Lake Forest College Director of Athletics Jackie Slaats announced Tuesday that Heather Noll will be the next head coach of the Forester volleyball team. Noll replaces Jennifer Saylor, who resigned at the end of the 2011 season.
Noll comes to Lake Forest from Buena Vista University, where she was the head coach for the last four seasons. Buena Vista players earned six All-Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors and accounted for 21 IIAC All-Academic Team entries during her four seasons. She was also an instructor in Buena Vista's School of Education & Exercise Science and served as the advisor of the Beavers' Student Athlete Advisory Committee.
Prior to her time at Buena Vista, Noll was a graduate assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater for two seasons. The Warhawks were 71-12 during her time on staff, finished third in the country in 2006, and were the national runners-up in 2007. She also served as an assistant to Whitewater's strength and conditioning coach and as an ad-hoc instructor in the physical education department. Noll also has experience coaching at numerous volleyball camps and clinics and as the head men's club volleyball coach at UW-Whitewater.
Noll played collegiately for two years each at Indian Hills Community College and Coe College, which along with Lake Forest is a member of the Associated College's of the Midwest. She was a two-year IIAC All-Academic Team honoree at Coe and, as a senior, was the team's captain and Most Valuable Player.
The Forester team Noll takes over finished 15-14 overall and 6-3 in the Midwest Conference in 2011. Lake Forest qualified for the four-team MWC Tournament and advanced to the event's championship game.
"I am pleased to have Coach Noll join our staff," commented Slaats. "She has a nice mix of energy, passion for the sport of volleyball, and experience coaching and playing at various levels. She has also shown the ability to lead student-athletes off the court, which is important to the overall student-athlete experience at Lake Forest College. I believe she is the perfect person to keep our program moving in the right direction and hopefully claim a conference title and NCAA Tournament berth in the very near future."
"I am truly excited to join the tradition of excellence at Lake Forest," began Noll. "The dynamics of the College and the Athletic Department have proven to be very successful. The current players have lofty goals, both on and off the court, which is thrilling to me as a coach. I look forward to taking over a quality program and making it even stronger."
Noll has already begun recruiting and will relocate to Lake Forest in mid-January.
