Heidi Thelen (6-3 MH/OH) Notre Dame Academy (Covington, KY)
In January 2012, PrepVolleyball.com featured a photo of Heidi Thelen, of Notre Dame Academy (Park Hills, KY) and Team Z Volleyball Club, in its list of finalists for the 2011 National Sophomore of the Year.
Her verbal commitment to Penn State was announced in a post on a PrepVolleyball.com message board:
Heidi Thelen, a 6-4 sophomore MB from Notre Dame Academy (KY) and Team Z VBC, has committed to the Nittany Lions in 2014.
Congrats to Thelen, a great athlete and First Team All State pick!
This generated alot of excitement among Kentucky volleyball fans, as evidenced by this thread from BlueGrassPreps.com:
[T]his would be like a running back committing to Alabama or a power forward committing to Kentucky. Penn State is simply the best volleyball program out there right now.
When Russ Rose, PSU head coach, suddenly starts showing up at your club volleyball tournaments, I think your college search is over.
For the 2011 season, Thelen totaled 354 kills, 121 blocks, and 54 aces. For her efforts, she was named by the Kentucky Volleyball Coaches Association as the Region 9 Player of the Year and as a member of the Class AAA All State First Team.
Pandas Set Aim for State Volley Title
From an October 23, 2012 article by James Weber on Cincinnati.com, following Notre Dame Academy’s 3-0 victory over St. Henry. Penn State verbal commit Heidi Thelen recorded 15 kills, 5 blocks, and 3 service aces in the match:
No one on the Notre Dame Academy volleyball team was happy about the way it played against St. Henry on Sept. 20.
St. Henry won 3-1 that night in the “Playing for the Purpose,” a charity match for breast cancer awareness. The Pandas went into their rematch with their Ninth Region rivals looking for revenge as they faced off in the regional championship match.
Mission accomplished, as NDA won 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-20) Oct. 20 at St. Henry.