Homewood-Flossmoor wears pink socks to honor Bryan Ahrendt's mom, Dena, who has breast cancer. ‘Our No. 1 fan.'

Chicago Tribune

28-05-2025

Homewood-Flossmoor's Bryan Ahrendt loves playing volleyball to get his mind off of real life.
The senior libero's mother, Dena, was diagnosed with breast cancer in December. She has gone through three rounds of chemotherapy, with another six on the docket.
'Volleyball has definitely been a way to not focus on the negative,' Bryan said. 'Especially when I go home and I see her the way she is. It's not a cool thing. It's not a good thing.
'It's definitely a good thing to focus on volleyball and have fun with the guys.'
The Vikings, who honored Dena by wearing pink socks Tuesday night, went out and beat T.F. United 25-19, 25-15 in the Rich Township Regional semifinals in Richton Park.
'She's at almost every game and is our No. 1 fan,' H-F coach Mark Ciesielski said.
Ahrendt, a Carthage recruit, totaled six digs Tuesday to lead H-F (28-8), while Ahmad Powell had eight kills and Surendran Heyward added seven. Caleb Madden and Will Adams each had four.
The Vikings, who take on Lincoln-Way Central (24-13) at 6 p.m. Thursday in the championship match, are seeking their third regional title since 1994.
Lincoln-Way Central (24-13) topped Marian Catholic 25-22, 25-15. Logan Baechtold, Dylan Brannigan and Joey Vellenga put down six kills apiece. David Barlow came through with eight kills and Carter Knueppel added seven for Marian (9-22).
After Tuesday's win, H-F brought in Dena for a celebratory team photo.
'I'm glad that we were able to come out here and support her and make sure she knows she is appreciated by the Viking program,' Powell said.
Few around the team knew about the situation until this week.
'I didn't want to make it public,' Bryan said. 'It was something we wanted to handle ourselves and not tell everybody.'
But Bryan said his aunt proposed that the Vikings should do something for Dena, and they came up with the idea of wearing pink socks.
'It made a big impact,' Bryan said. 'She was bawling on the way here. She really appreciated it.
'She's an emotional person, but this really touched her because she just cut off all of her hair because of chemo.'
While he's on the court, Bryan has proven to be valuable to the Vikings.
'Bryan is our quarterback and the leader on the court,' Ciesielski said. 'After every game, he's hoarse. He's screaming and he's letting everybody know where everyone should be.
'He's the glue that keeps us together on the court.'
The Vikings, who beat Lincoln-Way Central 25-22, 25-16 on May 8 at home in the SouthWest Suburban Conference, opened the regular season with a 13-match winning streak. Since May 13, they're on a five-match streak.
Powell, who is going to Ohio State for academics, missed a month of the season. Now that he's back, H-F is rolling again. He was all-state last season but decided to concentrate on an engineering degree.
'It wasn't tough to decide to quit volleyball because I knew that I want to get a good education,' Powell said. 'Ohio State has everything that I need.
'I won't have volleyball, but that's cool. I can always go to the games or join club volleyball.'
Powell, however, said he will miss playing alongside Ahrendt.
'Bryan is one of the most passionate people I know, on and off the court,' Powell said. 'He always has a smile for his teammates. He always gets on us when we're doing bad.
'Sometimes, he's the bad cop and I'm the good cop, and together we make a good team.'
As that team, Ciesielaski confirmed he was glad Dena could be honored before the season was over.
'It's a neat thing,' he said. 'We just want her to know that we support her and she's a part of our family and she's not fighting alone.'