by Evan Craig
In the early 1990s, the Downers Grove South girl’s volleyball team came oh-so-close to winning its first state championship.
From 1992-95, the Mustangs finished second in the state three consecutive years with a third-place finish sprinkled in to break the streak. It appeared that a title might not be in the cards for DGS volleyball.
Then the 1996 season rolled around and cemented the Mustangs and head coach Denise Kavanaugh into immortality. Not only that, but the run also saw DGS shift from being a Cinderella story to an unstoppable force.
While Kavanaugh was undoubtedly proud of watching her program emerge as one of the best in the state, no accomplishment in her illustrious coaching career could top the feeling of knowing the entire Redbird Arena crowd was on her team’s side as they shed their underdog label during the ‘96 finals.
Kavanaugh fondly remembered then-Lockport coach Julia Hudson running down the court to congratulate her team’s hard-fought win over Mother McAuley, who entered that postseason as back-to-back champions.
Legendary Mother McAuley coach Nancy Peterson even told Kavanaugh that if her team was going to lose, she was glad it came against the Mustangs because she understood the “amount of pressure” that went into being runners-up and losing to her program.
“When you have your opponents going, ‘Okay, we’re going to let this one go because we like [that] you finally got here.’ It was cool, the whole thing was cool,” Kavanaugh said. “Then, once we started to win a lot, no one was doing that anymore.”
DGS would add two more titles to its trophy case in 1999 and 2002. Kavanaugh attributed the program’s accomplishments to having dedicated and committed players who were willing to represent their high school with pride.
“Get everybody on board with what you’re doing, including the families and the fans. We [tried] to incorporate everybody, work hard, do all the right things, and I think we did all that,” Kavanaugh said. “But I think we had the right blend of people. Altogether it wasn’t just me. I think…it just has to lay out the right way, and it did for my time there before I left.”
Personal accolades for Kavanaugh during her coaching tenure included winning National and Illinois Coach of the Year honors, along with being a Hall of Fame inductee for DGS and the Illinois Volleyball Association.
After Kavanaugh walked away from coaching, she pivoted to a career in athletic administration, where she served as the athletic director at Downers Grove North for over 20 years.
In 2024, Kavanaugh took the reins as AD at Nazareth Academy in La Grange Park, mentioning the need for her staff to adapt to the ever-changing times as she advances in her administrative role.
“People today are very busy, whether they’re teaching and doing stuff and starting families. In the old days, we did crazy things like [that],” Kavanaugh said. “We coached three sports and people today -- I don’t know if they’re smarter -- but they know how to balance their time better for sure, so they have to learn how to do these things in today's day and age.”
The greatest joy Kavanaugh has experienced in her administrative role is seeing several of her former players transition to a coaching career of their own, whether in high school or collegiately.
“If you get people excited about something, they want to do it, and so it’s a great place to be -- education. You get to be with kids, whether it’s college, high school, junior high, club [volleyball],” Kavanaugh said. “And that’s why I’m still working because I like to be around the kids -- they keep [me] young.”
Kavanaugh’s second career as an administrator has produced an enduring legacy of greatness on par with her coaching tenure. The enjoyment of her work at Nazareth does not appear to be coming to a close anytime soon, and she would not have it any other way.
This story is a part of the IHSA celebration of the first 50 years of the IHSA Girls Volleyball State Series. Click here for more on the Top 50 programs during the first 50 years.