Girls volleyball: Fremd's Pinley records 500th win as Vikings advance to regional final
Over his 21 years as Fremd's girls volleyball coach, Curt Pinley has this winning formula down to an art.
Appropriately enough, he is an art teacher at the District 211 high school and has sculpted quite a career coaching the Vikings' girls and boys volleyball teams.
On Tuesday night in Winnetka, he reached a milestone that less than 50 coaches have earned in IHSA girls volleyball history - 500 wins.
The magic number came with a 25-7, 25-17 win over Hoffman Estates in the Class 4A New Trier regional semifinal. The Vikings (32-4) will face the host Trevians (22-13) in Thursday's championship.
Pinley has championed winning teams in all but four of his 21 girls seasons and he also has 495 wins on the boys' side.
"He's been doing it so long, he just knows what to expect from the girls," said Nick Vassos, Pinley's girls assistant for 20 seasons. "He knows how to coach them. He isn't focused on winning as much as growing the whole player, which just makes the winning come natural. The stress isn't there for winning. It's just for making the player a better person, and that's what helps."
Rylen Reid (9 kills), Breslin Reid (7 kills) and Claudia Wala (5 kills) helped key the Fremd attack which was set by Rian Baker (13 assists).
"It's so cool we got No. 500 for him," said Breslen Reid. "He just really brings a good culture and team-first mentality every single season and he does really good activities to make us work super well as a team."
"It's awesome because I know he has worked really hard to get here," Baker said.
It's been quite a 21-year run.
"I don't know if you ever think you're going to stick around for 21 years," Pinley (500-244-4) said. "But I'm not sticking around for 500 wins. I'm sticking around because I still enjoy coaching and the reason we're at this stage is because of our great assistant coaches.
"One thing I'll say is Nick Vassos has been with me since the very beginning and without him there is no way we even come close to this. The 500 wins don't speak much about me but volumes about the program."
"What makes Curt so successful as a coach is that he doesn't really care about the success," said Mark O'Kelly, who assisted Pinley with his 2010 boys state qualifier. "He cares so much about the kids, both boys and girls, and just keeps the focus on playing hard and being good people rather than good athletes."
Set 2 was tied at 14-14 thanks to back-to-back kills by the Hawks' Patricia Wadas.
But Baker's second-attack kill and 5 straight service points from Breslen Reid sparked an 11-3 run to end the match.
"Obviously, I wish we came out with a little more intensity in Set 1," said Hawks coach Pat Moran. "Fremd came out firing but I'm really happy with how we responded in Set 2."
Wadas led the Hawks with 4 kills while Ashley Poland had 12 digs and an ace (8-of-8 serving). Callie Meese handed out 6 assists.
Niyah McAllister, one of the Hawks' top hitters, missed the final week of the season due to concussion protocol.
"I'm really proud of Isabelle Cochran for the way she stepped in for Niyah," Moran said. "She's really only played varsity for a week and for her to get thrown into that situation is not an easy thing."