Homewood-Flossmoor junior Skylar Skinner has a real knack for assisting others.
In softball, she’s a defensive whiz at shortstop. In volleyball, she’s the No. 1 setter.
You might say assists are her thing.
“I’m like the QB — like the quarterback,” Skinner said, smiling. “I just like seeing my teammates shine and I like just setting them up. I get joy from watching them hit that ball straight down.”
Skinner found her share of targets Thursday night for the Vikings during a 21-25, 25-20, 25-14 nonconference victory over visiting Marian Catholic in Flossmoor.
LaDonna Trantham led H-F (2-0) with 10 kills and five digs. Frances Smith added seven kills, while Ihuoma Ozoh contributed five kills and five blocks and Skinner had 29 assists.
Carrington Smith totaled 15 blocks for Marian Catholic (0-2). Olivia Helfen added 12 kills, while Kaitlyn Nichols had 26 assists.
In simple terms, there was too much Trantham for the Spartans to handle.
The 5-foot-9 outside hitter swung furiously from the front and back row. She was also tip-smart on a key kill in Game 2 that stopped Marian’s momentum during a late comeback.
“I love to swing,” Trantham said. “It’s nice being up there and being able to pump the team up. To be able to finish a play is definitely a good feeling.”
She also loves the sets from Skinner.
“I do, I definitely do,” Trantham said, laughing. “I give Skylar props. She steps up to the plate. I mean, she was able to come off of last season and take the setting role with no complaints or anything.
“She is fulfilling her job. She is able to move the ball around, see where the block is and isn’t. She sees things and communicates to the team what’s going on on the court.”
As a sophomore, Skinner saw time on both the JV and the varsity. She played behind senior setter Emma Dieringer.
H-F coach Bob St. Leger made sure she had a presence.
“She practiced with us quite a bit,” St. Leger said of Skinner. “She’d dress and play with us in tournaments, and then she came up at the end of the season.”
He learned one thing quickly.
“As long as I’ve been doing this, I’ve never coached a more competitive athlete,” St. Leger said. “I’ve coached other people who were as competitive. But no one has ever been more competitive.
“She just plays extremely hard. She plays crazy good defense, which for a setter is kind of rare. Her work ethic in the offseason is great. She’s in the gym all the time. She’s incredibly gifted in both volleyball and softball.”
Skinner hopes to play both sports in college.
“I got into softball first, but then I wanted to try something new,” Skinner said. “I found my love for volleyball when I got into middle school. I definitely love playing both.”
Softball head coach Corinne Zimmerman doubles as a sophomore assistant in girls volleyball. She started Skinner at shortstop this past spring, and Skinner responded with a fielding percentage over .900.
“She had the same high-level IQ on the softball field,” Zimmerman said. “She’s just that natural leader. Everyone looks for her to make the big play, and she always does.
“At H-F, all the kids are involved with everything. We want to promote that, so Bob and I work together. We work with Skylar, and she has the maturity to communicate with us in that way. We don’t want her to have to choose until she’s ready to.”
For now, Skinner has only one tough decision to make.
“The hardest part of setting is deciding who I am going to set to,” Skinner said, smiling. “We have so many good hitters up there. It’s a hard decision.”