Sectional Semifinal vs. Prairie Ridge

From The Daily Herald

Experience shows as Prairie Ridge stops Barrington
By Dave Hess

Barrington High School first-year girls volleyball coach Kathleen Russell just watched in amazement.

Russell was impressed with undefeated and top-ranked Prairie Ridge after the Wolves defeated the No. 4 Fillies 25-15, 25-21 in a Hoffman Estates Class AA sectional semifinal Tuesday night.

“PR is such a seasoned and experienced team,” said Russell. “They have five seniors who played a lot last season and we have two seniors. We are very young and inexperienced.

“We were very nervous at the beginning of the first game and froze out there. But, overall we played well and with a lot of effort.”

Prairie Ridge (38-0) will play No. 5 seeded and cross-town rival Crystal Lake Central (31-7) for the sectional crown at 7 p.m. Thursday. Central toppled No. 6 Lake Zurich 25-22, 25-23.

Barrington, which ends its season 22-15, played the Wolves tough during the early portion of Game 1. An ace by Lauren Weidner gave the Fillies a 10-8 advantage.

But, Prairie Ridge roared back courtesy of the outstanding combination of junior setter Hillary Haen and junior hitter Jackie Nissen. Nissen, off 5 assists from Haen, delivered 5 kills along with 2 aces from Mallory Ladd and Prairie Ridge reeled off 11 straight points to take a 19-10 lead.

Barrington never recovered as the Wolves won Game 1 capped by a kill from Haen.

Prairie Ridge transferred the momentum from the end of Game 1 to the beginning of Game 2. A kill by Sarah Osmun propelled the Wolves to an early 10-3 lead.

However, the Fillies methodically whittled away their deficit and got within 20-19 after an ace by Autumn Worozaken. But they couldn’t get any closer as a kill by Ashley Doherty gave the Wolves the victory.

Nissen led Prairie Ridge with 10 kills and Amanda Heesch delivered 7 kills. Haen had 33 set assists, 5 kills and 3 aces for the winners.

“We were a little slow at the beginning and we didn’t have our rhythm,” said Haen. “We finally got some energy and Jackie (Nissen) had some great kills. I just kept setting her because she was on.

“It is always awesome to beat Barrington. Coach (Stephanie) Otto impresses upon us that every match in the tournament is a one-game series. We were 1-0 tonight and we move on to Thursday.”

Worozaken led the Fillies with 4 kills while Lexi Zimmerman had 12 assists.

“We played well enough to win,” Otto said. “We weren’t in rhythm and didn’t do anything well except maybe serve well. We need to play better Thursday.”