Call it the Cousin Connection for the Lyons Township girls volleyball team. While the Lions’ outstanding 23-3 season has displayed great teamwork, their bond has been strengthened by the family connections of four varsity players with parents from the Carroll clan.
The first step was 2024 when senior and four-year starter Taylor Carroll was joined on varsity by senior starting setter Colleen Chambers. Now there are six sisters or cousins from four families among the girls volleyball’s varsity and junior varsity rosters.
“We’ve been talking about it for four or five years,” Carroll said. “This has kind of been something my family has talked about since Colleen’s and my freshman years because by the time that we were seniors that there were going to be six of us.”
This season, Carroll is joined full-time by sophomore sister Shannon, a 2025 varsity postseason call-up. The latest varsity addition is junior Reagan Veeser, the oldest child in her family. On the JV, there’s freshmen Ginny Veeser, Reagan’s sister, and Kenna Carroll. Kenna is the oldest girl in her family and sister of sophomore Quinn Carroll from the LTHS football team.
“It’s great. Whenever I come here and see all of the cousins, it feels welcoming, just the whole environment,” Kenna Carroll said.
The players’ parents each consist of at least one LTHS graduate. Cousins Eileen Carroll (York) and Nora Murdock (New Trier) also play varsity girls volleyball.
Beneficial and rewarding for the LTHS cousins and families? Yes. Confusing for almost everyone else? Absolutely.
“It’s hard to keep track if you’re not in the family,” Chambers said. “I’m sure it gets confusing even when I’m telling my friends, ‘Yeah, that’s my cousin. That’s my aunt’s daughter.’ They’re always like, ‘Wait. What family is that again?’”
The LTHS cousins live no further than four to five blocks from each other. Despite their different ages, the four oldest began volleyball together being driven to the same summer camps. During a recent varsity victory, one of the Lions’ points combined Reagan Veeser serving, Taylor Carroll digging the opposing attack and Chambers setting to Shannon Carroll for the kill.
“Whenever we have family parties, all of our aunts and uncles are always asking us about volleyball and how it’s going,” Chambers said. “I think almost every single cousin has played volleyball before, male or female.”
Still, this is the first full season that Taylor and Shannon Carroll are teammates. Being two school years apart, they don’t see each other during days at LTHS. Sophomores and freshmen attend the south campus and seniors and juniors attend the north campus, where girls volleyball matches and practices are based.
“I’ve been looking forward to this since Taylor got into high school because she’s always been my role model,” Shannon Carroll said.
“Shannon and I are super close and it’s been super fun to have her in kind of my world of high school,” Taylor Carroll said.
Taylor Carroll (Xavier) and Chambers (Wisconsin-Platteville) are verbally committed to play college volleyball. Chambers’ mother, Sheila (Carroll), and Veeser’s mother, Noreen (Carroll), were Division I college setters at DePaul and Syracuse, respectively.
“I’ve been able to play with Shannon when we were younger but getting to play with Taylor and Colleen their senior year is so fun, their last year in high school,” Reagan Veeser said. “All of us together has been great.”
Dennis Carroll, Taylor’s and Shannon’s father, started for the Lions’ third-place Class AA boys basketball team in 1994 and played basketball and tennis at Notre Dame. Peter Carroll, Kenna’s father, also was an LTHS boys basketball standout.
“(The cousins) not only get to play with their family but play with some of their best friends on the court as well,” LTHS girls volleyball coach Jill Bober said. “Not only does the Carroll pride run through their veins but the LT pride really runs through their veins. It’s incredible to have the opportunity to coach all of the families.”
The Lions are ranked No. 3 overall in the state by IlPrepVolleyball behind Mother McAuley (25-3) and Marist (23-4), who also are both in the Class 4A Argo Sectional. The Lions play at New Trier Oct. 17. Their last West Suburban Conference Silver Division match is Oct. 20 at York with cousin Eileen Carroll among the Dukes’ starters. At least 20 spectators from the related families are expected in Elmhurst. The opposing cousins could meet again in the Oak Lawn Regional final Oct. 29.
Taylor Carroll noted the Lions are 4-0 against Eileen.
“We’re always chirping at each other through the net. It just makes the game so funny and fun,” Chambers said. “It doesn’t really matter the outcome. That game’s always fun. Our family always comes in general but especially then – when a lot more of them end up coming.”
The fans should include John and Mollie Carroll – the players’ grandparents who somehow manage to attend any of their grandchildren’s events as possible – high school and college. Shannon Carroll spoke in awe about her grandparents’ massive daily calendar that organizes sporting events for 29 grandchildren.
“They literally go to everyone’s games,” Shannon Carroll said. “It’s been amazing. They always seem to support us. It’s fun to see them there and know they’re there to watch you play.”
In 2025, Shannon joined Taylor on the court during the regional semifinal victory over Argo. Kenna Carroll and Ginny Veeser hope to join their four cousins on the postseason roster or at least the remaining two on varsity in 2027.
“Maybe we can get a way to play all six of us on the court, but I don’t know if that will happen,” Ginny Veeser said. “That would be fun.”