Goldy’s Nuggets

I just wanted to thank Quincy High School’s Bethany Foster and Payson’s Ashley Oberling for their help this week.

These two volleyball players were nice enough to take time out of their IHSA state tournament experience to give us a behind the scenes look at what life at state really is like for an athlete.

They each did an outstanding job and added another dimension to our reporting. I appreciate their help and I know Quincy and Payson fans enjoyed reading their entries.

– Matt Goldberg

Quincy senior volleyball player Bethany Foster kept a diary for The Quincy Herald-Whig this week. This is her final entry, recapping the Blue Devils’ trip to state and the festivities held on Sunday in Quincy.

To wrap up our weekend of going to state, we had a firetruck ride and a welcome home reception. We departed from Kmart parking lot at 12:30 in the rain and cold with parents under umbrellas snapping shots of the Blue Devils on the firetruck.

QHS senior Bethany Foster

We traveled down Broadway to 24th and then back down Maine Street to the high school. Along the way we chanted cheers and and waved and held up the number 4. Our parents and fans drove behind us in a long processional honking the entire way.

Once we got back into the high school, we unthawed and walked into the cafeteria as a team wearing our medals and carrying our fourth place trophy. Mr. Sanders started off the reception by talking about our team and especially the girls. Then our principal, Danielle Edgar congratulated us on our state tournament play. Even Bud Niekamp, school board president, said he was proud of us.

Mayor John Spring was supposed to speak as well, but he was in a conference in San Antonio but told Lonny Lemon to congratulate us for him. Lonny Lemon and student council president Rob Cane also spoke at the reception.

Then Mr. Sanders introduced our coach, Barb Crist. She shed a few tears as she spoke about the past weekend, but ended her speech by saying how proud she was of us. Our captains, Hannah Kvitle and Abbie Foster also reflected on the weekend. After the speeches were complete we took some pictures and went our separate ways.
Thank you for letting me share my state experience with you. Thank you to all the fans who came to support us in Normal, and thank you to all the fans at home who watched online, or who anxiously waited for the news each night to find out how we did.

We couldn’t have had the spectacular season we had without you. Being a Blue Devil provided me with some of the best memories of my life and I will greatly miss my team, coaches and fans. The important thing is that we made it to the very end of the ride.

We didn’t fall off the wagon early; we made it to the very end of the high school volleyball season.

Thank you for reading and I hoped to have touched you with a little bit of the Blue Devil spirit.

Today was the ending of our state experience. We had an absolute BLAST! Last night we all went to Chuck E. Cheese, and played games and ate pizza. Yes, when you think of Chuck E. Cheese you think of a place were little kids go right? Well, we all let the kid come out of us, and had tons of fun. Since we had a fun-fulled night we decided we all would sleep in.

This morning we woke up and packed up. It was bittersweet, we were ready to be  home, but we didn’t want our state experience to be over. We arrived home at 1:30p.m. Since it was raining we couldn’t ride on the fire truck, but we were escorted into Payson by the fire truck. When we arrived to Payson, people were all gathered at the high school. Out on our gym floor was all of our trophies we have won throughout the season and chairs for everyone. The community cheered and congratulated us! Coach Speckhart had to fight back the tears when giving her speech. She was thanking everyone for the support and talking about how much it really means to us all.

The support we have received from our community was absolutely great! We had three pep buses at our games, holding 106 people, plus all of our parents and fans who came to support us. We realize how much the little kids look up to us. They have sent us good luck letters and attended our games. I don’t think I can stress how much everyones’ support means to us!

This state experience was amazing. This is something none of us will ever forget! From getting fourth in state to meeting Robin Williams, nothing could top this trip.

We are also very proud of making school history! I would like to say, that dreams do come true. This was our dream and we made it come true. I hope this experience of ours of going to state, inspires everyone to dream BIG and reach your goals.

Rock On Lady Indians 2009!!! We are Totally Bodacious!!!

Quincy senior volleyball player Bethany Foster is keeping a diary for The Quincy Herald-Whig this week. She’ll be giving us the inside scoop as the Blue Devils are at the state volleyball tournament  for the first time since 1999. This is her fourth entry, recapping Saturday at state. You can watch Saturday’s match here.

Saturday morning began almost a mirror image of Friday morning. We ate breakfast at 8:30 at the hotel and then left about 9 to support Payson and cheer them on to a third place victory. Payson won the first game and they looked dominant. Unfortunately the second and third game did not turn out in Payson’s favor.

