Katie Schumacher-Cawley
	Position: Head Coach Experience: Fourth Season E-mail: katies@uic.edu

Former NCAA All-American and national champion Katie Schumacher-Cawley was named the head coach of the UIC volleyball program on December 5, 2008.

In her first season at the helm, Schumacher-Cawley helped to guide the Flames to a record of 16-18 overall and 8-8 in Horizon League play. UIC posted key conference victories over Loyola, Milwaukee and eventual league champion, Cleveland State.

The Flames concluded the 2009 season with a trip to the Horizon League Tournament semifinals, a level that they had not reached since 2006 when they dropped the championship match.

During her second season as UIC's head coach the Flames turned in several memorable moments on the court. In September, the team captured the Best Western Invitational championship in Jacksonville, Fla. That title marked the first non-conference tournament triumph away from Chicago in over 15 years. UIC also took second at the annual Chicagoland Challenge during the season's opening weekend. The Flames toppled DePaul in five thrilling sets in the first match before falling to a Northwestern team that eventually would advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in the championship.

During the 2011 season, Schumacher-Cawley guided Safranek and Sara Sternard to all-Horizon League honors. Safranek grabbed first-team honors, while Sternard was named to the all-newcomer team. The Flames went on a five-match winning streak that included defeating four conference foes. Among the victories, UIC defeated Loyola and Green Bay, which led to Sternard being named the Horizon League's "Offensive Player of the Week."

Schumacher-Cawley, an outside hitter during her playing days, was instrumental in the development of two UIC standouts who fill the same role and who garnered Horizon League honors in 2009. Casie Sullivan was voted to the All-League team as chosen by the conference's coaches after leading her team with 194 kills and ranking second with 192 digs in conference play. Freshman Kelsey Safranek was named to the All-Newcomer Team upon totaling 170 kills, 25 digs and 31 total blocks against league opponents.

Safranek continued to shine under Schumacher-Cawley in 2010 as she was named to the All-Horizon League Team. Safranek ranked third with 3.35 kills per set and she established new career bests in kills, assists and digs.

Janise Dismuke also responded well in 2010 as she was named Most Valuable Player of the Best Western Invitational and to the COBRA Magazine All-Midwest Region Team under Schumacher-Cawley.

The native of Chicagoan was also responsible for bringing in a recruiting class in 2010 that received Honorable Mention recognition from PrepVolleyball.com, becoming the only Horizon League program to garner that distinction.

Schumacher-Cawley took over the reigns at UIC after spending the previous six seasons as an assistant coach for the Flames, including the last five as the top assistant coach.

A 2002 graduate of Penn State, Schumacher-Cawley helped lead the Nittany Lions to the 1999 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship and three Big Ten Conference titles during her career at University Park.

Schumacher-Cawley was a three-time All-Big Ten selection, two-time All American and an AVCA All-Region selection in 2001. Schumacher tallied 1,310 kills (tenth in Penn State history), 299 blocks (eighth in Penn State history) and 772 digs.

A native of Chicago's South Side, Schumacher-Cawley first tasted the collegiate coaching life in 2002 when she served as a volunteer coach for the University of Illinois. She had spent her entire collegiate career at Penn State serving as a coach for the Nittany Lions' summer camps in both volleyball and basketball.

She first broke onto the local sports scene as a prep star for volleyball power Mother McAuley. From 1993-97 she excelled at volleyball and basketball, earning All-Girls Catholic Athletic Conference (GCAC) honors in both sports and leading the Mighty Macs to state and national titles in volleyball. Schumacher-Cawley was named the 1996 Player of the Year by The Star Newspaper and the 1997 Chicago Sun-Times Female Athlete of the Year, among many awards and highlights, before heading to Penn State.

She was also inducted into the GCAC Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Catholic League Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2008 a resolution in the Illinois House of Representatives congratulated Schumacher-Cawley for her achievements.

On October 15, 2008, Schumacher-Cawley was inducted into the prestigious Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame for her contributions to the sport of volleyball as an athlete and a coach. She was inducted in a class that featured the likes of Pro Football Hall of Famers Dick Butkus, Gale Sayers and Marv Levy, Chicago Cubs great Andre Dawson and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Schumacher-Cawley was married on May 26, 2007 to Mike Cawley of Pittsburgh. In the spring of 2010, the couple welcomed a new addition with the birth of daughter Stella. In June 2011 another daughter, Nora, was born. The family resides in Chicago.

UIC Flames Women's Volleyball

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