A few coaching milestones were reached last week.
Lyons coach Joann Pyritz earned her 600th career victory when the Lions defeated New Trier 20-25, 25-22, 25-19 in the quarterfinals of the Maine West Pumpkin Tournament.
Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne earned her 400th career win when the Bulldogs defeated Downers Grove South 25-17, 25-19 at Maine West.
If you took the top four coaches at the 24-team Maine West tournament and added their number of wins, you would come up with a staggering 2,700 victories..
Peg Kopec of St. Francis has more than 1,000, Hersey’s Nancy Lill eclipsed the 700-mark this season, Pyritz has 600-plus and Trippi-Payne now has more than 400.
“If you hang around long enough, you’re going to win a few matches,” Pyritz said.
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Lyons added to that coaching mark by defeating Hinsdale Central 20-25, 25-23, 25-20 on Tuesday in LaGrange. But if a team ever deserved a win based purely on hustle points, it was Hinsdale Central.
At least twice in the match, the Lyons players started celebrating points only to see the ball come back at them. The first was a save right in front of the Hinsdale Central bench, and the second was a remarkable dig off the floor.
The “up” official, perhaps not believing that anybody could have saved the second ball, blew the point over. But after a short conference with the “down” official, the point was replayed.
Hinsdale Central lost after squandering leads of 20-16 in Game 2 and 19-15 in Game 3, but the two teams could meet again in a Class 4A semifinal in Bloomington. That is, if Lyons can get past McAuley.
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Just wondering, Part I: Hampshire vs. Burlington Central in a regional final? Whose brilliant idea was that?
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Just wondering, Part II: Joliet Catholic vs. St. Francis in a sectional final? Whose brilliant idea was that?
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Just wondering, Part III: After a Public League team had never reached the state semifinal in volleyball, could three-time defending city champion Payton make it back-to-back trips to Bloomington?
The Grizzlies would have to get past Nazareth, Riverside-Brookfield and Trinity in the sectional and most likely Crystal Lake Central in the supersectional. By the way, Crystal Lake Central coach Doug Blundy? More than 740 wins.
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Just wondering, Part IV: Mother McAuley, what took you so long?
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Joliet Catholic was ranked No. 9 in the country in last week’s Prepvolleyball.com rankings. Other Illinois teams in the top 100 were No. 28 Lyons, No. 49 St. Francis, No. 52 Benet, No. 73 Moline, No. 75 St. Charles East, No. 78 Hinsdale Central and No. 99 Glenbrook South.
There should be a major shuffling among several of the Illinois teams after Lyons, Benet, Moline and Hinsdale Central all suffered losses.
