Tony Trifonov took the Cougars to heights never achieved in Chicago States otherwise horrendous volleyball history.

He lead the Cougars to a 13-1 regular season title, conference tournament title, and to the NCAA tournament for the first time.

He moved on to fellow NEC member Long Island. This was all just announced sometime in July I believe (I’d have to check the date, but it was well into summer).

In a sign of the level of NEC athletics in many ways, LIU’s coach left to take over a D3 team…

Along with Trifonov, most of the very, very small team has moved on as well, with several Seniors or grad students finishing their careers.

One of Chicago States 2 Polish stars will be playing for Old Dominion this fall.

Wiktoria Zagumny-

https://odusports.com/sports/volleyball/...ia-zagumny

One of last seasons regular starters, Zahara Quraisha has transferred to UC San Diego.

She spent one very successful season at CSU, and will be enjoying a little more sunshine than her hometown of Hartford, or Chicago could provide.

https://ucsdtritons.com/sports/womens-vo...ishi/14127

Julieta Sandez, a 6’4” Hitter/Middle Blocker from Argentina has moved a little to the northwest and is will suit up as a flame at UIC this fall. She was a key player during the Cougars run last season.

https://uicflames.com/sports/womens-voll...ndez/11266

Star, All American Patrycja Lagida has transferred to Wake Forest, a move announced just after Trifonov announced his move. She will be highly successful there. Not many teams ever get an All American transfer. She is also spending her summer playing for Polands U22 National team so should arrive there in top form.

Happy the Cougars had her for 2 years and that she landed at such a great school and in probably the top volleyball league in the nation.

https://godeacs.com/sports/womens-volley...agida/9020

There wasn’t much she didn’t accomplish last fall.

2024 AVCA Division I All-America – Honorable Mention
2024 AVCA Division I All-Midwest Region – Honorable Mention
2024 NEC Player of the Year
2024 First Team All-NEC
2024 NEC Tournament MVP
2024 NEC All-Tournament Team
2024 NEC Tournament Champion
2024 NEC Regular-Season Champion

Karly Klaer, a Senior, followed coach Trifonov to Long Island and will play for the Sharks this season.

Speaking of the Sharks, they are picked to win the NEC in 2025. Let’s see if Tony can make it 2 in a row at different schools.

Chicago State is surprisingly picked fourth.

https://northeastconference.org/news/202...el_25.aspx

The new coach has brought in some immediate impact players, with 3 senior transfers.

One is from Townson, one from Cal State Fullerton, and another from Nichols State.

That’s at least some reason for optimism I believe.

It’s too bad Tony is now coaching in an athletics program that is on probation. Not good for recruiting… No postseason for 3 years.

Although it’s hard for me to feel too sorry for him. He leapt in the unknown-and found out… I doubt he will stay thru the whole ordeal at his age.

https://frontofficesports.com/tournament...ncaa-says/

Former Cougar Karly Kaley, who followed Coach Trifonov to Long Island, was featured on the LIU website for her multi sport prowess. During her college career, she played volleyball, basketball, indoor and outdoor track. She added D1 basketball to her repertoire after she left Chicago State.

What an athlete she is.

https://www.liuathletics.com/news/2026/5...hlete.aspx

Probably not worth having a 2026 volleyball thread at all, let alone at this late point in the season..

However, the Cougars did pick up a nice conference win at home versus Stonehill. They spilt the games, both games being 3-2, so highly competitive.

Here’s hoping they can use this and build up some momentum.

This was the beginning of conference play, so the Cougars are 1-1 now.

Long Island is up next.

Tough loss Friday versus a LeMoyne team they really should have, and needed to beat. Lost 3-2, with a 17-15 loss in the 5th. Couldn’t have been much closer.

Hopefully they will bounce back on Saturday and another win to the total. It’s one of their best opportunities this season.