Boys volleyball: Fremd's senior class celebrates win over Schaumburg

It was senior night Tuesday at Fremd, and it was also coach Curt Pinley's final Mid-Suburban West game on his home floor.

Pinley is retiring after this season, but he'll have more chances to tee it up on his home court in Palatine this year as the Vikings host an MSL crossover next week, then a playoff regional tournament.

So Tuesday was all about the senior class.

Fremd posted a 25-19, 25-18 boys volleyball win over Schaumburg before a good-sized crowd, and Pinley lauded his seniors, and their moms and dads, in his pregame talk.

"We talk about life lessons," said the longtime coach, who directs the boys and the girls programs, "and one of those lessons is about giving up more of yourself for others - and that's what your parents have done. These parents have done a fantastic job with these young men."

After the match was in the books, Pinley expanded on those comments about his seniors, saying that "this is a great bunch of guys, just in terms of who they are as people. They have each other's backs, they're friendly to one another, and they encourage one another - not only our team, but the JV team and the freshman team as well."

The Vikings opened the match with authority in improving their season record to 21-7, 5-4 in the West.

Junior Camden Seaver was strong on serve in leading the home team to a 10-3 lead in the first set.

Schaumburg rallied behind the play of Adrian Maciejewski, but Fremd kept its foot on the gas pedal and closed out the set on a kill down the line by Seaver.

The Saxons took the advantage in the second game, but senior setter Marco Boscolo put the Vikings back on top early on with an ace.

They slowly extended the lead late, and kills from senior middle blocker David Nora and junior Nick Tangney, and an ace by senior Aaron Sallade helped close out the match.

Pinley, who has earned over 1,000 wins in his career, mentioned that it is starting to sink in a little that his head coaching days at Fremd are coming to a close.

"I guess I'm beginning to get some nostalgic moments because so many people are asking about it," said the coach.

"He's been doing it the right way," added Saxons coach Tim Murphy, who is a Lake Park grad and has gone up against Pinley as a player and a coach. "He's been a mentor to his programs and I'm so happy things are going well for him in his last year."

Sallade led the Vikings on attack with 10 kills, Boscolo was 38-of-39 setting with 20 assists, while classmate Chris Kim finished 12-of-13 on serve receive.

In addition to Sallade, Nora, Boscolo and Kim, Fremd celebrated the careers of senior players Misho Metodiev, Luke Polcyn, Jackson Wolan and Justin Chiang, and team managers Konrad Liberda and Alessandro Bocedi.

"You can see the fan base we have," said Pinley. "We have a lot of kids who come out and support this team, and it's the kind of group that's easy to coach. It's been a complete pleasure this season."

Sallade, an outside hitter, said that the team is certainly aware of Pinley's upcoming retirement, but they don't dwell on it.

"Coach always says 'desperation isn't inspiration', so we try not to think about that," said the senior. "We're focused on winning."