CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — The tradition at St. Thomas More High School of nurturing volleyball players who progress to collegiate levels persists this season with athletes Addie Kerr and Shannon Monahan.

Regional champions all four years of their high school career, Kerr will head to SIU and Monahan to Lindenwood.

“It’s definitely really special, especially because we had older upperclassmen who ended up playing at the collegiate level,” Monahan shared. “So I think it’s just really cool that STM is kind of the place to make that happen.”

Kerr is set to join the Saluki volleyball team, which is now under the leadership of new head coach Brittany Harry, a graduate from Central and a Champaign local. Harry has a long-standing connection with Saber head coach Brad Dalton.

“She had just taken this new job this past year and so he reached out and I had already been interested in SIU before,” said Kerr. “She’s a great person, so we just hit it off, and I knew I wanted to play under her.”

Monahan and Kerr were also members of the 2021 Saber state championship team.