Photo by Bruce Johnson ~www.BruceJohnsonPhoto.com The Cook County Viking varsity volleyball team hosted a very successful—and fun—fundraiser for breast cancer research on Tuesday, October 20. The varsity girls played four games, against teachers and staff at Cook County High School, against their parents (pictured above), and against two different alumni teams.
On October 20, in honor of two women fighting the fight against breast cancer, the varsity volleyball team, along with the head coach and volleyball staff, hosted a fundraiser for breast cancer research called “Dig Pink.”
The idea for the event came when teacher Kaye Tavernier and former volleyball player and 1998 CCHS graduate Meredith Church-Davison were diagnosed and began treatment for breast cancer issues. Kaye is a math teacher at CCHS and was the scorekeeper for volleyball for many years. Her husband Marc is also a teacher at CCHS and they have three grown sons and a new daughter-in-law.
Meredith is the daughter of CCHS English teacher Ivy Church and Don Davison. Meredith was one of Coach Pam Taylor’s players back in the ’90s.
Before the night of some fun volleyball action began, Meredith’s parents and Kaye Tavernier were given gifts from the varsity team. They were given a pink carnation and a pink mini volleyball. Also, any cancer survivors in attendance were given a pink mini volleyball. Then teams were introduced.
Playing against the varsity were four teams of teachers and staff of Cook County schools, including Superintendent Beth Schwarz. Another team consisted of parents of varsity players and two teams were made up of alumni volleyball players.
The first game was varsity against the teachers and staff. I’m sorry to say that this was kind of an easy game for the varsity. I think the staff didn’t have enough practice time and was in need of a coach, but they got out there and gave it their all. It was entertaining! Mr. Hill, is your hair color really pink?
Next to face the varsity team was the parent team. It is always a good game between parents and their kids and it was hilarious. For a while, the parents kept up with the varsity, but eventually fell behind. Parent Mike Boomer had some great solo blocks at the net and parent Scott Puch had a few good digs in the back row. Despite the fight the parents gave, they lost to the tough varsity team.
Next up was alumni team one, which was made up of older alumni volleyball players. They didn’t do too badly, but the varsity was much quicker and had some hard hits. Mindy Raiche Popham showed that she could still play the game and dig a ball. Hilja Iverson also played tough at the net with some blocks and spikes. Carline Gresczyk, the oldest of the alumni, played great in the back row and took some hard hits from the varsity. Once again, the varsity proved to be tough and beat the first alumni team.
This brought us to a game between the varsity and team two of the alumni, who were much younger and some of their gals had played with some of the current varsity players. This was an exciting game!
The alumni two team came out hot and the varsity found themselves down by six points. They called a time out to regroup. Back out on the court, they began to battle back, but alumni two stayed a couple of points ahead of them, playing a tough game. Hannah Laky, sister of varsity player Bekah Laky, had some stinger serves that the varsity struggled with. Kelly Parish and Katy Borud played well at the net.
The varsity battled back to tie the game, and then pulled ahead to win. This was a great night for players, fans and coaches. It was a lot of fun and a lot of laughs.
The Cook County Booster Club had the concession stand open for snacks, and all the money they raised was given to breast cancer research. The total amount raised for the evening in 1 1/2 hours of action was $939. Not bad at all!
There was a good crowd on hand and the younger volleyball players held a raffle for the cause. This was the first of what will now become a yearly event by the CCHS volleyball team.
Como Oil & Propane donated pink T-shirts to the parents for their team, which was made up of Scott Puch, Randy Spry, Mike Boomer, Jennifer Speck, John Logan, Nancy Leonard, and Jeff and Mary Eliasen.
Playing for the teachers and staff were April Graves, Kasia Schmidt, Sharon Dorr, Monica Schnobrich, Beth Schwarz, Lorelei Livingston, John Muus, Eli Hill and Kerri Bilben.
Making up the two alumni teams calling themselves “Team Fred” (Fred was Meredith’s nickname in school) were Hilja Iverson, Jody Smith, Kelly Parish, Bekah Jorgenson, Anna Jorgenson, Carline Gresczyk, Gina Gervais, Katy Borud, Hannah Laky, Mindy Popham, Sarah Hallberg, Megan Goettl and Sam Williams.
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