Herrin High Volleyball has seen three coaches in the last four years, each a drastic new change for the team.  The 2024 – 2025 HHS Girls Volleyball team has been introduced to new coaching staff: Varsity Coach Jessica Whitehead, JV Coach Melaina Lane, and Freshman Coach Sydney Stuck.

Whitehead has experience as a player, dressing for Varsity during her freshman year and playing on true Varsity during her sophomore, junior, and senior years.  She was captain in her junior and senior years.  Whitehead is third all-time in kills in the Murphysboro record book, with 1,156 kills from 2006–2009. “Kills” is when one strikes the volleyball so that it hits the floor.  Whitehead was also skilled in blocking, with 149 in 2007, 147 in 2008, and 212 in 2009.  During Whitehead’s high school career, Murphysboro won Regionals all 4 years.  In her senior year, Murphysboro was the team that traveled the farthest to make it to Super-Sectionals. 

“Coaching ‘Jess’ was so easy.  She was always the first one on the court and always the last one to leave the court.  She always tries her best and never gives up,” Whitehead’s high school coach said of her.

During her college years, Whitehead was a two-time recipient of the Southern Illinoisan Player of the Year honor and two-time All-State Honoree.  She continued playing at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where she collected 1,401 career kills (4th most in SIU history) and 923 attempts per set rank (second in school history). 

Coach Whitehead also bears experience with coaching a team.  She is the owner of a travel volleyball organization called the Southern Illinois Volleyball Academy, (SIVBA).  She coaches the 12–13 year old teams and the 16–17 year old teams personally.  Additionally, Whitehead was the John A. Logan Volleyball Team’s Assistant Coach, where she worked statistics and coached the team’s hitters.  

At SIU, she was an Assistant Coach (helping with middles) and was the Director of Operations (helping organize team traveling and more).

Talking to her players, one can see that Whitehead has made a positive impact.  “Being that it was my first year back playing volleyball, I was really nervous to play again, but Coach ‘J’ made me feel very welcome and she has already helped me so much,” says Sophie Schramm (12).

Being able to learn from a different perspective changes how one acts as a player.  “Having a new coach is exciting to experience a new way of learning volleyball, and I think she has impacted everyone in a positive way,” Addison Stinson (11) explains.

But, overall, Coach Whitehead feels ultimately optimistic for the new season.  “I think this season is gonna be a great one.  There’s gonna be some tough competition but I think we will succeed.  I want to accomplish winning Conference, we will need to take one game at a time and one point at a time,” she explained.

To see Coach Whitehead’s work in action, come see the girls play their next game on Thursday, 29 September 2024.  Looking forward, Schramm continued: “I think she has brought a lot to Herrin’s volleyball team and she is definitely going to build the future of the team.”