Barrington edges out Hersey for conference

Updated: October 21, 2011 7:53AM

Olivia Szuszkiewicz came up huge in the biggest match of her season…so far.

The 5-foot-8 senior outside hitter, recently named the Mid-Suburban League West Division Player of the Year, had nine kills and three aces to lead Barrington (27-7) to a 25-20, 25-22 victory over Hersey in the conference championship match Thursday in Barrington.

The league title was the first for Barrington since 2006, the last time the Fillies reached the state semifinal, and two years before Szuszkiewicz entered high school.

“Being a senior, this means so much,” Szuszkiewicz said. “It’s like saying that you want to go out with a bang coming true. That desire that everyone has their senior year. Saying ‘I want to finish strong. I want to be on top.’

“This win really does show it all fits together like a puzzle piece,” she added.

Junior Peyton Lang had nine kills and junior Lauren Schechtman added six kills and two blocks for Barrington, which built an 18-6 lead in Game One and had to hold on for dear life after Hersey (25-5) pulled within 22-18 on a kill by Maggie Hogen.

“Game One was kind of a combination,” Barrington coach Rob Ridenour said. “We played really well at the start, I don’t think Hersey was playing up to its ability, and they made a really strong charge. They’re a great team.

“To be honest, I was more relieved than anything else when we closed out Game One because they were charging pretty fast,” he added. “It’s just a testament to how confident these girls are that they started Game Two great, and that was good to see.”

Barrington raced to a 17-11 lead in Game Two, but Hersey again made a run to close within 19-16 before Szuszkiewicz buried back-to-back kills to extend the lead to 21-16.

“Olivia does everything for us,” Ridenour said. ”She’s probably our second-best server, our best defensive player and one of our best offensive players. Any time you have a girl like that, who’s solid at every skill, it just kind of holds your team together.”

Hersey made one final push to get within 24-22 on a kill by Kelsey Haas and a Barrington net violation. But Fillies’ senior setter Lauren Dunseith (24 assists) put the finishing touches on the match with a dump to the open middle.

Hogen led Hersey with eight kills, Kristen Pedersen added three kills and three blocks and setter Abby Fesl had 17 assists.

“This was one of the worst matches we’ve had all year,” Hersey coach Nancy Lill said. “Error, error, error, error, error. I don’t know if the pressure got to us. This is not our team, yet as bad as we played, they were close games.

“Give Barrington all the credit in the world,” she added. “They came out ready to go.They came after us.They played consistent volleyball, and their outside hitter had a feast had a feast on us. More power to them. They were definitely the better team tonight.”

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