#24
SACRED HEART-GRIFFIN | SPRINGFIELD
Regional Titles: 24
District Titles: 5
Sectional Titles: 19
State Final Trophies: 5
State Championship Appearances/Titles: 0/0
State Final Coaches: Helen Dulle (1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994)
First Team All-State Players: 1983 – Missi Wheeler; 1985 – Julie Plattner; 1986 – Susan Wisnosky; 1988 – Eileen Kelly; 1990 – Anne Quenette; 1992 – Melissa Beckwith, Jenny Wood; 1994 – Kristin Fitzgerald; 1997 – Megan O’Connell.
SHG: The standard of Central Illinois volleyball excellence was set by Coach Helen Dulle and Sacred Heart-Griffin (SHG) during the first 20 years of the IHSA state series. In 1988, Sacred Heart Academy, a private all-girls school, combined with the private all-boys Griffin High School. In 2011, the girls switched their team nickname from Blazers to Cyclones. Beginning in 1978, the volleyball program won 16 consecutive Class AA regionals. Starting in 1982, it won 13 straight sectionals. SHG turned all that winning into a dozen state berths between 1979 and 1994. The Cyclones reached the state semifinals in 1978, 1980, 1989, 1992, and 1993, placing fourth each time. Dulle built a 933-265-2 record while coaching every season except one at SHG between 1972 and 2008. The Hall of Famer’s 933 victories rank ninth in state history. Among Dulle’s greatest players was 6-foot-4 middle blocker Megan O’Connell, who finished in 1998 with a state-record 1,662 career kills, a total that now ranks ninth. O’Connell’s 45 kills as a sophomore in 1996 against Red Bud remains the single-match state record. “She’s very quick and very agile and is quite capable of playing every position,” Dulle said in 1999. O’Connell went on to play at Illinois State University and Oklahoma. Dulle’s first state-qualifying squad went 28-9 for fourth in 1978. Led by 5-6 Lorie Miller and 5-5 Molly Ryan, the Blazers won their quarterfinal over Barrington, 20-7, 22-20. In the semifinals against Oak Park-River Forest, Sacred Heart fell, 20-11, 20-11. “We’ve never faced spiking that intense,” Dulle told the media. In the third-place match, the Blazers lost to Carbondale, 21-19, 13-20, 20-14. In 1980, Sacred Heart set a program record for wins in a season, going 40-4 for fourth after losing to Mother McAuley in the semifinals and Sandburg in the finals. The Blazers’ top hitter that year was 5-10 Debbie Urbanckas, one of several holdovers from the 1978 state roster. In state tourney history, SHG faced McAuley four times, but the Cyclones’ only victory came in the 1989 quarterfinals, 15-12, 11-15, 15-11. “This is certainly one of my biggest wins,” said Dulle, whose team controlled the net with 6-footers Jenny Wood, Melissa Beckwith, and Tara Lovekamp. “They can block without jumping,” said McAuley coach Nancy Pedersen. Unfortunately for SHG, its momentum vanished during losses to LaGrange Lyons in the semifinals and Rolling Meadows in the third-place match to finish 30-10. In 1992, McAuley got revenge with a semifinal win over SHG, which then lost to Crystal Lake South in the third-place match to finish 35-7. “Maybe our goals might be too lofty,” Dulle said, “but we’ll never change them.” Dulle’s final state trip in 1994 saw the last victory of a 35-7 season come against Schaumburg in the quarterfinals. Dulle’s career would go on to include two more sectional titles (in 2003 and 2005), but SHG has yet to win another.