Journal Reporter

No longer is Aurora, Illinois famous only for being the home to the fictional cable access station that broadcast "Wayne's World".

After three national championships in a row by the Mizuno Sports Performance 18 & Under club team, it's safe to say they play some pretty good volleyball there, as well.

Wheeling High School graduate Ingrid Hanson-Tuntland and Hersey High School senior-to-be Megan Fesl were members of that national championship club. In addition, Hersey's Dana Van Diggelen played on a Sky High Volleyball Club team that also came home with a national crown from the 2005 Junior Olympic Girls Volleyball Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Hanson-Tuntland - who is off to play at the University of North Carolina - was named an All-American at the event, which took place at The Salt Palace from June 29 to July 6. Megan Fesl has signed to play at Notre Dame when her high school days are over.

"Ninety-nine percent of the girls in our program are going to play somewhere in college," said Joe Jablonski, coach of the 18 & under team. We've been going to those tournaments for over 20 years, we've been in the finals maybe 15 times and we've won it 11 times, so we feel pretty good. We have to be doing something right.

"Ingrid and Megan were two of the strongest kids on our team, and they both had a personality that brought something different to us. Megan is very happy and makes everybody around her happy, and Ingrid is very competitive and very hard on herself. Both of those personalities gave us something we needed."

The Sports Performance club has had at least one team win a national crown in 18 of the last 19 summers, but three in a row in an age group is an unprecedented feat.

"Everybody really stepped up. It's nice to do something that hadn't been done, and I absolutely think this level of competition gets every player prepared for the next level," Jablonski said.

"We took this team to China this year for nine days, so that had the same effect. They got a chance to experience the game over there and experience another culture, and they got to train with great players."

Hanson-Tuntland, Fesl and company went 9-0 in the tournament, losing just five games along the way.

While Jablonski's team took the 18's Open Division at the tournament, Van Diggelen's squad was a winner in the 18's American Division.

Van Diggelen's Sky High team recovered from a loss in the first game of the tournament to Vision 18-Blue of Los Gatos, Ca., bouncing back to win that match and all 11 they played in Salt Lake City. The American Division included 48 teams from 20 states.

Fesl and Van Diggelen will be among the returnees this season for coach Nancy Lill, who knows that competing in events like the Junior Olympics will only make great players that much better.

"Playing at that level in the summer is just huge," Lill said. "They go to qualifiers all over the country and they play in a national tournament against the best competition there is in the nation. It's a whole different level from high school.

"Everybody is an elite player at these tournaments. When you go up against competition like that, it pushes you to be the best player you can be."

Hersey setter Annie Fesl, who is about to enter her junior year, helped the Sports Performance 16-White team to a 9-2 record at the Junior Olympics and a ninth-place national finish. Wheeling grad Monique Houston played on the Sports Performance 18-Blue club, and other Sky High players included St. Viator senior Ashley Oradakowski (18-Red) and Hersey soon-to-be sophomores Lauren Dembkowski (15-Red) and Katie Fey (16-Blue).

Sky High Volleyball makes its home in Crystal Lake.

"This is the first time any club has had a three-peat, and a national championship is a great feeling, so it's nice for Megan and Dana to be a part of that, but we had players all over the place this summer," Lill said. "Annie's team placed ninth in the nation. Lauren's team came one match away from making it to nationals. We had a lot of people play a lot of volleyball, and I can't stress enough how important that is for us."

Lill returns eight players this fall from a Hersey team that made the state's Elite Eight in 2004.

Hanson-Tuntland, a 6-0 middle hitter, left Wheeling as one of the most decorated female athletes in school history. She led the Wildcats to the sectional finals in 2004 before a loss to Hersey ended the season. This year, the Prospect Hts. native will join a North Carolina team that finished 19-15 overall and 9-7 in the Atlantic Coast Conference last season.