fred@mahometnews.com

Aliya Holloman didn’t get a chance to make a final impression on college coaches this spring.

The Heritage High School softball season was canceled – as were all spring sports throughout the state – by the COVID-19 virus.

Turns out the senior didn’t need any more games for coaches to view her as a coveted recruit.

A three-sport star for the Hawks – Holloman was a varsity starter each year she played in volleyball, basketball and softball – she had options to play each of the sports in college.

Universities in Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee made overtures as did ones in Illinois.

During the recruiting process, Holloman didn’t have a pre-determined favorite.

“I wanted to play at the next level,” she said.

One offer set itself apart from the others.

Most schools wanted her for basketball. Or softball. Or volleyball.

But, she would have to pick a particular sport.

Trinity International, located in the suburban Chicago community of Deerfield, provided more of what Holloman was seeking.

“I could do both sports (basketball and softball),” she said.

Last month, she signed a letter of intent to continue her studies and academic career at the university with approximately 2,500 students.

“I have a strong passion for both sports,” Holloman said.

Over the years, she has played on travel teams in all of her sports. She began traveling with softball – the sport she calls her favorite – for a 10-and-under program.

The COVID-19 pandemic put a premature end to Holloman’s prep career, but not her ability to work out or to play for other teams.

“I still practice on my own,” she said. “I do pitching practice. I go to the field to hit and I have a (batting) cage at home.”

Her attention to detail and willingness to work on her own time are among the traits that have most impressed Heritage softball coach Vicki Roberts.

“Her work ethic for a high school athlete goes hand-in-hand with her ability,” Roberts said. “I tell my athletes, ‘The only difference between a good player and an OK player is their practice time. Which are you?’

“Aliya is always working on her sport at home. They have an indoor batting cage along with workout equipment.

“Aliya will ask for help when her swing gets a little out of whack or when her pitching isn’t quite on. She is always striving to be a better version of herself.”

Holloman’s travel team, the Midland Magic, is competing in softball tournaments each weekend this month. In addition to pitching, Holloman plays shortstop.

She didn’t feel rusty or ill-prepared when the games resumed.

“Putting time in on your own was critical,” Holloman said. “I jumped right back into it.”

The recent travel games helped offset the frustrations that set in when all IHSA spring sports were halted.

“I was very disappointed not to have my senior year,” Holloman said.

Four summers ago, she set a goal to make varsity in each of her sports as a freshman.

“I knew I could if I practiced and put the time in,” Holloman said. “I wanted to achieve and do better.”

She not only matched her expectations, but excelled beyond her team. As a sophomore, Holloman was a special mention All-Area choice in softball.

As a senior, The News-Gazette selected her as an All-Area first-teamer in basketball. Holloman averaged 20.1 points per game as a senior, 18.1 as a junior and 17.9 as a sophomore. She ended her high school career by scoring more than 1,800 points.

“I improved in basketball a lot more than I thought I would,” Holloman said. “I corrected some mechanics that I thought needed correcting.”

Villa Grove/Heritage girls’ basketball coach Dan Sappenfield regarded Holloman one of the best he’s worked with in his tenure.

“Offensively, Aliya is as good as anyone I’ve had in 15 years,” Sappenfield said. “She’s a scorer at all three levels. Coaches (from colleges) like how she can finish.”

The 5-foot-8 Holloman’s development on the hardwood is reflected by her personal growth.

“Her maturity from her freshman to senior year was tremendous,” Sappenfield said. “She’s an amazing young lady and a good athlete.

“She is ready for the next level. Every school is looking for a scorer.”

Holloman didn’t focus on her perimeter prowess as her high school career progressed.

“She relied on the ‘three’ as a freshman,” Sappenfield said, “but after that, developed an ability to get to the basket. Her field goal percentage on threes went up every year.”

Sappenfield believes Holloman’s biggest transformation in his sport came in her overall performance.

“The best thing is she became a teammate,” Sappenfield said. “We asked, ‘What are you doing for someone else?’ and she developed the ability to share the ball.

“And, she came along better defensively. She always competed.”

Holloman never needed to make sacrifices on the offensive end.

“She finds ways to make it happen,” Sappenfield said. “She is very gifted with her hand-eye coordination.”

Roberts said modern technology is conducive for athletes to get recruited despite unusual circumstances like what occurred this spring with the coronavirus pandemic.

“Being placed in a college sport is much easier now than even a few years ago,” Roberts said. “Most coaches are online and you can communicate directly with them or their staff.

