Wheeling excels in farewell for Leyden’s Sebald
Leyden might not have come out on top Saturday at their 17th annual boys volleyball invitiational, unoficially known — this year, at least — as the “Grey Squirrel Farewell Tournament.”
But in all the ways that count the most, longtime Eagles coach Dave Sebald is going out a winner.
Sebald, who’s extraordinary service to Leyden will end in 2011 as he is retiring, leaves behind quite a legacy.
The “grey squirrel” has been a physical education teacher at Leyden for 33 years, head girls volleyball coach for 32 years, and head boys coach since the program’s inception 20 years ago.
“I can’t say I’m not going to miss it,” said Sebald, who will step down at the end of this boys season. “I’m spent too much time in this gym. There will definitely be a litte bit of a void, but I’ve totally enjoyed it.
“It’s been nothing but good times. Every player I’ve ever had play for me has worked extremely hard, and you can’t ask for any more than that — and this year’s team has been no exception.”
The Eagles finished with 2 wins and 3 losses in a tournament that was won by Wheeling, which has been flying under the radar this year but won all five matches in Franklin Park to take the Leyden title.
The Wildcats bested Walter Payton Prep 25-22, 24-26, 15-13 in a tensely contested championship match.
“As a coach, I’m always expecting good things,” said Wheeling coach Jason Kopkowski, whose team improved to 15-14 with wins over Payton, Conant, Leyden, Streamwood and Fenton. “We were actually missing a couple of starters today who were away in Champaign (on a previously scheduled commitment), and it took awhile to adjust to that, but we had a lot of players step up. We showed a lot of growth today.”
Wildcats setter Dan Speidel had 137 assists over the course of the tourney, while Brandon Fox hit 78-of-83 with 44 kills.
“We got the momentum coming out of the gate in our first game, and we carried it over to the rest of the tournament,” said Speidel.
“We’re going to take this mo’ and carry it on to the rest of the season and the playoffs,” added Fox. “If we keep playing the way we did today and keep up our hitting and passing I think we have the chance to go pretty far.”
Conant took third place at Leyden with wins over Leyden, Streamwood and Fenton. The Cougars played both champion Wheeling and runner-up Payton very tough, losing to both in 3 games.
Conant’s Kevin Good had 37 tourney digs and was 69-of-69 on serve receive, Andy Dewar hit 24 kills, and Nate Middlebrun served 5 aces.
Back to Leyden and more about that “squirrel” nickname Sebald picked up — where did that come from, coach?
“It was back in the old days, when we had to communicate with the trainer and the rest of the staff with walkie-talkies,” said Sebald. “We all had handles and mine was the ‘grey squirrel,’ and it stuck. That’s how that came about.”