As a fourth grader during the COVID-19 pandemic, Riverside Brookfield High School sophomore Demetra Foster kept busy by being the teacher for her imaginary classroom.
During that time, she learned American Sign Language.
“With my fake kids, one of them was deaf so I learned sign to communicate with him,” Foster said. “I was like, ‘I really like it and I’m going to keep doing it.’”
Now a setter for the varsity volleyball team, Foster shared that knowledge with her teammates and the volleyball community Monday.
She played an integral part in the Bulldogs’ first Silent Set, which raised awareness for those with hearing loss or impairment, as they played their nonconference home match against St. Francis.
Temporary silence began with Foster, RBHS senior teammate Chloe Borkowicz and RBHS senior Sarah Smith performing the national anthem in sign language.
Riverside-Brookfield’s bench raise their hands and wave them rather than cheering during their Silent Set against St. Francis Monday, Oct. 20, 2025 in Riverside, IL. (Steve Johnston/Riverside-Brookfield Landmark) 
Riverside-Brookfield’s Lucy Boyle warms up for the Bulldogs’ match against St. Francis where a special shirt for their Silent Set Monday, Oct. 20, 2025 in Riverside, IL. (Steve Johnston/Riverside-Brookfield Landmark) 
Riverside-Brookfield’s Ella Wilkowski (22) waves her hands back and forth rather than making any noise as her teammates are introduced for their match against St. Francis Monday, Oct. 20, 2025 in Riverside, IL. (Steve Johnston/Riverside-Brookfield Landmark) 
Riverside-Brookfield’s players raises the hands and wave them to cheer on their team before Silent Set against St. Francis Monday, Oct. 20, 2025 in Riverside, IL. (Steve Johnston/Riverside-Brookfield Landmark)
Other than the players on the court, the match began in silence until one team reached nine points.
“We learned (the anthem) in bits and pieces,” said Borkowicz, who learned sign language to help with the event.
“I think it was a really special event because it teaches you how to communicate in different ways and it shows people there isn’t just one way of communication. I thought it was important to raise awareness for the people who don’t communicate in a traditional way.”
Silent Set was created by former Penn State women’s volleyball player Jonni Parker, who has hearing loss. While players on the court still talked as usual, those on the benches and spectators remain silent until one team reaches nine points in honor of Parker’s No. 9 uniform jersey.
As it turned out, the maximum 17 points were needed to break Monday’s silence. When the Spartans took the 9-8 lead, the teams quickly congratulated each other to thunderous applause and continued the match.
St. Francis prevailed 25-18, 18-25, 25-21.
The Bulldogs (18-14) have captured their second straight Upstate Eight Conference East Division title with a perfect 6-0 mark. They begin Class 4A playoff action Tuesday, Oct. 28 at the York Regional as the No. 10 seed in the Lyons Township Sectional.
“I really enjoyed (Silent Set). My aunt’s deaf so I’ve definitely been around that community,” RBHS senior libero Ashlee Wudi said.
“I thought it was very powerful. For the first time doing it, hearing about it, I thought it went so great and I would love to continue seeing this.”
RBHS coach Caitlin Staib-Lipinski learned about the Silent Set and added the idea among this season’s themes for home matches. Staib-Lipinski often works with hearing impaired students through her teaching at Hauser Junior High.
“In my four years as the coach, I realized I haven’t heard any sports teams at RB have a game that connects to the hearing loss community so I thought this would be a unique opportunity,” said Staib-Lipinski. “When I proposed this to St. Francis coach, Lisa Ston she thought it was awesome and wanted her players to be involved.”
Special warmup T-shirts were worn by both teams. Handouts showed spectators how to cheer in sign language and included information on Parker and her Chasing Greatness organization.
Foster constructed an ASL interpretation of the national anthem and coordinated the presentation with Borkowicz and Smith through videos.
“(Many people) have hearing aids so they can experience sound but we don’t really experience silence a ton,” Foster said. “It’s good to kind of sense and feel how others go through something that you wouldn’t really expect at a volleyball game. It’s normally really loud.”
Borkowicz’s participation was partially inspired because she hopes to pursue a career related to speech pathology. Staib-Lipinski reached out to Smith, who was a special guest as a student on the Bulldogs’ bench.
“I’m hard of hearing so it was nice to get awareness from other people,” Smith said. “I’ve never really had awareness of my hearing loss. It made me feel good.”
Silent or not, there was plenty to cheer about. The third set was tied 18-18 before St. Francis (20-12) went ahead 20-18 and used kills for its final four points.
Leading the Bulldogs were seniors Lucy Boyle (5 kills, 16 digs, 3 aces, 22 service receptions, 9 service points), Claire Cameron (27 assists, 13 digs, 2 kills), Kate Zobel (5 kills, 4 total blocks) and Ashlee Wudi (12 digs, 21 service receptions, 2 kills), juniors Mackenzie Sloger (7 kills, 3 aces, 19 service receptions, 7 service points) and Asha Ponnappan (5 kills) and sophomore Claire Evans (3 kills, 2 aces).
On Senior Night Oct. 14, Cameron set the single-match school record with 41 assists in a 22-25, 25-15, 25-18 loss to 3A power Fenwick (21-10). Boyle (16 kills) and Sloger (15) led the Bulldogs’ 44 kills and .304 attack percentage.
The former record was 40 by Kary Law.in 1988.
“I wasn’t expecting (any record),” Cameron said. “(Staib-Lipinski) just told us at practice the next day.”
The Bulldogs play No. 6 York (23-10) in the regional semifinals. The winner probably plays No. 4 Lyons Township (21-9) in the Oct. 30 regional final.
RBHS lost to York in last year’s York Regional final. LTHS beat York 24-26, 25-15, 25-23 Oct. 14.
“We’re all great in our own ways, especially when we all work together,” Wudi said. “We can be a really powerful team. I wish we saw that more and I think we saw it (against St. Francis) a lot.”