey (25-5) with 7 kills, followed by Dela Riva (5), Mid-Suburban East Player of the Year Allie Korba (3 kills, 15 assists), Alexa Knutson (2) and Lauren Lubbe (2).
"It's a process we are going through and every game we are going to get better," Lill added. "Give Fremd credit. They're a great team. We saw them two years ago in sectionals and now their girls are seniors so we knew this would be a battle."