Some of the greatest teams in the history of sports never had great team chemistry, but in the fall of 2001, two of Loyola’s best teams loved the game and each other.

The 2001 volleyball team reached nationals and won its regional on home soil.

After the final point at regionals, Head Coach Greg Castillo ran onto the court and hugged co-captain and history sophomore Suzi Ruiz. “This is why I was so hard on you,” he said to her.

The 2001-2002 Loyola women’s volleyball team had just beat Dillard in four games to win the Region XIII Tournament and clinch Loyola’s first ever national tournament berth. Ruiz, who set Loyola’s single-season records for aces with 108 and assists with 1233, knew that Castillo’s demanding coaching style had paid off.

“It felt great,” she said. “One of our goals at the beginning of the season was to make it to nationals and it felt good to accomplish that goal. It was even more satisfying because we were underdogs in pre-season and even in mid-season.”

After losing the first game of the championship games to Dillard 22-30, the ‘Pack did not panic, which a current a 14-game winning streak had taught them not to do.

“It [the streak] gave us confidence,” Castillo, who is now in his seventh year with the program, said. “For a young team, it gave us confidence and we played some tough matches during the streak.”

The ‘Pack won the next three matches (30-25, 32-20, 30-22) to advance to nationals and implement themselves as one of the four great teams in the modern era of Loyola athletics.

Although the team was an underdog to start the season due to their youth and inexperience (the ‘Pack had no seniors), everyone knew that the team had the ability to win.

“I knew we had the talent to make it to nationals,” Castillo said. “I also knew that everyone doubted us because we were so young and from day one, they worked hard.”

Amanda Gilliard, education junior and outside hitter who had 289 kills last year, said that the team always kept moving to its goals.

“We were compared to the season before that won conference,” she said. “Then, we won regionals, and we were considered better. Just going to nationals was amazing.”

Communications junior Melissa Showalter who recored 303 kills last year, added to Gillard’s comments.

“Just to win our conference was a big deal and when we won regionals, it was like icing on the cake,” she said.

Ask anybody on the team what the key ingredient to the team’s success over the past two seasons (the team has a current nine-match winning streak) and they will smile and say their friendship off the court.

“We are really good friends and worked hard all season,” Krista Danos, business management senior and two-year co-captain, said. “After we got to know each other, we gelled and had fun making it all the way to nationals.”

According to Ruiz, the team’s friendship helps everyone during the tough games.

“It helps that we’re friends on and off the court,” she said. “Our chemistry on the court is so much better because of our relationship off the court.”

The 15-game winning streak quickly evaporated when the team was swept out of its bracket in the NAIA National Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla., after losing four straight matches. Because it had not made it to such a big stage before, the team did not expect to win much but one game was certainly not in the plans.

“We were blind going into it,” Danos said. “We didn’t see any of those teams play during the year. We were glad to have been there, but we know we could have won more than one game.”

Despite the disappointment at nationals as a team, co-captain and communications senior Maggie Schaefer made an individual impact with 48 kills on the national stage. Schaefer had one of the best seasons ever by a Loyola athlete as she was named the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference MVP and set Loyola single-season records for kills with 600 and digs with 627.

“It was exciting,” she said about being named GCAC MVP. “I was on top of my game the whole year. We had a short team and nobody expected much of us and we proved them wrong.”

2001 Women’s Cross Country Team

The 2001 Women’s Cross Country team captured the GCAC and Region XIII Championships and qualified as a team for nationals.

The team dominated the GCAC Championships by placing five runners in the top 11. That dominance coupled with the Region XIII victory earned them the right to be counted among the best in recent Loyola athletics history.

“It was a very strong team that ran very well,” Head Coach Paul Garvey said. “They beat the second-place team by almost 20 points, which in a small race is pretty significant.”

In the GCAC Championships, the team was led by 2001 graduate Stephanie LeGleu, who won the 5,000 meter race in 20:07.6. The team placed four other runners in the top 11: general studies senior Catherine Baggett (third, 20:27.6), criminal justice junior Jacqueline Macieiski (7th, 21:12.7), 2001 graduate Bethany Comboy (10th, 21:44.2), and accounting sophomore Shelly Navarre (11th, 21:54.1).

In the Region XIII Championships, the entire team qualified for nationals. The Loyola women won on the strength of three runners recording top 10 finishes: LeGleu (2nd, 19:50.3), Baggett (3rd, 20:07.7) and Macieiski (8th, 21:06.3).

“We didn’t talk about it [making nationals] for a specific reason,” he said. “Each person focused on themselves in each race and how they ran because you can’t control how someone else runs.”

In order to prepare for the championship, the ‘Pack conditioned hard all year as a team and gained confidence in each other.

“Everyone wanted to do well as a team,” Baggett said. “At practices and races, we held on to each other and pushed each other. “

Garvey agrees that the team chemistry was an important factor.

“You have to know that others can take up your slack if something happens. They trained very well together and helped each other in the races.”

Garvey also credits a tough schedule leading up to the GCAC Championships for the success of the team. They raced against Tulane University, the University of New Orleans, and Louisiana State University, which are all Division I schools, during the course of the season.

“It was great from the standpoint that they could see how good they were compared to a much more level field of competition,” Garvey said. “They were able to see that they won their region and those other schools didn’t.”

In Nationals in Kenosha, Wis., the team finished in 26th place.

Overall, the team was one of the most successful in Loyola history as it was the first squad to have the entire team qualify for nationals.