SORRY, NOT SO SORRY
Make a mistake? She owns it. But as a setter or hitter, Butvilas keeps coming up big for Shepard.
Pass the ball? Shepard senior Kaila Butvilas handles it well as a setter/outside hitter who can also defend.
Pass the blame? She’s terrible at that, according to Astros coach Brian Zofkie.
“On our team, she’s famous for apologizing for a mistake,” Zofkie said. “Some of the situations can be pretty comical.”
One of the comical situations happened during Thursday’s match against Evergreen Park.
“A ball dropped in the middle of three people,” Zofkie said. “Any of them could have gotten it. But of course she was the first one saying, ‘My bad, my bad. I’ve got the next one.’
“You never have to yell at Kaila about making a mistake. She’s harder on herself. And not in a negative way. It’s always kind of funny and lighthearted and keeps the team in good spirits.”
Butvilas is helping keep the Astros on track to stand among the program’s very best.
Shepard (21-7, 11-0) is two victories away from sweeping the South Suburban Conference for the first time since 2015. Thursday, the Astros host Lemont (15-11, 11-0) in a battle of first-place teams from the Red and Blue divisions.
“It’s going to be amazing,” Butvilas said. “Lemont is an opponent that has always been good competition. Just to be part of this team and have this chance is really awesome.”
Butvilas is half of a dynamic setting-hitting combination with senior Leah Rizzo.
Going into the week, Butvilas has 257 assists, 148 kills and 138 digs. Rizzo has 248 kills, 187 assists and 193 digs.
“When Leah gets in the back row to set and I’m in the front, it’s a lot of fun,” Butvilas said. “We’ve always had that connection. We’ve been playing together a long time.
It’s always been me and her out there.”
This is the first season Butvilas has had the opportunity to hit.
“In practice, I would always hit just for fun,” Butvilas said. “Coach saw some potential. This season, we had a limited amount of hitters, so he decided to train me to become one.”
The hitting and setting, Zofkie pointed out, is matched by a third trait.
“Her biggest asset is she’s a team player,” Zofkie said. “She really doesn’t care where she plays or how many kills she gets. She’s just about the ‘W.’ And she’s always accountable.”
Even if it means taking the blame when it isn’t her fault.
“I’m not sure why I say I’m sorry so often,” Butvilas said, laughing. “I just want to make sure I’m on the same page as my teammates. I want to let them know that I acknowledge my mistakes and I’ll try to fix my mistakes.”
Hitting away: The journey across the net of Lincoln-Way East junior Jada James took an interesting — and successful — turn over the past several matches.
As a sophomore, James played at middle hitter. She started the 2021 season as a right-side hitter. Before Thursday’s match against Homewood-Flossmoor, Griffins coach Kris Fiore moved her to the outside.
“She’s just a real terminator as a hitter,” Fiore said. “She was doing it at a high level, and we felt she could get more of a volume of sets being outside versus the right side. I thought it would make us a little more dynamic offensively.”
James responded with 10 kills in a 25-14, 25-18 win over H-F.
Over the weekend, she put down 46 kills as East (13-12) won four of five matches to take the Silver Division title at the St. Charles East Scholastic Cup.
“We knew Jada would eventually get to play outside, so we’ve been training her there in practice,” Fiore said. “We just wanted to feel comfortable with her being able to execute in games.
“Finally, we said we’d make some switches and changes, and she did great. There is no reason to change things up now.”
Did you know? Jen DeJarld played on two state championship teams at Mother McAuley in 1984 and 1985. She also was a four-year starter at Iowa. When she graduated from Iowa, she ranked 17th in the nation in career digs.
DeJarld was honored Sept. 30 before the match against Assumption for her 26 years of coaching at McAuley.