Coaches: Playing twice isn't nice

The Illinois High School Association's new girls volleyball state tournament format is hitting most area coaches like a spike in the face.

With the old two-class system now doubled to four classes, the IHSA announced on Aug. 6 that semifinals and final of a regional will be played on one night at the same site. The same goes for sectionals.

"I have no idea where that came from," Immaculate Conception coach Jean Field said. "It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me."

"That's insane," Glenbard South coach Sherry Hudson said.

"I'm not a fan of that," Naperville Central coach Brie Isaacson said. "I haven't really heard of anybody who is."

"It's pretty drastic," Wheaton Warrenville South coach Bill Schreier said.

"It stinks," West Chicago coach Kris Hasty said.

"I hate it," Wheaton North coach Carole Kristensen said.

"This one was a complete shock," Benet coach Brad Baker said.

"I don't know who would think that's a good idea," Glenbard West coach Pete Mastandrea said.

"It's a huge change, and it was certainly unexpected," Naperville North coach Jennifer Urban said. "I'm not even sure why they did that. Everyone is kind of up in arms because we don't understand what the ruling is for. Just because there's four classes I don't understand why the format would be different."

There is a reason.

"It's to address the concerns of travel," said Sue Hinrichsen, IHSA administrator for volleyball.

While travel isn't a concern for schools in the densely populated suburbs, it's a major issue for the scattered larger schools downstate, and one that principals wanted the IHSA to address, Hinrichsen said.

Hinrichsen pointed to the Class 4A Normal sectional, which will host regional winners from Belleville, Edwardsville, Minooka and Moline. She said it's a three-hour drive from Belleville to Normal. The IHSA wants to avoid having a school like Belleville West make a six-hour roundtrip on a Tuesday for a semifinal and again on a Thursday for a final.

"Some members of the advisory committee, and Bill (Schreier) was one of them, did not like the idea of going from one to two (matches in a night), and it's predominantly the suburban coaches who don't agree with that in some cases. But I'll tell you that outside the suburban area I haven't heard anyone disagree with it.

"I think we have to be careful not to dismiss the issue of travel because it's an important issue. It's an issue that continues to send a message that interscholastic athletics has to have a perspective, that the loss of school time and the concern over rising gas prices is important to our membership. That's the message that they've sent to us."

Of course, a different kind of price will be paid by teams playing two playoff matches on one night:

•Coaches will not be able to prepare their teams by relaying scouting reports and installing game plans as thoroughly as in the past. Heading into a regional or sectional night of action, a team will have to prepare not only for a semifinal opponent but also for its two possible final foes.

"You'll have to prepare for three (teams)," Kristensen said. "That's hard. Are they going to do the same thing with basketball?"

•Teams will be tested physically like never before, with fatigue having a greater chance to determine outcomes. Imagine a scenario where a team that wins the first semifinal in a short two games meets a team that just finishes a long three-game semifinal.

"It's a huge difference between that, I think," St. Francis coach Peg Kopec said.

"It's as if volleyball is being disregarded in terms of exerting energy," Neuqua Valley coach Kelly Simon said. "I just don't think that it's fair to the kids who have worked all season for the postseason. It may not come down to the best team. It may come down to who's in the best shape or who had the most rest."

• Emotions and concentration will be stretched. A team recording a big victory in the semifinals will have little time to celebrate. Instead, it will have to immediately prepare to take on another opponent.

"Mentally, I think it's going to be tough," Downers Grove South coach Colleen Reagan said.

Teams will be forced to regroup in a hurry. There can be as little as 15 minutes between the end of the second semifinal and the start of the final.

"It's barely enough time to get retaped," Urban said.

"Can you imagine playing Naperville North and 20 minutes later playing Naperville Central or Downers North or whoever?" Kopec asked. "If it goes three games your kids are going to be physically tired and mentally exhausted from playing some of the incredible caliber of volleyball that's played right in these western suburbs."

While teams are used to playing multiple matches on a single day in regular-season tourneys, they approach them differently than the state tournament.

"Those matches are not of the same magnitude," Schreier said.

"In my opinion you work too hard to start rushing teams through the tournament," Wheaton Academy coach D.A. Nichols said. "I think you devalue it."

"It takes away from the feel of the run to the state tournament," Isaacson said.

"In a way I understand when the IHSA talks about travel," Hudson said. "But I'm in a conference where we drive an hour one way so, to me, I'd just say, 'Let's do it right. The state tournament is once a year.'æ"

Hinrichsen said the tournament structure could change in much the same way the two-class format was altered over time.

"It's a tough issue," she said. "There is no easy answer to it, and I get that. We're kind of darned if we do and darned if we don't because it depends on what part of the state talks to us about it. We knew going into the four-class system when we looked at the maps that we weren't going to make everyone happy.

"We've got to give this a chance to shake out and provide opportunities for people to talk to us, but more important, provide opportunities for people to come to us with recommendations, which will allow this tournament to evolve."