Growing up for Lincoln-Way East’s Brooklyn Ritter, it was volleyball, volleyball and more volleyball.
Her dad, Ken, is a St. Laurence graduate who played club volleyball while building a College Baseball Hall of Fame career at North Central in Naperville. Her mother, Maureen, maiden name O’Keefe, played volleyball at Mother McAuley and won a state championship in 1994.
Brooklyn’s six siblings, including a shortstop for the Colorado Rockies who was taken in the fourth round of the 2022 MLB draft, also played volleyball during family functions. And that’s not all.
“All my aunts and uncles played,” Brooklyn said. “At family parties, we would play with all of the cousins. I grew up in it.”
Ritter, a Southeast Missouri State-bound senior setter, has also grown up as a player — becoming a dangerous threat on offense with dumping the ball for kills and with service aces.
Those skills were on display Tuesday night as Ritter scored four of the Griffins’ final five points via three aces and a dump kill to clinch a 25-18, 25-18 SouthWest Suburban Conference victory over host Homewood-Flossmoor in Flossmoor.
Ritter finished with 11 assists, four aces and three kills for Lincoln-Way East (26-8, 8-0), which earned its second straight conference title, both with undefeated records.
Sophomore outside hitter Kolby Ross added 12 kills, while Eastern Michigan recruit Klarke Mosby followed with eight and fellow junior Leila Taylor had six. Missouri-St. Louis commit Maggie Simon recorded 16 assists, while Charlotte Buck tallied seven digs.
Back when the Griffins were sputtering along with a 7-6 record, running the table in a tough conference didn’t seem like a strong possibility.
“At the beginning of the season, I didn’t know what this was going to look like going later in the season,” Ross said. “But two weeks ago, things clicked and we started to mesh well.”
H-F (16-16, 5-3), which also looks to mesh with the playoffs looming, was led by a pair of Division I recruits. Ihuoma Ozoh (Clemson) tallied nine kills, while Kymora Scott (Wisconsin) added four.
Ritter, meanwhile, enjoyed putting those big points on the board to close out the match.
“I love it — it’s so much fun,” she said. “That’s the kind of player I am.”
Lincoln-Way East coach Sean Burns has had a front-row seat for those types of performances, watching Ritter the past couple of years after she transferred in from Marist.
“She’s amazing,” Burns said of Ritter. “We were ecstatic to get her. She became a team leader right away like she was playing with these girls forever. We really love having her here.”
Brooklyn isn’t the only Ritter who has starred for the Griffins.
Ryan, the oldest, was called up to play for the Colorado Rockies this year. Kaleigh, a graduate assistant coach at Valdosta, set numerous setting records at Lincoln-Way East and St. Xavier.
Twins Kendall and Kasey stopped playing volleyball in high school. Matt, a sophomore, plays baseball and football. Kenny, who’s in seventh grade, plays baseball, basketball and football.
“We’re all close and have a good bond with each other,” Brooklyn said. “When we get together, yes, we talk about sports, but we also like just being there in the moment with each other.”
They were all there for a big moment on June 6 as Ryan made his MLB debut.
The family rented a big van and drove from their home in Tinley Park to Denver to watch him play. Ryan became the first player in Colorado Rockies history to hit a triple in his first MLB at-bat.
“We drove 15 hours,” Brooklyn said. “We stayed for three days for the whole series. It was a great weekend to get us all together, too. No one had anything. It came at the right time.
“It turned out perfect.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.