QHS senior Bethany Foster warms up before Friday's Class 4A semifinal match at the state volleyball tournament at Redbird Arena. (Photo by Michael Kipley)

But a 4th place victory is nothing to hang your head about. They are still an excellent team and I am glad that they went to state with us. After the game we went back to our hotel and gathered our belongings and combined into 4 rooms instead of the 7 we had earlier. From there we went to Olive Garden, a favorite amongst the team. Maddy, Angela, Kaitlyn and I played euchre while we waited for our food, and Coach Barb challenged us to a game that has yet to happen. The food was delicious, and we went to go walk off our full bellies at the mall. We ended up running into a former teammate and Taylor’s family.

Some of us actually did some shopping, but others of us continued our euchre game from lunch. Curly bought us a cookie cake that said “Curly knows you’re the best.”When we got back to the hotel we “rested” for about 45 minutes, coach told us that we couldn’t go to sleep. We brought our blankets and pillows into the conference room to watch game film on Glenbrook South after our rest period and ate Curly’s cake.

After game film we packed up our stuff, hung out in the hotel rooms and Maddy, Kaitlyn, Angela and I played some more euchre. We left for our final game about 5:00. We watched the 3rd place game of the 3A class and part of the 3A championship game. We danced and cheered in the locker room, then took the floor for our last game of the season.

Warm ups went well, and our fans were louder than ever. We started the game well with a 3 or 4 point run that gave us the momentum. The lead changed a few times but we fought hard and came back with a win. Unfortunately the second and third game did not bear the same outcome. We left it all out on the court. A win would’ve been nice, but we are still proud of our 4th place finish and we are proud of our season.

Coach said after the game that we should hold our heads high because we made are the 4th best team in the state of Illinois. some tears were shed about our season coming to an end, but we wiped them off quickly to get ready for the awards ceremony. Receiving our medals and trophy was an awesome moment. Lonny Lemon gave Brittany his medal to give to her grandma who is in the hospital and was unable to make the trip.

After we received our trophy we had one final dance circle and even the coaches participated. It was a fun way to end our state tournament. They shooed us outside where we met parents and fans by the bus. We took a few more pictures and left Redbird arena.

We stopped at a McDonald’s for a bite to eat. They were getting ready to close and we greatly appreciate their service. Some Greyhound bus drivers also came into the McDonald’s and Curly started to talk buses with them. We slept the rest of the way home and pulled into the QHS parking lot about 2:15. We departed to go our separate ways back to our own beds with our medals still around our necks.

This experience was the icing on the cake for my senior year. I love all the girls and I have made so many memories with them this weekend and this season. It has been an honor to be their teammate. Thank you to all who support and love Quincy volleyball.

We appreciate your loyalty and your voices. I couldn’t have asked for a better season.

Payson junior volleyball player Ashley Oberling is keeping a diary for The Quincy Herald-Whig this week. She’ll be giving us the inside scoop as the Lady Indians are at state for the first time since 1988. This is her fifth entry, recapping Saturday’s activities. You can watch Saturday’s third-place match here.

Payson players cheer on the Lady Indians during the final set against Mount Pulaski in the IHSA Class 1A state tournament semifinals. (Photo by Alex Reside)

Today was a very eventful day! First we played for third or fourth place. Our first game we came out with that fire in our eyes. The second and third games we lost our intensity, we ended up not coming out on top. Even though we wanted to be playing in the championship game, we are still really proud of our accomplishments.

When we received our medals the feelings were intense. We were all very excited that we reached our goals. When walking up on the stage to get our medals, it really hit me that we had accomplished what we wanted, it felt awesome! After we got our medals, we all held hands, just as a reminder that we couldn’t have done it without each and every person on the team.

When we finished writing our cards, we all got ready to go support the Quincy Blue Devils. Right before we left the hotel we saw ROBIN WILLIAMS!! He was staying in our hotel and was leaving just as we saw him. We were all so excited!

My teammate Alyssa Smith told him that we were the fourth place team in the state. He said “Congrats” with a thumbs up sign! Of course you would think with thirteen girls someone would at least get a picture right? Well we didn’t. We were just too excited! Meeting Robin Williams and winning fourth place in the state all in the same day, equals an awesome day!!

I would like to congratulate the Quincy Blue Devils on a great season as well! Beings that two schools, that are very close together both came out fourth in state is a great accomplishment!!

Quincy senior volleyball player Bethany Foster is keeping a diary for The Quincy Herald-Whig this week. She’ll be giving us the inside scoop as the Blue Devils make their second appearance at the IHSA state volleyball tournament. This is her third entry, recapping Friday at state. You can watch video of Friday’s match here.

By BETHANY FOSTER
QHS senior volleyball player

We began the day at 8:30 and ate breakfast at the hotel. At 9:00 we left to go to the arena to cheer on Payson. Unfortunately Payson did not come out with a victory.

