By Mark Gregory
@Hear_The_Beard
The end of a season is always emotional for a coach and the outgoing seniors and for Minooka coach Janel Grzetich, she knew it would be extra emotional when the season ended for the Indians’ volletball team this season.
That end came with a 25-25, 17-25, 19-25 loss to Lincoln-Way East in the sectional final.
“This is a very special group for me,” Grzetich said. “A group of them I had to bring up as sophomores – and I say had to because I only had a few seniors and that was it. So, they were on varsity as very timid, scared sophomores. Except for Brandon Baranski, who was up as a freshman. For him to have the game-winning kill was icing on the cake. For me to have had him as a freshman and to have gotten to know these boys so well, it was really cool. I am not a crier, but I will be emotional when this is done.”
That sectional game, however, looked to be in jeopardy of even happening as the Indians had to scramble back from a 19-9 deficit in game one of the Lockport Regional to help win the regional title with a 28-26, 20-25, 25-18 win over Lincoln-Way North.
“I already had it in my head that we were going three – and we did wind up going three – but I didn’t think we were going to come back in that first game,” Grzetich said. “We have talked about those kinds of moments and those kinds of situations all season, but to see it executed was a really cool coaching moment. To be able to sit back and be able to see them show that kind of intensity and heart was really cool.”
That intensity was paced by Baranski, who was on the state-qualifying team as a freshman.
“We knew we had to bounce back,” he said. “This is our senior year and we had to come out and get this. This regional title is a big deal. We have been looking at this all season. Tonight we played how we were supposed to – like the No. 1 seed in the regional.”