Girls Volleyball: Melissa Vandrey entering Queen of Peace Hall of Fame
By Tony Baranek tbaranek@southtownstar.com October 1, 2012 6:50PM
Updated: November 3, 2012 6:13AM
In 1999, Melissa Vandrey completed a senior season at Queen of Peace that ended with school-record single-season and career setting numbers of 466 and 963 kills.
She was the Girls Volleyball Player of the Year for both the Daily Southtown and Chicago Sun-Times.
Wednesday, she’ll become a member of the Queen of Peace Hall of Fame.
Vandrey, who coaches volleyball at 1st Alliance Volleyball Club, is to be inducted along with former Pride soccer player Kiera Vizza and the entire 1992-93 basketball team in a ceremony after the varsity match between Queen of Peace and De La Salle.
“Our team from 1999 was inducted two years ago. That was awesome,” Vandrey said. “It feels even more awesome now.”
Vandrey was a member of Peace’s program during a four-year period in which the Pride won two sectional titles and compiled a 127-27 record.
“Back then, it was like if you were good at volleyball you went to Mother McAuley. But I just liked something about Peace and I just felt that if good players went to Peace we could make that program just as strong as the other ones. I think by the end of my senior year we were.”
The Pride ended a long winless streak against McAuley during Vandrey’s sophomore season. Peace won its first-ever conference title during her junior season.
Vandrey went on to have a stellar college career at Illinois, which culminated in a senior season in which the Illini advanced to the national Sweet Sixteen.
Ready, set ...
If Sandburg’s practice Wednesday is more competitive than usual, it won’t be a surprise. Eagles coach David Vales noticed a pattern in back-to-back Thursday matches Sept. 20 and 27 vs. Lincoln-Way North and Lockport, respectively.
“We had an awful Wednesday practice and Lincoln-Way North took it to us in the first game. Then we rebounded and had a nice second and third game,” Vales noted after a similar win over Lockport. “We had a bad practice (Wednesday) and we came out kind of slow (against Lockport). We just couldn’t put the ball down.”
