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wilmettebeacondaily.com SPORTS<br />
the wilmette beacon | November 14, 2019 | 43<br />
Girls Volleyball Coach of the Year<br />
Rupnik leads Scouts to 28 wins,<br />
regional title in first season<br />
Girls Volleyball Player of the Year<br />
Thrash’s consistent play guides<br />
Scouts to turnaround season<br />
Nick Frazier, Sports Editor<br />
Nick Frazier, Sports Editor<br />
A former defensive specialist<br />
and team captain at<br />
Lake Forest College, Tia<br />
Rupnik excelled at preparing<br />
for what opposing<br />
teams would do. Knowing<br />
what to expect and reacting<br />
accordingly is a crucial<br />
part of the position.<br />
Yet Rupnik admitted she<br />
didn’t know what to expect<br />
in her first season as<br />
head coach of the Scouts.<br />
“If you were to ask me<br />
before the season started<br />
what I thought our record<br />
would be, I wouldn’t have<br />
even known what to guess<br />
at the time,” Rupnik said.<br />
After totaling just 22<br />
wins in two seasons,<br />
Lake Forest rebounded<br />
with Rupnik at the helm<br />
in 2019. The Scouts went<br />
28-9, competed well in<br />
weekend tournaments<br />
and capped the season<br />
off with a regional title.<br />
The turnaround campaign<br />
was more than enough for<br />
Rupnik to earn 22nd Century<br />
Media’s 2019 Girls<br />
Volleyball Coach of the<br />
Year honor.<br />
Rupnik served as the<br />
Scouts’ assistant coach for<br />
two seasons before taking<br />
over as head coach this<br />
year. Yet the Wisconsin native<br />
is quick to credit Lake<br />
Forest’s seven seniors for<br />
the successful season.<br />
“I think that our senior<br />
class this year just really<br />
stepped it up, everyone really<br />
just bought in to the<br />
concept of the team, which<br />
was awesome,” Rupnik<br />
said. “That had a huge part<br />
on us having success in<br />
terms of wins and losses,<br />
but then also just us really<br />
enjoying our time together<br />
Scouts head coach Tia Rupnik (last row, far left) with<br />
her team after the Scouts won the Hoffman Estates<br />
tournament in September. Photo submitted<br />
as a team.”<br />
This year’s edition of<br />
the Scouts were more<br />
versatile, which made life<br />
easier for Rupnik in her<br />
first season. She could flip<br />
her outside and right-side<br />
hitters to defender different<br />
hitters when necessary,<br />
a component that the team<br />
didn’t have in the past.<br />
The most notable difference<br />
this season was the<br />
scouting, as Rupnik, assistant<br />
coach Ray Werner<br />
and the team committed to<br />
studying film.<br />
“We scouted pretty<br />
much every team that we<br />
played against this year,”<br />
Rupnik said. “We scouted<br />
other teams, we spent a<br />
lot of time looking at ourselves<br />
and trying to learn<br />
from film, and that played<br />
a huge role in us learning<br />
and being more prepared<br />
in our matches. I also<br />
think for our girls, it just<br />
helped them mentally, just<br />
feeling more confident in<br />
what they needed to do in<br />
matches to find success.”<br />
Led by superb outside<br />
hitters Alyssa Thrash and<br />
Caroline Graham, the<br />
Scouts got off to a 9-1<br />
start, winning a tournament<br />
in Hoffman Estates<br />
during that stretch. Even<br />
when Lake Forest picked<br />
up a loss here and there,<br />
Rupnik said she felt her<br />
team could get the win if it<br />
had a second chance.<br />
Once Lake Forest placed<br />
second in the Antioch Invitational<br />
on Oct. 12, Rupnik<br />
knew the Scouts could<br />
compete with anyone.<br />
“We had a really competitive<br />
end of our season,<br />
we saw Loyola, Libertyville,<br />
Stevenson all in a<br />
row,” Rupnik said. “We<br />
ended on some really<br />
tough matches. I feel like<br />
after that [Antioch] tournament<br />
is really where I felt<br />
confident that we really<br />
can compete at the same<br />
level as these next three<br />
teams that we’re about to<br />
see. Despite only beating<br />
