Competition Night In Lisle!

Let me start off this post by thanking everyone at Benet Academy in Lisle for their warm hospitality and cooperation these past two days! On Monday Afternoon we held a lunchroom live special and had lots of excitement and participation from the students. It's always great to interview coaches and the players, but when we get a chance to interact with the entire student body we get a great sense of what the school is all about. Benet Academy is about community and togetherness. The volleyball team came up to be interviewed as an entire group. As intimidating as it was to Dr. Pete, Danny V, and Myself, we realized that these girls were great friends off the court. As the were up interviewing the students were tuning into what the players were saying and reacting accordingly. We then challenged the students to show up and go all out in support of their team with the best decked out fan being declared the super-fan and winning a t-shirt! I originally offered to put their picture on the sportstownchicago.com website, but Dr. Pete upped the offer to a free t-shirt! As if that wasn't enough Courtney Cross from ICB-TV filmed the winning students as I am proud to say that five students showed up with BENET painted on their chests.

Not only was the student support great, but the entire volleyball program was on hand while the Varsity took on Bishop Mac. It was competition night for coach Brad Baker and his squad. Unlike other nights, it was a chance for the starters to sit and the reserves and underclassmen to step up and show everyone their talents. Coach Baker started the tradition when he came to Benet Academy 4 years ago as a way to reward those that worked hard, sacrificed, and dedicated their time and effort to getting better each and everyday. The players that were out there for Benet Academy were more than talented enough to be starters and it was clear that they had earned the right to play.

On the other side of the court was Bishop Mac. A program that is the epitomy of competition. Head Coach April Bufford said before the game that while their record may not be the best, her Fightin' Irish were large in heart and character. On the court Bishop Mac was battling point for point with Benet trying to upset a Top 10 team on the road. Not an easy task to do, and it was compounded with one of the loudest gyms for high school volleyball. Game 1 didn't go as planned for Bishop Mac, but they didn't go away with out a fight. They fought back in Game 2 to put the pressure on the home team. While the Fightin' Irish lost the game, there are plenty of positives to take away from the game. They have a young team that started out slow, but as the game progressed they gained confidence in their ability and their timing seemed more in sync. As I Called commentary and analysis for the JV/Sophomore game I noticed that this same trend existed with the underclassmen. With some offseason repetitions and some time for this team to grow together, it isn't too hard to imagine them becoming a team above .500! More importantly they should know that they are very capable of knocking off a higher seed in the state playoffs if they play like they did in the second game.

While Bishop Mac has good reason to hold their heads high and look forward to the future, Benet Academy has good reason to have high expectations going into the post-season. Both programs were competitive while remaining classy and that makes it a lot of fun as a broadcaster!

Best of Luck to Both Programs!

A-Lo

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