The 1997 Salem Lady Wildcats Volleyball team went where no team in the program’s history had ever gone before and no team has made it that far since at the time of their induction into the Salem High School Sports Hall of Fame.

Returning a large nucleus from the 1996 team that won 26 games and was a sectional finalist, the 1997 Lady Wildcats smashed the school record for wins in a season by going 31-5 and advanced to the Class AA Sweet 16.

All four regular season losses came during tournament play. Salem was third at the Carbondale Tournament beating Marion, Mt. Carmel and St. Jacob Triad (twice), but fell in the semifinals to eventual champ Belleville Althoff.
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Shandeen (Hunt) Gomez took a long path, literally, for her induction into the Salem High School Sports Hall of Fame.

Gomez spent the first two years of her prep career at Newcomb, New Mexico and twice helped lead that school’s basketball program to the state tournament. Newcomb had a combined 45-5 record during those two years.

Gomez made the move to Illinois for her junior year and followed Newcomb basketball coach Janet Holst to Salem. Gomez continued her success on the hardwood with the Lady Wildcats and was an All-North Egypt Conference First Team selection in both her junior and senior seasons.

Gomez’ athletic talents carried beyond basketball at Salem. It carried over to track and volleyball. During her junior track season Gomez was a member of the NEC 3200-meter relay champions. She was also a starting setter on the 1996 Lady Wildcats volleyball team that went 26-7, won the NEC and regional championships and advanced to the sectional championship games.
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One of the best multi-sport athletes in the history of Salem Community High School girl’s athletics, Tiffany (Husk) Tamminen carried that distinction on to the college level.

While Tamminen competed in cross country and track during her high school career, the 1994 SCHS graduate made her biggest impact in volleyball and basketball.

Tamminen was an anchor in the middle for three consecutive Salem North Egypt Conference championship squads, a streak that began in 1991 and carried on through her senior season of 1993.
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More than 30 years after they last suited up the 1977 Salem Lady Wildcats volleyball team remains as one of the most successful in school history.

Coach Kathy Finney’s squad compiled a sparkling 25-4 record and its .862 winning percentage ranked second in school history at the time of its induction behind only the 1998 team’s 32-3 record and .914 winning percentage.

The Lady Wildcats compiled a 22-3 regular season record that included second place finishes at the Salem Invitational and Flora Invitational. There was no North Egypt Conference season in place at that time.

Salem captured the district championship on its home floor with a 20-1, 20-5 victory over Effingham in the opening round and a 20-18, 20-6 triumph over Mt. Carmel for the championship.
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Salem Community High School’s first female four-sport athlete used her running skills to take her to the collegiate level. Amber (Wimberly) Young, a 1990 SCHS graduate, reached that status when she doubled up in the fall with cross country and volleyball. She added to that participation list with basketball in the winter and track in the spring.

Young did more than just participate. She also excelled. Young was an All-South selection and state meet participant in cross country, earned All-North Egypt Conference honors in volleyball and won her team’s Rebound and Defense Awards in basketball.
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The 1981 Volleyball team coached by Pam McCartney (Raymer) and assisted by Suzanne Henry (Brown) had an impressive team that won the North Egypt Conference championship and recorded a perfect 16-0 record against N.E.C. opponents.

In addition to the conference title, the Lady Wildcats had huge wins in their season by winning the Kaskaskia tournament and the consolation bracket in the highly competitive Carbondale Invitational tournament. Probably the biggest accomplishment of the 1981 season was winning the District Championship. Salem had to defeat Centralia in the first round of the tournament and then defeated Mt. Vernon in the Championship game. Mt. Vernon was highly favored in the Championship, especially since they had defeated the Lady Wildcats earlier in the season 2-0.

The volleyball team finished the season with an overall record of 24-7 and will go down as one of the best volleyball teams in SCHS history.