“It still takes a lot of hard work and determination.”

Holloman will take the same ambitions with her to Trinity International. She wants to contribute and make an immediate impact.

Roberts, for one, believes Holloman will continue to shine.

“Aliya will do very well at the collegiate level,” Roberts said. “Aliya’s strengths have gotten her to that next level. She is very driven, knows the sports, does well under pressure, is a risk taker – which I like – and a very talented athlete.”

There will still be challenges for Holloman, some of which are difficult to prepare for in advance.

“Going off to college is always hard because most athletes have never experienced living anywhere except at home,” Roberts said. “College life is not anything like living at home.

“As long as Aliya stays focused and grounded, I predict she will do great things for her new school.”

Holloman plans to major in neonatology.

The post Aliya Holloman to play basketball and softball at Trinity International first appeared on SJO Daily.

The regional drought continues for Villa Grove/Heritage.

The Blue Devils dropped a 50-34 decision to St. Joseph-Ogden in Thursday’s Class 2A girls’ basketball regional finals on the Spartans’ court.

The last regional crown for a Villa Grove girls’ basketball team came in 1999. For Heritage, the most-recent regional title was claimed in 2004.

Kyleigh Block scored a team-high 14 points for the Blue Devils. Aliya Holloman had nine points and Samantha Campbell totaled six points.

“We didn’t finish plays that we normally did all year,” VG/H coach Dan Sappenfield said. “We couldn’t find that offensive rhythm.”

VG/H trailed 24-18 at halftime, but rallied and took a 27-26 third-quarter lead.

Sappenfield prefers to look at the positives of the season as he reflects. The 25 wins are the most ever for a girls’ basketball team from Villa Grove.

“Twenty-two was the most before,” Sappenfield said. “It was an awesome season with a cohesive group that was connected all year.”

VG/H finished 8 of 15 from the free-throw line against the Spartans and was held to six second-half field goals.

Holloman and Jordyn Ray are the lone graduating seniors.

“Those two left it better than they found it, and that’s all you can ask,” Sappenfield said. “We have a nice nucleus back, but we will miss them a ton.”

VG/H (25-6) had its second seven-game winning streak ended in the regional finals by SJ-O (21-10).

In the pre-game individual three-point shooting contest, Block drained 11 of 15 attempts and was one of four athletes to advance to next week’s Paris Sectional. The other three qualifiers were from Clinton.

The post VGH girls’ basketball celebrates 25-win season first appeared on SJO Daily.

Dan Sappenfield made his debut in coaching the way many others have gotten their starts.

He was a dutiful dad.

As his children started showing an interest in sports, he volunteered to help with the programs in which they were involved.

“T-ball, Little League and you progress up the line,” Sappenfield said.

He eventually spent a year coaching junior high girls’ basketball in Villa Grove and then served as the high school junior varsity coach for three seasons, starting in the fall of 2003. In Year 2, Sappenfield’s daughter Chelsea was a freshman and a member of the team.

When the former VG girls’ basketball head coach, Todd Shunk, resigned prior to Chelsea Sappenfield’s junior year, dad stepped in again.

“I thought I would stay a couple of years,” Dan Sappenfield said.

His tenure is still continuing. On Monday, the 14th-year head coach earned career win No. 200 when his Villa Grove/Heritage team posted a 70-21 triumph at home over Decatur Lutheran.

“Two hundred is another number,” he said, “but I won’t downplay it. Two hundred is a little different.”

On Saturday, when he had his first shot at the milestone, nearly three dozen former players were in the stands. Two days later, Sappenfield said there was still a “tremendous support group.”

One night after the 200th win was earned, his Blue Devils recorded another victory of significance.

In Tuesday’s 77-9 decision over Georgetown-Ridge Farm, VG/H reached the 20-win mark. Going back 30 years, this is the first time for Villa Grove to have back-to-back 20-win seasons in girls’ basketball. (Heritage girls’ basketball teams enjoyed consecutive 20-win seasons three times prior to the formation of the co-op).

“The wins are awesome, but what I enjoy is watching the kids excel in a way that maybe they didn’t know they had the ability to, and see how 12 to 15 kids can come together as a group,” Dan Sappenfield said.

“You have pieces to a puzzle that you have to use to make a perfect picture by the end of the year.”

Sappenfield is not one to keep track of his individual achievements.

Ask him about his first varsity victory and he said, “I don’t remember.”

Career win No. 100? The response is the same.

That’s not what he’s about.

