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ST. CHARLES — St. Charles North volleyball coach Lindsey Hawkins made a point to sit down with Haley Burgdorf this summer and watch “The Last Dance.”
Burgdorf had already seen the 10-episode miniseries chronicling Michael Jordan’s career and final season with the Chicago Bulls, and Hawkins had shown her team clips from the documentary in the run-up to the IHSA playoffs last season. But the North Stars coach saw value in a rewatch heading into Burgdorf’s senior season.
“I specifically played the episode where (Jordan) starts talking about the team evolving and being able to rely more on Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman,” Hawkins said. “She’s a big Michael Jordan fan. She had seen it before, but I wanted her to specifically focus in on that episode and how he figured out he needed the team around him. She really embraced that, too. … She was like, ‘Yeah, I can see this and how important it is to get everybody else involved,’ because we would literally, last year, just set her all the time.”
Burgdorf was a one-woman wrecking crew in 2024. The 6-foot-1 outside hitter hammered home 611 kills in a 32-win season for St. Charles North.
Burgdorf was no less dominant for the North Stars this fall, but the team dynamic shifted. She didn’t have to do it all. Illinois State-bound Sidney Wright grew into a bigger role at middle blocker. Hawkins called senior outside hitter Amber Czerniak her “silent killer” and “unsung hero,” and future Valparaiso setter Mia McCall directed traffic in a more balanced attack.
But Burgdorf was still the centerpiece. Still St. Charles North’s go-to option. Still a nearly unstoppable force on the pin.
That’s why Burgdorf, who will enroll next month at Penn State and start training immediately with the Big Ten powerhouse, was named the 44th News-Gazette All-State Player of the Year. The catalyst for a 35-win team thanks to 435 kills, 198 digs and 52 aces for the North Stars.
St. Charles North’s Haley Burgdorf (23) slams the ball over the net during the Class 4A Glenbard West Sectional semifinal game against Glenbard West in Glen Ellyn on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (James C. Svehla / for The Beacon-News)
“I knew that now we have a bunch of good players because everyone has improved so much from club season and back to high school,” Burgdorf said. “The pressure, really for me, was to lead this team to victories and do our absolute best. You have to lead everyone to believe they can do this. That was really my role this year because last year it was being able to dominate. This year it was, ‘Let’s have all the other pieces come together.’ That was our mindset the whole time.”
Burgdorf played a key role for St. Charles North as a freshman. It was her sophomore year, though, where she was thrust into a leadership role on the court with injuries to seniors Katherine Scherer, Jackie Ruder and Adrianna Huptych.
“Those three gave me a lot of advice on what to do and just be myself and just be confident in everyone and what they do,” Burgdorf said. “Coming into my junior year, I knew I had to fill that role but also be very dominant. Most of the pressure was on me my junior year being able to make everyone else on my team better and being there for them if they needed me. This year was more of a team thing.”
How much the North Stars leaned on Burgdorf early in her career helped mold her into the dominant outside hitter she became as an upperclassmen.
“She’s kind of been in this leadership position forever,” Hawkins said. “Her play, it shows how much the kids trust her and how much she trusts herself, too. It doesn’t matter if she’s got two blockers, three blockers, she trusts herself to find open court space. I’ve been coach at North for almost 18 years, and I have probably only seen two other kids (Plainfield North’s Ella Wrobel and Geneva’s Grace Loberg) dominate the way she does.”
Wrobel and Loberg both wound up in the Big Ten. Wrobel started her career at Wisconsin before transferring to Ohio State. Loberg helped Wisconsin win the 2021 NCAA title.
Burgdorf is also bound for the Big Ten. Penn State might have been later to her recruitment than other power conference teams, but all it took was a trip to State College, Pa., for a volleyball camp and ensuing scholarship offer to sell Burgdorf on the Nittany Lions.
St. Charles North outside hitter, 2025 N-G All-State Player of the Year and Penn State-bound Haley Burgdorf, left, poses with Nittany Lions coach and 1996 N-G All-State Player of the Year Katie Schumacher-Cawley at Rec Hall in State College, Pa.
“I fell in love with the campus when I got there,” Burgdorf said. “We all get that feeling, a sense of home, and that’s what Penn State felt like for me.”
Burgdorf will play for Katie Schumacher-Cawley at Penn State. The Nittany Lions coach, who guided the team to the 2024 NCAA title while beating breast cancer, starred at Mother McAuley in the mid-1990s and was the 1996 N-G All-State Player of the Year.
“Once we got her to camp, we really liked her and knew she would fit in — not just volleyball-wise,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “She’s such a hard worker and will definitely fit in with the culture of the program and add so much value. Even when the high school season was over, she was in the gym the next day. I was like, ‘Maybe you should take some time off,’ but she was like, ‘No, I love it.’ That’s what we need.
“She has the tools to compete, and it’s exciting that she’s going to come at semester. She’ll be able to get int he weight room with our strength coach and get herself prepared for fall and in the classroom as well getting to know campus and getting her feet wet with college courses.”
Burgdorf envisions herself as a six-rotation outside hitter at Penn State. That’s the goal. It’s why she honed her passing and defensive skills at Sports Performance Volleyball at the club level.
“I think the challenge I’m most excited for is being able to test my ability at another level because the Big Ten is considered one of the best leagues in NCAA volleyball,” Burgdorf said. “I’m excited to play out there and see what I’m capable of. I’m really excited to play against most of the best players in the world.”
