St. Francis coach Kopec wins 1,000th game
The signs with her picture on it, floral bouquet and place in the record book are all Peg Kopec's.
But the St. Francis girls volleyball coach insists the honor of 1,000 career wins is far from hers alone.
"I appreciate it, it's a big accomplishment," Kopec said, "but truthfully the accomplishment belongs as much to all those women that have played for this program and all those assistant coaches. And all the women who had to fight to get adequate facilities and equal treatment during the early days of Title IX. It's not about me."
Many of those women were in attendance Wednesday to watch Kopec become the first coach in Illinois history to record 1,000 career wins in the same sport, St. Francis beating Chicago Christian 25-19, 25-22 in Palos Heights.
The Spartans coach since 1974, Kopec has a career record of 1,000-228-2 with eight state championships.
"It's amazing - for a coach to have that many wins it's crazy," St. Francis senior setter Kristen Kelsay said. "It was really special to be here on this night playing for her."
Chicago Christian, formerly of the Private School League, didn't go down as a footnote to history easily.
St. Francis (7-0, 1-0 Suburban Christian Conference) roared out to an 8-3 lead in Game 1 after a Cassie Rio kill, but Chicago Christian came back to tie it at 13-13. The Knights tied it five more times but never took the lead, St. Francis taking the lead for good at 20-19 on a Chicago Christian hitting error. Kelsay followed with 2 aces and Kelsey Robinson 2 kills, the second on game point.
Chicago Christian led the second game 16-12 after a Kirsten Harms, forcing Kopec to burn a timeout. A Robinson smash and Rio kill on an overpass followed the break, and a Meg Vonderhaar kill tied it at 19-19. Three more ties followed, before a Kelsay block made it 23-22. Chicago Christian went wide on a hit and Robinson put down her 11th kill to finish things.
Harms had 6 kills for Chicago Christian (7-1, 0-1), which could give St. Francis and Rosary its biggest challenge in the newly configured SCC's upper tier.
"I didn't want to be at the losing end of her 1,000th win," Knights coach James Garcia said, "but I couldn't be any prouder of my girls. Going against a powerhouse team like that we didn't know what to expect. We took it to the limit."
Kelsay had 24 assists and 4 aces, Rio 5 kills, Daiva Wise 3 blocks and Katie Parisi 4 digs for St. Francis.
"A match like this is great," Kopec said, "because you get to go home a winner, but you also get to see the glaring weaknesses that you need to work on. A good team like Chicago Christian exploits those weaknesses."