College women’s volleyball: NIU names Sondra Parys head coach

Sondra Parys, a Crystal Lake native and former Toledo player, will take the helm as the seventh head coach of the NIU women’s volleyball program, school vice president and athletic director Sean Frazier announced Thursday.

”I am extremely excited to welcome a coach of Sondra’s caliber to the Huskie volleyball program,” Frazier said. “Her background in recruiting players from the Chicagoland region and nationally stood out, as well as her commitment to student-athlete development. Having grown up in the area and competed in the conference, I know she is ready to hit the ground running and get to work on leading NIU volleyball back to competing for championships.”

Parys, who was an all-state volleyball player at Prairie Ridge, comes to NIU after spending the past five seasons as an assistant coach at Loyola Chicago, helping guide the Ramblers to five consecutive winning seasons, including back-to-back regular-season conference championships in 2021 and 2022.

“I am beyond grateful and excited for this special opportunity to lead the NIU volleyball program,” Parys said. “I want to sincerely thank Sean Frazier and [NIU senior associate athletic director] Anton Goff for believing in me throughout this process. I also want to thank [Loyola head coach] Amanda Berkley for her years of mentorship. I truly would not be in this position without her guidance. I am honored to be a part of the Huskie family and can’t wait to get to work with our student-athletes.”

The move comes less than a month after NIU parted ways with 21-year head coach Ray Gooden on Nov. 18.

Most recently, the Ramblers won their first Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament championship, capping a historic season in which the team won 25 matches, the most in 20 years. With the A10 automatic bid in hand, the program made its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2005.

In 2019, Parys was one of 11 NCAA Division I women’s volleyball coaches to be honored with the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s Thirty Under 30 Award, which recognizes up-and-coming stars in the profession.

It’s a full-circle moment for the Parys family. Her father, Joe, was on the 1981-82 NIU Hall of Fame men’s basketball team, and her mother, Lori, was a cheerleader at NIU.

Parys was a volleyball player from 2009-12 at Toledo, where she earned a spot on the Mid-American Conference All-Freshman Team and led the Rockets in kills her junior year. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Toledo and a master’s degree in college counseling from The Citadel. Parys will be formally introduced to the media and community in January.