Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne reaches milestone

Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne hit a milestone last weekend at the Plainfield North Invitational, notching her 500th career win.

“The kids knew and the parents knew. I didn’t tell them but everybody jumped on me,” Trippi-Payne said after the Bronze Division semifinal victory over the Libertyville JV 25-19, 25-23.

There wasn’t much time for celebration, however.

“We had another match to play right away, the Bronze championship against Crystal Lake South,” Trippi-Payne said.

The Bulldogs fell 25-21, 25-18 in that match.

“We just did not have an answer for University of Cincinnati-bound outside hitter Carly Nolan,” said Trippi-Payne, who is in her 28th season leading the Bulldogs.

The Bronze runnerup finish means the Bulldogs took 18th of 24 teams in the field.

Trippi-Payne added win 501 with a victory at Streamwood in Tuesday’s Upstate Eight River opener for both teams. The Bulldogs then dropped a decision at home to Glenbard South on Wednesday and stand 3-5 for the season.

Wolves step it up

Three other area teams were also in the field at Plainfield North, and Oswego came away with the strongest showing.

Coach Adam Thurlwell’s Wolves knocked off Crystal Lake South and dropped a decision to Shepard to finish second in their pool and move on to the eight-team Silver Division where they beat Hinsdale South and Rosary before falling to St. Charles North in the Silver title match. It means the Wolves took 10th of 24 teams.

Rosary was 11th.

Oswego also played in the tourney and went 1-4, but coach Traci Weiss was encouraged by the fact that the Panthers continue to be in their matches. Three of their losses in the tourney went to three games.

Oswego East senior outside hitter Kelly Bertrand was named to the all-tournament team.

Tournaments on tap

Geneva and West Aurora will both be hosting tournaments on Saturday.

The Vikings, who entered Thursday night’s non-conference home match with West Aurora at 3-0, moved into the No. 10 spot in Phil Brozynski’s Chicago Sun-Times rankings for Chicagoland volleyball teams this week.

The eight-team Geneva Varsity Invite begins with pool play at 9 a.m. with Burlington Central, Illinois Math & Science, Morris and Geneva 1 in the blue pool and Aurora Central, DeKalb, Geneva 2 and Joliet Catholic in the white pool.

Top two teams from each pool will meet in the semifinals at 1 p.m., followed by the title and third-place matches at 3 p.m.

West Aurora Invitational: The Blackhawks’ will host a 12-team tourney that includes Bartlett, Evergreen Park, Genoa-Kingston, Glenbard South, Plainfield East, Plainfield South, Romeoville, South Elgin, Streamwood, Sycamore and Wheaton Academy.

Action begins at 8:30 a.m. with the title match set for late afternoon.

Kaneland’s Ellie Dunn was named to the all-tournament team at the recent Wheaton North Invitational.