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44 | November 15, 2018 | The Northbrook tower sports<br />
northbrooktower.com<br />
Girls Volleyball Coach of the Year<br />
Thelander’s foundation sets Ramblers up for success<br />
Michael Wojtychiw<br />
Contributing Sports Editor<br />
Loyola Academy coach Mallory Thelander, 22nd Century Media’s 2018 Coach of the Year, gives instructions to her squad during the sectional<br />
final match against Fremd on Oct. 31 in Wilmette. 22nd Century Media File Photo<br />
When Mallory Thelander<br />
took over as Loyola<br />
Academy’s girls volleyball<br />
head coach last<br />
spring, one of the first<br />
things she wanted to do<br />
was change the culture of<br />
the program.<br />
The team was coming<br />
off of an upset in the<br />
regional semifinals and<br />
needed a fresh start.<br />
“I wanted to develop a<br />
sense of culture throughout<br />
the program, not just<br />
varsity,” Thelander said.<br />
According to Thelander,<br />
a lot of teams do<br />
big sister, little sister, but<br />
when she was the head<br />
coach at Evanston the past<br />
two years, they did what<br />
they called families. It<br />
wasn’t just like an older<br />
girl paired with a younger<br />
girl, but the program had<br />
almost have one girl from<br />
every level paired together,<br />
which hadn’t always<br />
happened perfectly, but<br />
they had their little families.<br />
Those families are<br />
usually four or five people,<br />
and would meet with<br />
each other whenever they<br />
had a home match.<br />
“I wanted those girls to<br />
get to know me but also<br />
get to know each other,”<br />
the coach said.<br />
It didn’t take long for<br />
the girls to buy into the<br />
program, Thelander said.<br />
The athletes embraced<br />
that culture throughout<br />
the season. The newly adopted<br />
culture could even<br />
been seen in the stands,<br />
as members of the varsity<br />
team attended freshman<br />
and junior varsity matches,<br />
and players from the<br />
younger levels showed<br />
their support for the Ramblers<br />
at their supersectional<br />
match against Prairie<br />
Ridge.<br />
Thelander won 22nd<br />
Century Media’s inaugural<br />
Girls Volleyball<br />
Coach of the Year award<br />
for not only the installation<br />
of a new culture, but<br />
also bringing Loyola to<br />
heights it hadn’t achieved.<br />
The Ramblers won<br />
30 games, beat Mother<br />
McAuley for the first time<br />
in program history, won a<br />
sectional title for the first<br />
time since 2015 and got<br />
within one match of going<br />
to the state’s final four for<br />
only the second time in<br />
program history.<br />
“Coming into the season,<br />
I definitely thought<br />
that we should go fairly<br />
far in the postseason,” the<br />
coach said. “Going into<br />
the regional championship,<br />
it was kind of one of<br />
our big goals that I had for<br />
them was to at least make<br />
it to the sectional round.<br />
I was very excited when<br />
we actually made it all the<br />
way to the supersectional;<br />
especially after that big<br />
win against Hersey.”<br />
With three seniors committed<br />
to play Division-I<br />
volleyball next season,<br />
many expected the Ramblers<br />
to make a deep<br />
playoff run. Mary Kate<br />
Lopez (Oregon State University),<br />
Elizabeth Ford<br />
(University of Pennsylvania)<br />
and Anne Martinson<br />
(Colgate University)<br />
were all key components<br />
to Thelander’s lineup this<br />
season, but there were two<br />
moments that really solidified<br />
Thelander’s suspicions.<br />
“We had just played<br />
New Trier in their tournament,<br />
the first tournament<br />
of our season, and we lost<br />
to them in three,” she said.<br />
“Coming back three days<br />
later and just annihilating<br />
them, I think that was<br />
kind of in my head like,<br />
‘OK, these girls are here<br />
to compete, truly.’<br />
“I think that New Trier<br />
and McAuley ended up<br />
being a mental game for<br />
them, and so for them to<br />
just come out and dominate<br />
like that was huge<br />
for us. It really kind of<br />
registered in my head like<br />
‘Alright, I think we can do<br />
this.’”<br />
The Ramblers 2018<br />
success won’t be a one-off<br />
situation either, Loyola<br />
will lose four senior starters<br />
from this year’s squad,<br />
eight seniors in total, but<br />
the future of the program<br />
will not dim. Multiple<br />
members of this year’s<br />
varsity squad saw plenty<br />
of action on the court due<br />
to injuries sustained by<br />
some of the starters, giving<br />
them valuable experience.<br />
They will be joined<br />
by a junior varsity squad<br />
that finished the season<br />
with a perfect 32-0 record.<br />
One of the themes of<br />
the season was to build a<br />
name for Loyola volleyball,<br />
and the coach feels<br />
this season helped lay the<br />
foundation for that.<br />
“I also think the best<br />
thing is having the lower<br />
levels there to support<br />
the varsity team and kind<br />
of see that and look up to<br />
that,” she said. “That’s<br />
what I hope that they’re<br />
thinking ‘OK, that’s going<br />
to be me next year.<br />
That’s going to be me<br />
in two years.’ And then<br />
just knowing this is what<br />
Loyola is all about and<br />
they really wind up putting<br />
in the work in the<br />
off season to then get that<br />
same success for them in<br />
the years to come.”