“We want to make the experience as positive as we can for the kids and teach them to be good women, and strong,” Sappenfield said. “There’s pressure, but it’s good pressure.

“The kids know what they will get when they come into my program. They know we try to keep consistency as we build the program.”

The term “consistency” is not a misnomer.

“My practice plans look pretty similar to when I started,” Sappenfield said. “I have every practice plan and, in fact, our first three practices this year were the same as the first three my first year (2006-07).

“Don’t make it more complicated than you have to.”

The practice days that followed this season were somewhat different out of necessity.

“We’ve made some adjustments because our personnel the last couple of years has been so much more athletic,” he said.

Sappenfield doesn’t spend his days in a school building. He is part of the Boyer & Sappenfield Investment Advisors group, a job he has held for 29 years.

“Every day at 3:30, no matter what goes on during the day helping people with finances and the markets, coaching gives you a respite,” Sappenfield said.

His clients are understanding as the mid-afternoon hours draw near.

“I have amazing clients who know my love of the game,” Sappenfield said. “The first thing they will ask is, ‘How is the season going?’”

During his time on the sidelines, Sappenfield has made adjustments based on personnel, but he doesn’t alter much of his personal philosophy.

“I try to be as consistent and fair with the kids as I can,” he said. “For them, it’s not important how much you know. They want to see that you care.”

Sappenfield has been that person. For his first seven years as the head coach, the program consisted solely of Villa Grove athletes. The past seven have included students from Heritage as the co-op was implemented.

“The co-op brings in different personalities,” Sappenfield said, “and our job is to make it as cohesive as possible.”

Teen-agers who have been rivals previously now find themselves on the same side. Sappenfield knows what is possible based on the early years of the co-op.

Villa Grove’s Alix Ezell and Heritage’s Micaela Childress first got together as teammates.

“And now, they are still good friends,” Sappenfield said. “They never would have been friends without the co-op.”

Sappenfield’s original target of coaching a couple of years has been far exceeded, but the 54-year-old doesn’t see retirement in his near future, he said, “as long as I feel like I’m making an impact in kids’ lives.”

Some of his family members have told him to stay with the coaching. His daughter, Chelsea Williams, has two children, including a daughter who is in third grade.

Son Drew Sappenfield – who works in the family business – has a 4-year-old daughter.

“They’re telling me I have to hang on for them,” Sappenfield said.

Working in the family business includes more for Drew Sappenfield than his day job. He is also known as Coach Sappenfield. He works with the junior high boys’ basketball program in Villa Grove.

One of Dan Sappenfield’s personal highlights has nothing to do with any games that his teams have played.

“I’ve been very fortunate to have had great kids to work with,” Sappenfield said. “I’ve heard coaches talk about parents being an issue.

“My parents have been amazing. This wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t have great parents, and the kids go with that.”

There’s one parent in particular that Sappenfield sees on occasion in the stands. None of her children have ever been a part of his VG/H program, but he listens when she speaks.

It’s his sister, Lisa Sappenfield Boyer.

“We talk a lot about basketball and what my team looks like,” Dan Sappenfield said.

There was a time, before the co-op with Heritage was formed, that the siblings couldn’t talk so freely. Boyer is a former Heritage girls’ basketball head coach.

Their teams played against each other, but Dan Sappenfield doesn’t believe either one ended with bragging rights.

“I think we split,” he said.

***

In games this week, the Blue Devils continued a season-long streak on Monday with their 70-21 win at home over Decatur Lutheran.

Every time VG/H has lost a game this season, it has followed up with a victory in the next game.

The team rebounded after suffering a loss on Saturday to Tri-County.

Kyleigh Block scored 19 points in the milestone win vs. Decatur Lutheran. Samantha Campbell and Aliya Holloman each ended with 11 points.

Block hit 10 of her points in the first quarter and Holloman added seven in the first eight minutes as VG/H zoomed into a 32-4 lead.

Decatur Lutheran managed just three first-half field goals as VG/H extended its lead to 53-8.

On Tuesday, in the victory over the Buffaloes, Holloman and Block each reached the 20-point mark together for the second time in a game this season.

Holloman tallied 26 points to sail past the 1,700-point mark for her career, and Block made 21 points as she eclipsed the 1,100-point plateau.

Campbell added 14 points.

Villa Grove/Heritage limited G-RF to two field goals in the game. The Blue Devils created a 36-2 lead after one quarter.

VG/H (20-5) returns to action tonight at Arcola.

The post Dan Sappenfield reaches 200 wins: recognizes players, parents and love for the game first appeared on SJO Daily.