HT Fall Sports: Gvb FINAL Wrap

HT drops Regional vb final to Francis Parker -- volleyball action from Halloween evening 10.31.2019 -- Francis Parker def. HT 25-9; 24-26; 25-23.

Sometimes winning isn't the only thing a young team learns from a volleyball contest. Case in point: Holy Trinity playing for the regional title at Francis Parker on Halloween evening (10.31.2019) last week.
It was a 3-game contest for Holy Trinity, with the first set a disappointing 25-9 loss to the host Lady Colonels who befuddled the Tigers with ace serves and spiking attacks that allowed Parker to dominate the first set.

In this initial game, HT took its only lead at 1-0 on Francis Parker's opening missed serve.
Things went downhill from there as Parker moved to a 7-3 lead before an injury timeout by the Tigers halted things briefly.
Parker then continued to put points on the board gaining leads at 15-8 and a 24-9 before closing out at 25-9 to put game one in the books.

GAME TWO:
Holy Trinity head coach Marcelina Tokarczyk then used the time between game 1 and two to challenge her young squad -- made up of only three seniors
on the 14-person squad tonight, AND with two frosh and three juniors in the starting lineup to boot!
Tokarczyk gathered her squad and told them, "No matter what the score, how you played early on, KEEP performing the basic skills of volleyball and good things will come your way!"

So the Tigers listened and did just that: individually taking a DEEP breath and proceeding to play some of their best volleyball of the season, putting Parker on their heels in games two and three, and causing the hosts to realize that this MATCH was not over by a long SHOT!

ON TO THE ACTION:
Game two was a back-and-forth affair thru the first three servers for each team before HT's Jocelyn Salgado tied together four serves in a row to move HT to a 7 to 5 lead forcing Parker into their first timeout of the game. Also in this stretch, HT frosh middle hitter Kyra Hayes picked up three of her 4 blocks on the evening, startling the host Colonels in the process.

HT frosh hitter Breona Valdez then put together a four point service run to extend HT's lead to 13 to 5 before Parker closed with 3 points of their own and a 13 to 9 Tiger lead.

Next Senior Jenifer Rios moved HT up at 18-13 with two service points before things once again went back-and forth with HT gaining points 19, 20 and 21 but Parker countering with three points of their own to tie things up at 21-all forcing an HT timeout.

After the timeout, Junior Alyssa Hernandez picked up one block and a kill to give the Tigers a 23-22 lead.

But Parker then took advantage of 2 ball handling errors on HT to move to a 24-23 advantage and a possible Colonel sweep.

The Tigers would have nothing of this though, as Salgado put down a kill to tie the contest at 24-all and Rios finished things off for the Tigers, serving points 25 and 26 and the win to even things up at one game each with the 26-24 victory.

GAME THREE:
In the deciding third game, Parker moved to a 9-6 lead thru the first rotation of servers and then to a 15-13 Parker's advantage, before HT regrouped to tie matters at 16-all on two service points by Junior Lizette Gallegos.

Next HT's Rios got 3 service points and HT led 20 to 16 before the Colonels came back with four points of their own and once again we were tied at 20-all.

The Tigers' Hernandez then got 2 straight kills and HT led 23-21 before the Colonels took it to the visitors with four clinching service points and a game three win at 25-23.

POST MATCH:
One could see that the Lady Tigers were disappointed in the setback but Coach Tokarczyk was quick to point out to her squad: "Didn't you feel like you actually 'won'
this match? You played so well after the slow start. You played with and for each other," she commented.
So even though HT did not advance to the sectional match of this state series, one could feel a sense of pride in how the team played after their slow start.

For Coach Tokarczyk and her staff, the hardest part on the evening was meeting with the seniors afterwards, as this was their last contest of their high school careers.
One could see the emotion of that moment coming to the forefront in final comments between players and coaches.
And even the juniors were reminded: "Remember the disappointment of this setback and use this as a motivating tool for your senior year," added Coach T.

HT finished the 2019 fall season with a record of 13 wins and 9 losses. They finished in third place in the Chicago Prep Conference tourney and featured two All-Conference players: Jennifer Rios and Moshay Turner.
For this regional title match, HT was led by Alyssa Hernandez (9 kills, three blocks); Kyra Hayes (six kills; four blocks); Jennifer Rios (12 set assist,
2 digs); Moshay Turner (9 digs, three service points); Jocelyn Salgado (six service points, 3 kills); Lizette Gallegos (2 service points, five digs); and
Braona Valdez (four service points, 2 kills).
SERVING: Holy Trinity: 58 serve attempts with 55 made for a 95% average and four ace serves; FRANCIS PARKER: 71 serve attempts with 63 made for an 88% average and 10 aces.

HT Girls Volleyball 2019-20 VARSITY ROSTER
Jersey # First Last Name POSITION Grade Level
1 - 11 Kailyn Adames OH Jr.
2 --8 Makyla Carroll OH Fr.
3 --9 Susi Delgado OH Jr.
4 --2 Lizette Gallegos OH Jr.
5 - 16 Kyra Hayes MH/MB Fr.
6 - 40 Alyssa Hernandez MH/MB Jr.
7- 18 Paola Ramirez OH Fr.
8 - 12 Jennifer Rios S Sr.
9 -14 Jocelyne Salgado OH Jr.
10 - 19 Yadira Santoyo MH/MB Sr.
11 --3 Moshay Turner L Sr.
12 -21 Breona Valdez RH/S Fr.
13 -17 Niyah Williams MH/MB So.
14 --1 Meriam Sung OH Jr.

HT Junior Varsity team featured: Mitzi Flores; Nicole Styskun; Blessing Nkezea; Mya Zavala; Mahogany Bowen; Tori Jackson; Meriam Sung; Destiny Phillips; Karis Kelly; Patricia Ezeanyim; and Sabrina Espinoza.

KUDOS to the HT Lady Tiger coaching staff who all deserve acknowledgment for the effort put forward by their young charges. They are led by Coach
Tokarczyk and her staff: Qiana Young (a 1998 HT grad) and Tom Raehl.

LADY TIGER VB NOTES: This year's regional visit was the fourth consecutive regional appearance for coach Marcelina Tokarczyk and her Tigers.
Fall 2016 -- lost to Francis Parker: 14 wins; 7 loses;
Fall 2017 -- won vs. Francis Parker: 26 wins; 2 losses;
Fall 2018 -- won vs. Disney II: 20 wins; 7 loses;
Fall 2019 -- lost vs. Francis Parker: 13 wins; 9 loses.

Coach T. in this time period has earned a 74% percentage, winning 73 matches against just 25 setbacks.
In the next few days, Major Varsity awards will be announced and presented as well as the individual awards to the two teams.

HT Athletics by T. Poprawski posted 11/05/2019 @ 10:40 a.m.