Girls volleyball: Barrington knocks off Fremd; Final Four up next

Winning girls volleyball supersectionals had become a tradition in the 2000s when Barrington won four, the last in 2007.

Strike up the band again.

"The tradition is back," said eighth-year Barrington coach Michelle Jakubowski after her team took a 25-20, 21-25, 25-18 triumph over Fremd on Friday in the Class 4A Lake Zurich supersectional.

The Fillies (33-7) will meet Metea Valley (38-2) on Friday at 8:30 p.m. at Illinois State's Redbird Arena in a state semifinal.

"I can't wait for it," said Fillies junior Jessica Horwath, who put down 14 kills followed by classmate Campbell Paris (11). "We've worked really hard for this. It was our goal for the end of the season. Now we want to keep it going. One more bus ride, one more match. We made it as far as possible so far and now we just have to win our next match and the one after that."

"I'm super proud of our girls," Jakubowski said. "They have worked so hard and they're honestly a team that truly loves each other and they have bought into everything we have talked about. From our bench players, to the lower levels to the student section, we are just one big family."

The Fillies won Friday's match after splitting Mid-Suburban League West matches with Fremd (37-3). Both teams won in two sets on their home floor and were conference co-champions.

"We had the MSL West supersectional here," said Fremd's Curt Pinley, who announced his retirement earlier this fall after coaching the girls' program for more than 20 seasons.

"When all is said and done, that's pretty impressive about the league we play and the kind of volleyball we are playing. The bottom line is that we made too many errors. We needed to play a little cleaner. That was the difference but what a fantastic season these girls had."

The first set was tied 12-12 when the Fillies took command for good on 3 service points from Horwath, who began the run with a tip kill. She then served an ace followed by a net violation of the 15-12 Fillies' lead.

Fremd never got closer than 2 points the rest of the way. Leading 22-20, Barrington put away the set on 3 hitting errors.

Samantha Gump served Fremd to a 6-0 lead in the second set, collecting 2 aces. The big rally also included a kill (dandy no-look second attack) and block by Rian Baker, and kills from Rylen Reid (13 kills) and Claudia Wala (8 kills).

Barrington got back to within 6-4 with 3 straight points from Gwen Adler (2 kills, 17 assists).

The set was tied at 11 and 13 when Fremd went ahead for good when Reid made two terrific saves to set up a kill by Wala for the 14-13 lead. Fremd went ahead 19-15 on Gump's back row kill and Barrington never got closer than 2. Kills by Wala and Gump set up the decisive third set.

Barrington jumped ahead 5-0 in the final set as Sarah Jensen recorded all the points.

"Having that strong start fueled by Sarah's serving really helped us," said Horwath, who also had 16 digs. "Our energy pulled us through in that third set."

Wala's block of an overpass and an ace by Isabela Segoviano got Fremd to within 9-8 but the Fillies surged back ahead 13-8 with 4 service points from Jenna Meitzler (11 assists, 2 kills), including an ace which made it 12-8 and forced Pinley to call a timeout. A block by Berkeley Poder made it 13-8 before Wala's tip ended the rally.

"We just told ourselves first to 5 points, 10, 15, 20 and 25 and we did it," Horwath said. "We knew Fremd was a great team and we would have to work hard for this. We were fueled by each other and knew if we worked together we could do it."

Back-to-back blocks by Meitzler and Bre Dunn made it 21-15. An ace by Jensen (3 for the match) made it 23-17 before back-to-back kills by Paris eventually closed out the match.

"It feels amazing," said Horwath after Barrington's ninth supersectional win. "We knew it would be a tough one; Fremd is a big rivalry. But we also knew we had gotten better over the course of the year and we wanted to show everyone what we've been practicing for and playing with heart on the floor helped us pull through."

"I really can't believe it," said senior libero Amanda Cleary, who had 19 digs. "I've got to credit our incredible coaching staff and the way our girls all came together as a team. We love each other and we just wanted this all season. Regardless of what happened in the conference or tournaments this season, this has been our end goal. It's just unbelievable I'm so grateful for all the girls on this team."

Pinley was grateful to his final group of seniors (Baker, Reid, Wala, Segoviano, Gump, Sara Graham, Maddie DiGirolamo, Anna Grubb, Maive Miller, Delaney Swider and Elaina Rizzo) who helped the team to the school record for wins.

"They were such a great group and did such a great job," said Pinley, who guided the Vikes to three sectional titles and a fourth place at state in 2019.

"I'm going to miss them terribly. They put in an awful lot of work and really represented our school well. Our coaching staff has been phenomenal and I'm going to miss that as well. It's been a nice ride, indeed."