By Jack Lydon
DePaul Prep elevated girls’ volleyball and girls’ sports in general to a new level Saturday evening. The DePaul Prep Rams defeated the St. Ignatius Wolfpack in two sets under the lights in DePaul Prep’s football stadium before 1,500 fans.
There was an energy and excitement in the stands, on the field and on the court rarely experienced in high school sports.
In a thrilling back and forth rematch of last year’s sectional final, DePaul Prep defeated St. Ignatius in two sets, 27-25 and 30-28.
The Rams edged the Wolfpack in the first set 27-25. Well into the second set, DePaul had Ignatius on the ropes leading 19-13 swiftly moving toward winning the match. The Wolfpack steadily rallied running off six unanswered to even the score. No more than one point would separate the teams for the until the Rams managed a 30-28 victory.
“We took our foot off the pedal for sure. I think they allowed the moment to get the best of them. They felt the pressure of the end being so close and I think we got a little tense and a little stressed,” DePaul Prep’s head Caroline Gajzler said.
“I [told the team] we got this far, we know that we can beat them. We've been earning points the whole time. I just reminded them to take a deep breath and to simplify it. We were just trying to do too much at one time,” Gajzler continued.
“On paper, Ignatius probably should have taken the match. They had seventy-five percent of their varsity players returning and we graduated eleven seniors. But I know that this team is dedicated to our goals, to our culture. They're all in. They trust the coaching staff, they trust each other. It was beautiful to see that come to fruition tonight, especially bouncing back from losing earlier today,” Gajzler said.
This historic event has been in the works for a while. It would never had happened without a total buy-in by the athletic director, the coaches, the players, the parents and the administration.
“It was literally Pat Mahoney and I sitting in the office [in March or April]. I saw either an article, or Twitter or Instagram, about that outdoor Nebraska game,” Gajzler said. (On August 31, 2023, the University of Nebraska held a women’s volleyball match outside in their football stadium and set a widely regarding record for a woman’s athletic event with an attendance of 92,008.)
“Spur of the moment I said it out loud and Pat said, ‘Let's do it.’”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Ya, let's start looking into it,” he said.
So she did. Gajzler started making phone calls and trying to get info about courts. Early on she got the parents involved.
“The parents have been phenomenal, Herman Vigerust, Ryan Kroth. They have led with me. They have made calls. They got quotes. They come up with ideas. They have helped with rentals. They did the communications. They got the parent volunteers. They have helped with everything. The parents are awesome,” Gajzler said.
“We are trying to rent courts. And we eventually came to the realization that we had to buy a court. And I thought that was gonna be where this entire idea deflated.”
“But Mahoney is like, ‘let's talk about it. Let's get some quotes. Let's try to get some ideas.’ And so I got a bunch of quotes. I was on a mission.”
“Thanks to this guy over here [pointing to DePaul Prep Athletic Director Pat Mahoney], we purchased it.”
The impact of the outdoor match in the football stadium need not be overstated. It quite literally moved girls’ volleyball to the status of boys’ football—at least for one evening.
“I think it's iconic. I really do. I live seven blocks away. This is my neighborhood. I'm so proud of this. On so many levels, everyone is involved,” Gajzler continued about the impact of the outdoor event.
Gajzler and her assistant coaches Bobby Hughes and Rys Green have elevated DePaul Prep volleyball in six short years from a four-win season to a thirty-nine win season and a fourth place in last year’s IHSA 3A Finals.
“I don't want our success last year to be one and done. I want it to continue. I don't want people think [our success last year] was a fluke,” Gajzler said.
“The buy-in has been great,” said Ryan Kroth, father of DePaul Prep junior Kalia Kroth who recently committed to attending and playing volleyball at the University of North Carolina.
“My daughter Kalia has been playing on varsity since freshman year. I've already seen some of the senior parents for last year come [here tonight], it’s almost like a family. . . For the program itself, [tonight’s event] is another stepping-stone to make this program one of the tops in the city, if not the state,” Kroth said.
“If you look around right now, this is our entire program here tonight,” Gajzler said of volleyball at DePaul Prep.
“It's not just J.V., it's not just varsity. The freshman girls were here at eleven o'clock. The freshman coaches were here at eleven o’clock. They were working their tails off. They allowed varsity to go home to rest, to recoup and they ran the show. I am all in on the program.”
