Fremd volleyball coach Dave Boze knows the importance of staying cool under fire, especially in the big games.
“Players are the reflection of their coach,” said Boze. “In the old days I used to go crazy and nervous, and so my players got crazy and nervous. I’ve changed and mellowed, and so have my players.”
The third-ranked `mellow’ Vikings scored another big win Wednesday evening, taking the Mid-Suburban League boys volleyball championship with a decisive 15-4, 15-10 win over no. 4 Prospect.
Fremd (25-3) took control early, breaking a 3-3 tie in game one by scoring 12 of the next 13 points, including 10 straight. The Vikings reaped great benefits from the sloppy of Prospect (30-3). Knight errors accounted for five of Fremd’s points during the game one surge.
The trend continued in game two as Fremd jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead, thanks mostly to five point-producing Prospect miscues. Despite the mental mistakes, the Knights refused to fold easily.
A furious Prospect rally, led by senior Kevin Hallen (21 assists), erased Fremd’s lead and tied the game at seven. The Vikings, however, answered quickly with a 7-1 burst of their own. Prospect managed to quicken the pulse of Fremd fans with several late points, but the verdict was all but decided.
“We gave them six of those seven points,” said Boze, whose club has now handed Prospect two of its three losses within the last 10 days. “We were still in control of the match. I told them to stay aggressive and everything would fall into place.”
Mid-Suburban North Player of the Year Eric Tellschow led Fremd with 11 kills, but had strong support from Woytek Kawczynski (8 kills, 14 assists), Dodson Oliver (10 kills), and Chris Barker (7 kills).
“We really gelled this game,” said Tellschow. “We set everybody this game instead of just me Woytek and Barker. That really helped us moving the sets around like that.
Boze was equally impressed with his team’s well-rounded offense.
“We came at them from the middle, we came at them from the left and right, we came at them from the back row,” he said. “I’ve been hard on my players all year long verbally, but today I want to say that this team is good.”
