[Southsider2k12]

Good for her! In case people don't know she was a victim of the budget cuts last year.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/sports/spo...0,1192097.story

Penn High School named three varsity head coaches Wednesday — Sarah McFarland-Hendricks (volleyball), Trevor Eubank (girls soccer) and Tom Miller (boys and girls cross country).

McFarland-Hendricks played at Michigan City High School and was an All-American at Loyola Marymount. She coached at City from 2007-2010 and was also an assistant coach at the University of Idaho and Baylor University.

[Jesse B]

Good for her! In case people don't know she was a victim of the budget cuts last year.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/sports/spo...0,1192097.story

Good player but not much of a HS coach from what I saw.

[taxthedeer]

Good player but not much of a HS coach from what I saw.

Sarah led the Penn Lady Kingsmen Volleyball team to the 4A state championship yesterday.

[Southsider2k12]

Sarah led the Penn Lady Kingsmen Volleyball team to the 4A state championship yesterday.

Congats to Sarah. And a special thanks from Penn to the people involved in screwing up our property taxes... With out them, she would still be in City.

[Southsider2k12]

http://www.thenewsdispatch.com/articles/20...0b331848862.txt

Letting her get away

By Drew White
Unwritten No More
Published: Monday, November 7, 2011 5:08 PM CST
Watching the replay of Saturday’s IHSAA Class 4A Volleyball State Championship on television, my mind couldn’t help but wander back to the fall of 1995.

The consolidated Michigan City High School had been in existence for all of three months and I remember watching the live broadcast from Indianapolis as the Wolves instantly cashed in on the concept of combining the best of Elston volleyball with the best of Rogers volleyball.

If you would’ve told me then that the Wolves’ 15-6, 12-15, 15-12 defeat of Martinsville at Market Square Arena that chilly Saturday evening would be the last time I would see a Michigan City team collecting a state trophy for what has now become 16-plus years, I wouldn’t have believed you.

Sarah McFarland, who is now Sarah Hendricks, was a junior on that team. Standing close to 6-foot-6, her height alone tended to strike fear in the opposition. The fact that she could block and attack with the best of them just added to the fun of watching the Wolves during their state championship run - which culminated with a 40-1 record.

*
Hendricks went on to become a two-time All-American at Loyola Marymount before spending time coaching collegiate volleyball at Idaho and Baylor.

In 2007, she did what I wish more Wolves would do - she came home. She was hired as a counselor at Michigan City High School and tabbed to be head coach of the volleyball program she helped lead to that initial state championship.

By all accounts, Hendricks had the Wolves headed in the right direction until budget cuts that eliminated her counselor position forced her to relinquish the head coaching position.

All of this went down at a time when Hendricks and her husband were expecting their first child within a matter of weeks.

The Michigan City Area Schools were eventually able to bring Hendricks back to her counseling position for the second half of the 2010-11 school year.

This summer, when an opportunity to arose to take over the defending Class 4A state champion Penn High School volleyball team, Hendricks made the jump.

Who can blame her? I certainly can’t.

Seeing her hoist the state championship trophy on Saturday, I couldn’t help but feel a bit sad.

I can’t make this clear enough - this was never a case of a coach who left Michigan City because she wanted to chase a state title elsewhere. Hendricks would still be at Michigan City if we could’ve just taken care of her when she needed us most.

Having been at the Michigan City volleyball team’s regular season finale, a match in which Penn came into the Wolves Den and displayed the type of dominance that led it to Worthen Arena on Saturday, I was happy to see the turnout of Michigan City volleyball supporters - parents, former players, friends, and family - who were there for both the Wolves and Hendricks.

I’m sure those same supporters were among those tuned in on Saturday night, each of which took tremendous pride in what Hendricks was able to accomplish.

She took advantage of the opportunity to become head coach of the Kingsmen - a testament that good things happen to good people. I am happy that she ended up not only on her feet, but on top of the mountain.

Though I can’t confirm her to be the only person to win an Indiana volleyball state championship as a both a player and a coach, I will tell you that the list, if there is one, isn’t long.

I just can’t help but wish that she had the chance to accomplish the feat at Michigan City.

Contact sports writer Drew White at dwhite@thenewsdispatch.com or 874-7211, Ext. 447.