Category Archives: Darien

Jeana T. Roche

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Jeana’s love for volleyball started in 1991 at Darien High School. A freshman with no volleyball experience, she was invited by her good friend, Kim Henry, to give it a try. Jeana and Kim had played tennis together for years and Kim was then a senior outside hitter for the team. Kim suspected Jeana’s tennis serve would translate well into volleyball spikes and serves. Sure enough, it did!

Fast forward two years, and Jeana led Connecticut in service aces in both her junior and senior years. Jeana would often take over matches by rattling off ace after ace. In1994, during the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) State and Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference (FCIAC) finals, Jeana closed out the matches with 5 and 9 aces respectively, clinching both titles.

Coached by legend Laurie LaRusso, a future Connecticut Women’s Volleyball Hall of Fame member, Class of 2012 and multiple time Coach of the Year, Darien would end their 1993 season “perfectly”. The team went 25-0, never losing a set, and won both the CIAC State Championship and FCIAC Championships. Jeana earned All-State and All-FCIAC recognition and was named a CT Post All-Star. The taste of winning the championship in 1993 spurred Jean to do it all over again.

The following year was a repeat! In 1994 the team went 24-0, never dropping a set and again won both the CIAC State and FCIAC titles. For the second year in a row, Jeana earned All-State and All-FCIAC recognition, was also named a Mizuno All Star and was selected for the Nutmeg State Games South team, which went on to win the gold medal. Jeana was named the co-MVP of the Darien volleyball team in 1994 alongside her good friend and amazing setter Chaira Ghiardini.

A dynamic duo for sure.

In 1995, Jeana was named Captain of the Darien Tennis team and went on to be selected to the All-FCIAC East team, as Darien won the CIAC Class M State title. In addition, Jeana was named the 1995 Darien Veterans of Foreign War Female Athlete of the Year.

She earned a full scholarship to play volleyball at Fordham University and played 4 years for the Rams. While at Fordham, she was also recruited to play on the tennis team but declined because of her commitment to volleyball. Her college and high school teammates remain some of her closest friends to this day.

Fast forward to 2017 when Jeana was living back in Darien with her husband, Kevin, and three young children Jillian, Kevin and Joe, the recruiting started.

Former coach Laurie LaRusso reached out and the call was heard. Jeana managed to work into to her busy schedule the demands of coaching high school volleyball. She became Laurie’s assistant coach for the next 3 seasons, reliving so many of the memories from decades before.

A few short years later, in 2022, Jeana’s daughter Jillian was selected Senior Captain for the Darien High School volleyball team and what did they do? Twenty-nine years after first completing the task with Jeana, Laurie coached

Jillian’s team to another “perfect” season. The team again went 25-0, winning both the CIAC State Championship and FCIAC Championship. A surreal experience for all.

Josie Weymann

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Josie’s volleyball career begins at Darien High School in 1994. An excellent athlete, under the guidance of Coach Laurie LaRusso, she developed and improved her volleyball skills to become one of the top players in the state. Josie’s personal achievements are considerable. She was a four-year starter selected as team captain in both her junior and senior years. She also earned many league honors. Showing great promise early in her career, she was a FCIAC honorable mention as a freshman. She made first-team all-FCIAC in 1996, ‘97, and ’98. She was also the states most viable player in ‘96 and ‘98. Josie was on the Bridgeport Post All-Star team in 1996, ’97, and ‘98 and she was the team’s most valuable player in 1998.

Josie and her teammates also amassed an impressive record. Darien won the FCIAC championship from 1995- 1998. They were CIAC state champions in 1995, 96, and 98 and were ranked number one in Connecticut each of those years. In fact during the four years that Josie played at Darien, the team lost only one match.

Josie attended Duke University after graduation and continue to play volleyball. She was a four-year starter there playing defensive specialist/libero. Josie was selected all-ACC first-team in 2001 and second team in 2002. Also in 2002 she was chosen team captain and became a member of the 1000 Dig Club.

Josie graduated in 2002 and became Academic Support Center Supervisor at American School in Tokyo, Japan (2003-2004). She traveled Southeast Asia that summer and went to work at MD Sport. Currently Josie works for Urban Outfitters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Joanna Weiss

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Joanna Weiss had an outstanding high school career at Darien HS. From 1999 until she graduated in 2002 her team won three FCIAC championships, three Eastern Division championships and three State Championships. Her team was 89 and 9 for those four years. Her awards included being named captain in her senior year, twice to the All-FCIAC team and twice to the All-State team.

She was just getting started. She continued her career at Cornell University. To say she made a contribution to their team is an understatement to say the least. The year before she arrived on campus, Cornell had tied for last in the Ivy League. Then in her first two years, 2003 and 2004, Joanna was named the most improved player. In her last three years, Cornell was the Ivy League champions. In her junior and senior years, 2005 and 2006, they earned NCAA tournament berths. In 2005 she led her team with an attack percentage of .406, a school record and the 7th best in the nation. Her career attack percentage was .384, another school record. In her senior year, she set her 3rd school record for individual blocks and the led the team to a team school record for blocks with 562. In those two years, Joanna was First Team All-Ivy as well as All-Northeast Region.

Laurie LaRusso

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Laurie graduated from Indiana University and received her graduate degree from Sacred Hart University. she taught at the elementary and middle school levels and now teaches at Darien High School.

Laurie started coaching volleyball at Darien in 1982. Since then her teams have won 21  FCIAC League Championships and 15 State Championships.  They had 11 undefeated seasons with winning streaks of 121 and 140 consecutive matches- the latter is the 8th longest in high school athletics. They were also named the #1 team in the Connecticut final coaches poll 9 times.  Her career record is now 583-81.

Her players included 65 first team all-league, 28 all-state, 15 most valuable players, four Gatorade Players of the Year and one All-American.

Laurie has been honored as the girls’ volleyball coach fourteen times. Her honors include FCIAC League Coach of the Year, Connecticut High School Coaches Assoc. Coach of the Year and National High School Coaches Assoc. Coach of the Year.

Laurie has also been inducted into the FCIAC Hall of Fame and the Connecticut Coaches Hall of Fame.