Park Hill High School athletics experienced a defining transformation in the late 1980s, when the school’s girls volleyball program emerged from relative obscurity and grew into the most dominant volleyball force the area has ever seen.
From 1987 through 2000, Park Hill volleyball evolved from just another Kansas City-area program into a statewide standard for excellence, consistency and culture. Built on togetherness, accountability and competitive fire, the Trojans authored one of the most successful eras in Missouri volleyball history.
Over that 14-season span, Park Hill qualified for the state tournament 11 times, reached the Final Four in every one of those appearances and captured three Class 4 state championships.
The Trojans posted an overall record of 415-87-24 with eight 30-win seasons, produced 19 all-state athletes and sent 42 players on to compete at the collegiate level.
That unprecedented era received formal recognition on Nov. 23, when the Park Hill volleyball teams from 1987 to 2000 were inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. The Trojans were one of four Kansas City-area high school sports teams honored during a ceremony attended by more than 800 people at the InterContinental Hotel in Kansas City.
“It was very nice to be recognized as a whole entire era,” former player and coach Janell Shamet-DeVille said. “History in sports is important to keep as present as possible. Very thankful to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame for them to give us this recognition because I think it’s important for the present players and community to know the legacy behind what was built tohelp them be where they are today.”
Members inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame also included former Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas, former coaches, media members, and several high school sports teams.
For many of the program alumnae in attendance, the induction was as much a reunion as it was a celebration. More than two dozen alumni from the era gathered, with some seeing each other for the first time in more than 20 years and others meeting for the first time despite having shared the same legacy. The current Park Hill volleyball program was also represented, including head coach Lindsey Hood and several players, reinforcing the direct line between past and present.
Debbie Fay, who served as Park Hill’s head coach from 1987 to 1997 and laid the foundation for the program’s golden age, viewed the gathering as a reminder of how deeply the program’s bonds run.
“They were so excited to see each other,” Fay said. “It really makes us all realize how it’s such a small world and we just circle back around. We’re just circling back around with some really, really good role models to kind of pass the torch.”
The rise of Park Hill volleyball did not happen in isolation. The passage of Title IX in 1972 reshaped the landscape of girls athletics across the country, opening doors that had long been closed. By the mid-1980s, girls volleyball in Missouri had grown into a highly competitive sport, particularly at larger schools. Park Hill was positioned to capitalize on that momentum, turning opportunity into sustained excellence.
“We kind of kicked it off for those 10 to 14 years back in the day,” Fay said. “It’s just exploded since, so we’re just part of the growth in women’s volleyball in the country and very happy to be part of it.”
The Trojans quickly distinguished themselves as trailblazers within the Kansas City area, becoming the first program in the region to achieve prolonged statewide success at the highest classification.
Fay, who was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame as an individual coach in 2020, was at the forefront of that transformation, emphasizing fundamentals, discipline and a belief that Park Hill belonged on the state’s biggest stage.
The path to a championship was anything but easy. Missouri volleyball during that era was often divided into two power corridors: Kansas City and St. Louis. Park Hill had to navigate its way through an increasingly competitive Kansas City side before facing perennial powers from the eastern half of the state.
The breakthrough came in 1987, when Park Hill finally pushed through the district barrier and advanced to the state tournament in Fay’s first season. That season ended with a third-place finish, but it marked a turning point that signaled what was to come.
The 1988 team quickly realized it was capable of something special. Earlier in the season, Park Hill only needed two sets to knock off West Plains, a juggernaut that had won four consecutive state championships and carried an 87-match winning streak.
“That was kind of that aha moment that gave us that confidence boost,” Shamet-DeVille said. “It was like, ‘hey, we can really do this.’ The West Plains Tournament and that confidence boost is what really got the program going after the ‘87 team won districts and went to state.”
That confidence carried the Trojans all the way to their first state title. Park Hill defeated Kirkwood 2-1 to claim the Class 4A championship at the University of Central Missouri, announcing itself as a new force in Missouri volleyball. Shamet-DeVille, then a sophomore, played a key role alongside standout Jill Bailey, a three-sport standout whose versatility embodied the program’s competitive edge.
Park Hill celebrates its first state championship in 1988, defeating Kirkwood 2-0.
Park Hill proved the title was no fluke a year later when the Trojans returned to the University of Central Missouri and captured their second consecutive state championship with a 2-0 victory over Ursuline Academy. The repeat title cemented Park Hill’s place among the state’s elite and set a new standard within the program, led by all-state selections Erin Kramer and Melanie Shamet.
The years that followed tested that standard. From 1990 through 1996, Park Hill remained a fixture in the Final Four, reaching the championship match four times and finishing as state runner-up in 1990, 1992, 1995 and 1996. The Trojans also placed fourth in 1991 and 1993, consistently finishing among the state’s top teams while navigating the pressure that came with heightened expectations.
“You didn’t want to be the team that didn’t go,” Shamet-DeVille said. “You did whatever you could because the expectations changed. It wasn’t just we have to win districts, it was we have to win, and we have to go to state.”
Those expectations reshaped the program’s identity with conference championships becoming routine, and district titles seemingly automatic. From 1987 to 2000, Park Hill captured nine conference championships and 11 district titles, often serving as the measuring stick for opponents across the region.
Perhaps the most defining moment of the era came in 1997, when Park Hill secured its third state championship. It was Fay’s final season as head coach before moving to Park Hill South, and the Trojans delivered a fitting conclusion with the quartet of Stacy Woodson, Chrissy Elder, Laurel Witt and Erica Rule earning all-state. Woodson was also named Missouri’s Gatorade Player of the Year in 1997-98.
Coaching alongside Shamet-DeVille, one of Fay’s all-state players from earlier in the era, the coaching tandem guided Park Hill to a 2-0 victory over St. Joseph’s Academy, a program that had previously denied the Trojans state titles in 1990 and 1992.
The championship was both a culmination and a passing of the torch. Fay exited knowing the program’s future was secure, while Shamet-DeVille stepped into the head coaching role the following season and continued the tradition through the end of the era in 2000, carrying the torch for over a decade later.
That final season of the era featured another state tournament appearance and a third-place finish, reinforcing the longevity of the culture that had been built more than a decade earlier.
Beyond the wins and championships, the defining trait of Park Hill volleyball from 1987 to 2000 was its sense of family. The bond extended beyond the court, encompassing coaches, players, parents and the broader school community.
“The family commitment is really my favorite part of that era of coaching because everybody was involved,” Fay said. “That was really cool because we didn’t have our pictures all over everything. We just went and played. We loved game night, and so did our fans.”
That culture produced more than trophies. Numerous players went on to compete collegiately, then returned to Park Hill as coaches, ensuring the program’s values continued to be passed down.
“I think we were the ones that got it started, at least in our community,” Fay said. “All those kids that played a part in it should be very, very proud of themselves because these kids now have something to shoot for and see that it can be done.”
To this day, Park Hill remains the only large-school program in the Kansas City metropolitan area to win three state championships in girls volleyball. Nearly three decades after the era began, its influence still shapes the program’s identity, serving as both history and expectation for those who wear a Trojan jersey.