The Barrington High School girls volleyball team dropped a 3-0 match against LaSalle Academy in the Division I playoff quarterfinals on Wednesday night, Nov. 4. 

The Eagles lost the first set, 25-21, but pushed the Rams to the limit in the second set. Despite trailing by as many as 10 points, Barrington powered back to tie the second set score at 23-23. Just two more points would give Barrington the second set win, evening the match and providing some much-needed confidence. It also would have marked the first time this season when the Eagles took a set off the Rams. 

With the score tied, the Eagles had the serve but LaSalle managed the side-out. A moment later, the Rams scored again and grabbed a two sets to none lead. LaSalle won the third set, 25-16.

Barrington Coach Ron Enos said his team battled hard against LaSalle all match, with leads swinging back and forth.

“But there were a couple of moments where we had service errors at inopportune times,” Enos said. “Those things swing momentum pretty quick.”

The Eagles worked to push LaSalle out of its offensive system, but the Rams’ powerful outside hitters proved hard to counter. 

“Their two outside hitters were really pounding the ball,” Enos said. “If we could have slowed one of them down…

“We were confident coming into the match. We were loose. We got there about an hour early. We were anxious to see what we could do.”

Enos said he was very proud of his team and its effort in the playoffs and throughout the regular season. Last year, Barrington competed in Division II, but moved up to D-I this season. 

“They certainly belonged in Division I,” Enos said. 

Enos said Lale Coskun played well in the quarterfinal match against LaSalle, finishing with six kills. Skyler Roloff, Melissa Freshman and Heidi Muehlbauer were serving at 100 percent, said Enos. And Riley Fogarty was again a standout contributor — the senior had nine kills and 10 digs. 

“She’s a good all-around player,” Enos said. 

Enos said he will graduate five seniors from this year’s team: Fogarty, Freshman, sisters Anna and Heidi Muehlbauer, and Indira Malik. 

“We had a good effort all around,” Enos said, adding that there were ups and downs during the season. “We ended up with steady improvement.”