Head Coach Sandi Kelley
One year removed from leading the Eureka College volleyball team to one of its greatest turnarounds in program history and earning the 2009 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year award, Sandi Kelley will enter her fourth season as head coach of the Red Devils in 2010.
Behind an excellent blend of experience and youth last fall, Kelley led the Red Devils to a fourth-place SLIAC finish and the program’s first-ever league tournament appearance. Eureka’s eight-win improvement from 2008 to 2009 matched the fourth-largest improvement in SLIAC history and was the biggest improvement since Fontbonne recorded a 10-win jump from 1998 to 1999. Eureka also broke through for its first-ever series sweep of Principia, who had finished in the top-three in the SLIAC every season since 2004.
All three seniors on the 2009 squad earned All-SLIAC accolades, including Defensive Player of the Year honors for Lauren Snopek. Heather Myers finished her career third on the all-time Eureka kills list and earned a spot on the SLIAC All-Tournament Team, while Laura Willman ended her four-year stay seventh on Eureka’s service ace list.
A native of Normal, Ill., Kelley graduated from University High School in 1994 before earning a bachelor’s degree in finance from Illinois State University in 1998. Kelley began her volleyball coaching career as a volunteer assistant for her alma mater, U-High, at age 18. She then coached and later became the director of the Normal Park District youth volleyball league.
Kelley found her desire to coach collegiate volleyball from her experiences coaching the nationally-recognized club program Illini Elite out of Bloomington, Ill. At Illini Elite, Kelley had the opportunity to coach for the highest club level for youth players ages 14-18.
Known for her enthusiasm and positive coaching style on and off the court, Kelley has been able to successfully bring in two of the largest volleyball recruit classes in recent memory at Eureka the previous two seasons. Kelley’s 2010 roster of 17 players is easily her largest since taking over the program in 2007.
Kelley comes from a long line of coaches in her family. Her grandfather, Frank Chiodo, coached football for more than three decades in addition to serving as basketball, track and tennis head coach as well as athletic director at University High School. Her uncle, Hal Chiodo, won 85 games in 13 seasons as the head football coach at nearby Morton High School and is currently the head coach at West Chicago High School. Kelley’s sister, Dawn, has coached volleyball at University High School and Parkside Junior High School in Normal.
In addition to her volleyball responsibilities, Kelley added the role of Assistant Athletic Director and Senior Woman Adminstator at Eureka in the summer of 2008. Kelley was also named the Eureka athletics Compliance Officer in the spring of 2009. She coached the Eureka women’s tennis team in 2010, guiding the Red Devils to a fifth place finish in the SLIAC and helping Meredith Lynch and Alyssa Wetterauer earn All-SLIAC First Team selections.
Kelley came to Eureka following a coaching stint at Robert Morris College in Springfield, Ill., where she began the Eagles’ volleyball program in 2005.
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