50 greatest NKY prep sports teams in 50 days: Day 14, 1981 St. Henry volleyball

We gave you the 50 greatest sports icons from NKY last summer. Since we had so much fun with that, we’re bringing you another list of the 50 greatest things this summer…The 50 greatest prep sports teams from NKY. 

Each day for the next 50 days, we’ll release one of the area’s 50 greatest prep sports teams. It starts June 22 and runs into August. This is not a ranking 1-50, it’s just a collection of the 50 best sports teams ever assembled.

We’ll preface this by saying you may or may not agree with all 50 and that’s fine. Sports editor Evan Dennison assembled a panel of dedicated and longly-tenured NKY sports fans to weigh in and give their takes on who should be on the list. I trust those people because of their history and knowledge of the game in NKY. We compiled numerous lists and identified the most certain candidates for inclusion. 

Some of the traits we sought in these teams were state championships (almost certainly a requirement), dominance, and standout players and coaches. We may have cheated a little by lumping some dominant teams together that achieved numerous consecutive state titles, but that gives a few more teams an opportunity to be recognized. 

I hope you enjoy this, as sports are slow in the summer. This list serves as a way to remember the past a little and keep you entertained daily as it continues.

Another note, while we respect and give coverage to golf, tennis, wrestling, bowling, track and field and cross country, we consider those individual sports, so any teams from those sports will not make the list.

Here we go!  

1981 St. Henry volleyball

As Kentucky high school volleyball was establishing itself, Northern Kentucky was setting the standard. In 1981, St. Henry captured the third KHSAA state volleyball championship and became the third consecutive Northern Kentucky school to win the title.

Coached by Katie Wesseling, the Crusaders finished 32-7 and entered the state tournament among Kentucky’s top teams. Their championship journey, however, was anything but straightforward. After an early loss to two-time defending state runner-up Our Lady of Providence, St. Henry battled their way back through the tournament with six straight victories.

The run culminated at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, where the Crusaders earned a rematch with Our Lady of Providence in the state championship match. This time, St. Henry left little doubt, winning 15-13, 15-6 to claim the title.

The team was led by twin sisters Kathy Tepe Bessler and Wendy Tepe Tobergte, who went on to star at Miami (Ohio). Both surpassed 1,000 career kills, earned multiple First Team All-MAC honors and were inducted into the Miami Hall of Fame in 1994. Their accomplishments also earned them recognition as the first two inductees into the St. Henry Hall of Fame.

The championship’s influence extended well beyond 1981. Current St. Henry volleyball coach Maureen Kaiser, who later guided the Crusaders to the 2021 state championship, was a freshman on the junior varsity team. Wesseling also helped shape the future of the sport by building the Northern Kentucky Volleyball Club into one of the region’s premier programs.

More than four decades later, the 1981 Crusaders remain a foundational team in Kentucky high school volleyball history.

Here’s the rundown of the 50 greatest NKY prep sports teams day by day:

Day 1: 1998 Highlands Football

Day 2: 1963 Holmes Baseball

Day 3: 2019 Covington Catholic football

Day 4: 2021 Notre Dame Academy Girls Soccer

Day 5: 1960 Highlands Football

Day 6: 1980 Villa Madonna Volleyball

Day 7: 1976 Lloyd Memorial Football

Day 8: 2009 Holmes Boys Basketball