Stevenson out of those<br />
three, I think we learned so<br />
much from those matches,<br />
which helped us prepare<br />
just in time getting into the<br />
regional matches.”<br />
According to Rupnik,<br />
Please see COY, 41<br />
When Alyssa Thrash<br />
transferred to Lake Forest<br />
High School from Georgia<br />
before her sophomore<br />
year, then-assistant coach<br />
Tia Rupnik couldn’t help<br />
but notice Thrash’s natural<br />
leadership qualities.<br />
“I couldn’t believe how<br />
strong of an athlete she<br />
was, but also how strong<br />
of a leader,” Rupnik recalled.<br />
“Any time that<br />
Alyssa wasn’t on the court,<br />
which was rare, it was very<br />
obvious because she has<br />
such an important voice on<br />
the court.”<br />
Thrash, a 6-foot outside<br />
hitter, continued to hone<br />
her leadership skills and<br />
her on-court game while<br />
with the Scouts. The result?<br />
Captaining Lake Forest<br />
to a regional title and<br />
being named this year’s<br />
22nd Century Media Girls<br />
Volleyball Player of the<br />
Year.<br />
An All-North Suburban<br />
Conference selection as a<br />
junior a year ago, Thrash<br />
was one of 10 athletes to<br />
return from last season’s<br />
Scouts team. There was a<br />
lot of continuity for Lake<br />
Forest this season, and that<br />
made Thrash’s job as captain<br />
much easier.<br />
“It just really helped<br />
us, being really close on<br />
and off the court,” Thrash<br />
said. “We spent a lot of<br />
time together all the time, I<br />
think that chemistry really<br />
helped us turn it around<br />
this year.”<br />
An excellent attacker<br />
in the front row, Thrash<br />
was tasked with leading<br />
the team while handling<br />
increased expectations to<br />
perform in game. Her stats<br />
Lake Forest senior Alyssa Thrash is 22nd Century<br />
Media’s 2019 Girls Volleyball Player of the Year. 22nd<br />
Century Media file photo<br />
prove that she more than<br />
rose to the occasion, racking<br />
up 313 kills and 229<br />
digs. She also played in all<br />
37 of Lake Forest’s matches,<br />
resulting in a 28-9 campaign.<br />
Most notably, Thrash<br />
saved one of her best performances<br />
for last, totaling<br />
12 kills and 11 digs in the<br />
two-set regional final win<br />
over McHenry.<br />
When looking at her<br />
game, Thrash notes her<br />
steadiness on the court is a<br />
key factor in her improved<br />
play.<br />
“I think that my consistency<br />
has definitely<br />
improved a lot over the<br />
years,” Thrash said. “This<br />
past season I was really<br />
consistent.”<br />
“She was just so consistent<br />
for us to be that go-to<br />
player,” Rupnik added.<br />
“That girl knows how to<br />
put balls down, she really<br />
gets the team excited. In<br />
all aspects of the game,<br />
Alyssa was such an important<br />
person for us.”<br />
It was a special season<br />
for Thrash and the Scouts,<br />
whose 28 wins were more<br />
than the previous two seasons<br />
combined. Thrash<br />
knew this year’s squad was<br />
different when the team<br />
got together after tryouts<br />
and shared their seasonlong<br />
goals. The goals were<br />
big, but attainable.<br />
“I think that’s when it<br />
really hit me that this was<br />
a different kind of team,”<br />
Thrash said.<br />
Thrash has been playing<br />
volleyball since she was 12<br />
years old and played club<br />
with Adversity Volleyball<br />
based in Vernon Hills. Despite<br />
having the talent to<br />
compete at the collegiate<br />
level, Thrash plans to focus<br />
more on her academics<br />
and not play volleyball in<br />
college.<br />
That doesn’t mean she<br />
won’t miss her three varsity<br />
seasons with the Scouts,<br />
especially her senior year.<br />
“The Lake Forest volleyball<br />
program means the<br />
world to me, I absolutely<br />
adore it,” Thrash said. “It<br />
taught me who I want to be<br />
as a person, and it helped<br />
me grew into what I wanted<br />
to be as a person, I just<br />
think that’s so important.”
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