Could be fathers vs. daughters matchup at state volleyball

To say Rian Baker has been dreaming her entire life about volleyball glory isn't an exaggeration.

“Well, my Mom (Jen) has told me that on the third day of me being alive, I was in a Benet volleyball gym,” Baker said with a laugh. “I grew up with volleyball. I grew up going downstate with Benet.

“I grew up wanting to win state in volleyball, too.”

Now, Baker has her chance.

But not with the Benet volleyball team.

Baker is the daughter of Benet girls volleyball head coach Brad Baker.

In the 13 years he has been Redwings head coach, Baker has directed seven runs to the state finals. And daughter Rian (pronounced Ryan) has been along for all of them, including state championships in 2011, 2012 and 2014.

Benet is downstate again for the IHSA Class 4A state finals at Redbird Arena in Normal again this weekend. So is Fremd, for just the second time in school history.

And Fremd is where Rian Baker goes to high school.

In a dream-of-a-lifetime scenario, Benet and Fremd, which open Friday in the semifinals against Marist and Wheaton Warrenville South, respectively, and could face off in either the third-place match or the championship Saturday, earned trips to the state finals in the same year.

That makes the weekend truly a family affair for the Bakers.

“My dad has already told me that if we play each other, instead of shaking my hand (in the postgame handshake line), he's going to give me a hug,” Rian Baker said. “I think that would be so cool. It's just so great that we get to end the season on such a high note for both of us.”

More magic

As if Rian Baker's dream come true isn't enough of a magical storyline, there's more.

Brad Baker's longtime assistant coach at Benet, Kyle Reid, also has a Fremd connection. He has two daughters on the volleyball team there, Breslen and Rylen.

Just like Rian Baker, a sophomore who starts at setter for Fremd, Breslen and Rylen spent their entire childhoods with the Benet volleyball team and dreamed of one day playing downstate just like their older role models.

This dream coming true for all three girls — and that their dads are (kind of) along for the ride — is more than any of the Bakers and Reids could have hoped for.

“It feels unreal,” said Rylen Reid, a sophomore outside hitter for Fremd and the team's leader in kills. “It's been such a dream of ours. We've been talking about this since we were like 5 years old.”

The three girls used to talk about how cool it would be to go downstate with their dads at Benet.

Benet wasn't in the cards

But Benet would have been a stretch for the girls.

Both Brad Baker and Kyle Reid work and live in the Fremd district and only coach volleyball at Benet. To send the girls to Benet would have been neat, but it also would have been a logistical nightmare, mostly with rides when volleyball was out of season.

“We would have had to leave the house every day at 6 a.m. to get them to Benet in time and then get back (to the Palatine area) in time for work, and then if we weren't coaching volleyball after school, someone would have to drive all the way down there to get them, too,” Brad Baker said. “We had thought about how it would be cool (for the girls to play for their dads). But it would have been hard to make it work.

“But all the girls still ended up spending a lot of time (at Benet). They came to our practices when they were younger. They would pepper (hitting the volleyball back and forth) with our players. They would go with us downstate. They would cheer for us and wear Benet gear.

“The girls love it at Fremd, but I bet they all probably still own more Benet gear than Fremd gear.”

It's Fremd now

Make no mistake, the girls are all about Fremd volleyball now. They will always have a soft spot for Benet volleyball in their hearts. And on any other weekend, they would gladly cheer for their beloved Redwings.

But this weekend is different. Way different.

And the girls say they won't care one bit if their dads are on the other side of the net at Redbird Arena. No mercy for dear ol' dad.

“If we're in the championship, and we play Benet and our dads, we are going to play out of our minds. We will be on our A-game because we want to win,” said senior outside hitter Breslen Reid, Fremd's emotional leader who ranks second on the team in kills behind sister Rylen.

“Benet is a good team. We know that. But we are going to do everything we can to steal a championship from them.”

Memory lane

Some of the girls' best childhood memories are watching Benet win its first three championships. The three would sit together in the stands at Redbird Arena eating their Dippin' Dots, wearing their Benet gear and cheering their lungs out.

They felt like they were part of the team, spending so much time over their grade school and junior high years attending Benet practices and games. They say the girls at Benet welcomed them and took them under their wings.

And, of course, so did their dads.

Rian Baker and Breslen and Rylen Reid had all the volleyball help they could ever hope for.

“My dad and Mr. Baker are the two people I look up to most in volleyball,” Rylen Reid said. “They helped me so much with volleyball.”

“I wouldn't be the volleyball player I am today without them,” Breslen Reid said of the dads.

“Most of my setting comes from my dad,” Rian Baker said. “I was in the gym at Benet with him so much. He taught me so much. And so did all of his players. I got to be around so many good players when I was growing up. That gave me a great perspective on the game.”

A new chapter

Fremd coach Curt Pinley appreciates the connection his program has to Benet through Baker and the Reid sisters. He can only imagine how special the weekend in Normal will be for the two families.

“As a dad with a daughter, I understand the emotions,” Pinley said. “I'm excited for Brad and Kyle and I'm excited for the girls. This is a unique opportunity that I would imagine doesn't happen that often.

“But we've talked with the girls about how things are going to be different this year. We talked about how we need to be focused on what we're doing at Fremd. Usually, the girls are going downstate with Benet as family. Now, they're going downstate with Fremd as opponents.”

Albeit weird and a little surreal, the girls say they are ready to write a new chapter at state.

“We loved going down with Benet,” Rian Baker said of herself and the Reid sisters. “But this is like our turf now. I think it's really cool that we're going down there with our own team.”

• Twitter: @babcockmcgraw