By Dominic Scianna
First-year Payton College Prep boys varsity volleyball coach Alyssa Butler has made a seamless transition from assistant boys varsity volleyball coach at Whitney Young last season to leading her program a year later.
She orchestrated a successful 25-14 overall record this year, and her team finished with an IHSA state quarterfinal appearance in the process.
This was not a surprise to the rookie boys coach.
“I worked at Whitney Young last year (with the boys volleyball team) and we got to this point a year ago. So to have my own run at state with the boys is special and this team means a lot to me,” said Butler. “This team worked extremely hard and had a strong schedule to overcome. I’m very proud of our accomplishments and I’m happy we finished the way we did for our seniors.”
The Marist High School Redhawks (37-2) had the size advantage and capitalized to win convincingly over Payton in two sets, 25-17 and 25-15 to advance to the IHSA boys volleyball state semifinal round.
The Redhawks raced out to a quick 15-5 lead, but the Grizzlies battled back behind strong performances by seniors Francis Richmond, Francis Burns, junior Alexander Dragoshanskiy, and sophomore Nicholas Kallos to go on an 11-7 run to get within 22-16 in the tightly-contested first set. But the Redhawks gained back the momentum down the stretch in set one and it proved to be too much for Payton as the Grizzlies fell 25-17.
Set two was more of the same as Marist scored 8 of the first 10 points and never looked back in winning a second set by a margin of 25-15.
The loss, although disappointing to Butler and her team, could not take away from the back to back Chicago Public League appearances (by Whitney Young and Payton) at the IHSA state finals the past two years, proving that Chicago city boys volleyball has come a long way to earn state recognition.
“We are coming and Chicago Public School boys volleyball is on the map,” said Butler. “And people have started putting respect on the Chicago Public League name and that’s all we can ask for.”
A senior-laden roster helped set the standard for Payton boys volleyball this year. Players like Finn Benjamin, Harry Wu, Graham Miller, and Rafi Ahmad. Miller and Francis Richmond led the Grizzlies with three kills each.
Ahmad knew this could be a special year from the moment he met Butler on the first day of full team activities.
“After the first practice I knew that it was going to be a good season. It was the discipline that she (Coach Butler) had but even though it was tough she also made practices fun,” said Ahmad. “A lot of our schools are getting great recognition, and teams like us, Whitney Young, Jones, and Lane have had success in non-conference games against suburban schools so that’s helped give our league respect when it comes to state competition like this.”
Butler earned several important victories during the course of her first boys campaign, advancing to the CPL City Semifinals, then going on to win a third consecutive regional championship. But the biggest hurdle was to break through with a core of determined senior leaders and team continuity to accomplish something that hadn’t been done in a decade.
“Payton hadn’t won a sectional title in 10 years and we did that. It was an important goal for us to achieve this year,” admitted Butler. “They were a good group of seniors that will be deeply missed. This was a good first year for our team and for me. We’ll keep working hard and we’ll get there. Next season starts now.”