QHS senior Bethany Foster

After the game we came back to the hotel for a study session. I’m not sure how much studying we got done. We were pretty excited for the game.

Our study session only lasted an hour, and after we stretched our brains all that we could we went to Jimmy Johns for lunch. We came back to the hotel to watch game film on LaGrange. Then we had about 3 hours of down time to ourselves which some people spent sleeping, just hanging out, on the computer or playing euchre.

The euchre game got pretty intense and caused a lot of commotion. We left for the game at 5:00. We watched the two 3A games and then went to the locker room to prepare for the game. We screamed lots of cheers in the locker room and did our traditional dancing to get pumped up.

When we took the court we were extremely excited to play. Our fans were cheering louder than ever. Unfortunately taking the floor at ISU did not reveal the outcome that we wanted. After the game coach reiterated that tomorrow is a new day. Our team is taking that to heart and we are looking forward to a win for 3rd place tomorrow night at 6:45.

Payson junior volleyball player Ashley Oberling is keeping a diary for The Quincy Herald-Whig this week. She’ll be giving us the inside scoop as the Lady Indians make their first state tournament appearance since 1988. This is her fourth entry, recapping Friday’s activities:

By ASHLEY OBERLING
Payson junior volleyball player

Today was the big day. We all got up and were ready to go. When we entered the  gym the nerves were starting to flow. We went into the locker room got ready and then sat down as a team to evaluate our game plan.

Our quote written on the board was “The Heart of a Champion.”

Payson junior Ashley Oberling

We wanted to be playing in the championship game. When we walked out onto the floor we all held hands and walked out as a team in somewhat of a celebration that we had accomplished our goal of getting to state. Our first game, we played well, we came out and won! The next two games seemed less intense and less energetic. We ended up losing the games.

It is hard to accept that we lost, but we have to let that exit our minds and come back tomorrow and fight and win third. After the game we had family time. We met up with our parents and got to spend the afternoon with them. At five we all met at Red Lobster to eat as a team. When we finished we went to support the QHS Blue Devils.

They came to support us during our game, so we did the same for them. It’s awesome that two schools so close together have been given the chance at a state title.

Here is the video of the Payson-Mount Pulaski match.

I also wanted to point out two things to you on ihsa.org

1) I do not believe the scoring in the third set box score of the Payson-Mount Pulaski Class 1A semifinal match is correct.

Payson took a 1-0 lead. Mount Pulaski took a 5-1 lead and Payson cut it to 5-2 on a Lady Topper service error.

Mount Pulaski led by scores of 8-2, 9-4 and 12-5.

2) Quincy High School’s correct record is 37-3 heading into tonight’s semifinal game against LaGrange Lyons Township. It is incorrect on ihsa.org because the Oct. 10  25-11, 25-13 win over Jacksonville during the semifinals of the Quincy High School Invitational is not included.

The following are audio clips after Mount Pulaski defeated Payson 19-25, 25-17, 25-20 in Friday morning’s Class 1A state tournament semifinal game at Redbird Arena.

Payson plays Toledo Cumberland at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday in the Class 1A third-place match.

Rita Speckhart feels the Lady Indians will be hungry to finish third and pick up the school’s first state tournament victory on Saturday against Toledo Cumberland

Payson senior Alyssa Smith feels the Lady Indians will be pumped to prove themselves in Saturday’s third-place match

Payson senior Stephanie Harris and the Lady Indians opened up Friday’s semifinal match strong — taking a 9-4 lead en route to winning the opening set in Friday’s semifinals.

• Lyons Township coach Joann Pyritz earned her 600th victory as a girls varsity volleyball coach on Oct. 17, according to Jack McCarthy’s article on chicagotribune.com. Pyritz has coached all of her 21 years at Lyons — accumulating a 608-212 record. She also has more than 300 victories as a boys coach.

• Pyritz led the Lions to a state championship in 1989, her first season coaching the Lyons girls.

• According to the 1st Alliance Volleyball Club’s Web site, both junior 6-foot-2 outside hitter Jocelynn Birks and sophomore 6-foot setter Alexis Viliunas have committed to the University of Illinois.
• Birks (340 kills), Laura Williams (224 kills) and Viliunas (204 kills) lead the Lions’ offense.
• Lyons Township runs a 6-2 offense, with junior Erin Juley and Viliunas at the setter positions. According to pioneerlocal.com, Juley verbally committed to Division I Long Beach State in July.
• Lyons is the only team in the Class 4A final four to ever win a volleyball state championship. They won state titles in 1975 and 1989.
• The Lions had a 27-match winning streak snapped on Oct. 17 and lost three of their final five regular-season matches.