Girls volleyball: Fremd rolls to another regional title

Retiring David Dick supervised his final girls volleyball match on Thursday night in the role of Fremd's athletic director, a position he has held the past nine years.

At the same time, retiring Curt Pinley was coaching his final girls game at Fremd after a 30-year head coaching career (more than 1,000 wins combined as Fremd's girls coach and as Palatine and Fremd's boys coach).

So after Fremd's 25-7, 25-18 victory over No. 6-seeded Niles North (21-16) in the Class 4A Fremd regional championship, it couldn't have been more fitting that Dick presented the winning plaque to Pinley's team.

"They're amazing people," said Vikes senior libero Isabela Segoviano (3 digs and 8-of-9 serve receiving). "I wish them the best of luck with whatever they want to do in the future. I love watching Pinley's face light up knowing that we are making his last season one of his best."

Pinley's 35-2 Vikings, seeded No. 3, will face No. 2 Loyola in (31-6) Monday's 6:30 p.m. semifinal of the Schaumburg sectional.

"It's been a program that has been on the rise and good for a lot of years," Dick said of Pinley's 23-year career as the girls coach. "And the nice thing is the consistency the program has shown from year to year."

Consistency was the name of the game on Thursday as the Mid-Suburban League champions kept the pressure on start to finish, winning their fourth regional crown in their last five tries.

"I think we kept the pressure on them," Pinley said. "We were very loose and I thought very fluid with how we played. I'm really proud of them for their accomplishments this season. Now we need to refocus and move forward to Monday."

Fremd drew away to a 12-4 lead in the first set, following 3 straight points from server Maeve Miller (9-of-9 serving for the match). Claudia Wala (4 kills, 2 aces) had back-to-back blocks for the 11th and 12 points.

The lead was extended to 21-7 after back to back blocks by Anna Grub and Baker (17 assists, 4 kills) eventually wrapped up the set with 3 straight points, including an ace to end it.

Samantha Gump (2 kills) began the second set with 2 aces for a quick 2-0 lead. The score was tied at 3-3 when Fremd took the lead for good when Rylen Reid and Grubb combined for a block.

A kill by Jena Vukic and hitting error by Fremd got the Skokie girls (21-16) to within 8-7 but Fremd pulled away to a 17-10 lead with Reid putting down 3 of her match-high 12 kills during the 9-3 run. Miller wrapped up the match with the final 2 service points.

"Fremd is solid all the way around," said Niles North coach Terri Vander Jeugdt. "They're bigger, faster and stronger and that happens when teams from the north get into the Mid-Suburban League. We are less experienced, too. We were in a rebuilding year after graduating six seniors and returning only two players."

In addition to winning their third MSL title in program history last week, Fremd now has 11 regional titles.

"It's an awesome experience," Segoviano added. "I'm blessed to be able to play with such amazing girls and I get to play with them in club volleyball as well. It's been amazing."

"The girls have always done a nice job of stepping up late in the season when they've needed to," Pinley said. "We talk about what they need to do in practice and before matches. But the nice thing is that they tend to stay very focused on their own. I tend to not have to spend a lot of time making sure they are ready."