Demorest, GA - The Piedmont College Department of Athletics recently honored its 2013 Hall of Fame inductees at a banquet held on campus as a pair of volleyball names and a former men's soccer player all got the nod.  Lady Lions Jacque DeMarrais and Katie O'Brien-Chapman both received the honor this year joining men's soccer player Rob Weisel in the class of 2013.

"Each member of this years HOF class is very deserving," stated "P" Club President Michael Williams of this year's Hall of Fame class.  "Their accomplishments on and off the playing field are outstanding.  Congratulations Katie, Jacque and Rob.”

"This year was a special induction for the “P” Club for me personally, because I had an opportunity to know these three people since I have been at Piedmont College so I really know first hand how special they all are," said Associate Director of Institutional Advancement Justin Scali. "Each of them were excellent in their sport, and they are all very deserving of this special honor.”

Jacque DeMarrais - 2007 Graduate - Volleyball
As a freshman for the Piedmont volleyball program, Jacque DeMarrais was thrown into the starting position of middle hitter filling Katie Gibb's (HOF 2012) shoes.  Voted “Most Improved” by her teammates that season, she was named the Great South Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year for her efforts during the fall of 2003. 

Even though Jacque wasn't sure she wanted to play as a middle hitter in the beginning of her Piedmont career under then Head Coach and 2013 Hall of Fame classmate Katie O'Brien-Chapman, DeMarrais ended up becoming one of the best middles in the conference.  Named GSAC Player of the Week multiple times during her career,  Jacque was on the All-Conference Team as a sophomore, junior and senior while also being named to the All-Regional NCCAA Team her sophomore and junior seasons.  

A team captain her senior season, DeMarrais was also named to several All-Tournament teams with honors coming at the Guilford Tournament, Greensboro College Tournament, and Thomas More Tournament.  Twice Jacque was voted as one of the top 3 players in the GSAC by coaches throughout the conference. 

The Lawrenceville native currently holds six records for the Piedmont volleyball program including kills in a single season (441 in 2004) and hitting percentage (.312 in 2004). In a three-way tie for the most kills in a match record (25 vs. Guilford College 10/9/04), Jacque was the first junior at Piedmont to break the 1,000 mark in career kills. 

DeMarrais' career average of 2.96 kills per game and kill percentage (.281) still stands as the best in those categories.  At the end of four seasons with the Lady Lions, she led all career hitters with 1,435 kills, still a high to this day.  Addtionally, the team's overall record was 88-61 during her 4 years at Piedmont with three of her four seasons including 20-win performances. 

DeMarrais was named to the GSAC All-Academic Team all three years in which she was eligible and also named a NCCAA Scholar Athlete in 2005.  The Brookwood High School graduate was on the Dean's Scholar List each of her semesters in Demorest while also a member of Who's Who Among Students in American Universities & Colleges, Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society as well as Chi Alpha Sigma, and was nominated both to the National Dean's List and for the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. 

Jacque graduated from Piedmont College with a BS in Biology in 2007 completing her four-year undergraduate degree.  She continued her education at North Georgia College & State University and graduated in 2010 with her Doctorate of Physical Therapy. 

Currently Jacque, the daughter of Ron and Amy DeMarrais, works at Self Regional Healthcare as a Physical Therapist in Greenwood, SC.  She married Dr. Jordan Young in 2010 and they welcomed their first child this spring, a daughter named Adelyn.  Jacque is one of three children herself, including a brother Craig and younger sister Kalin.  Kalin Demarrais ('11) followed Jacque's lead and attended Piedmont College where she also played volleyball for 4 years and was a key part of the 2010 GSAC championship team. 

Katie O'Brien-Chapman - Head Coach - Volleyball
Coach Katie came to Piedmont College from Parnell, IA to serve as an assistant coach in 1999 under then Head Volleyball Coach Terry Martin, Piedmont's current softball coach.  After just one season on staff, O'Brien was named the head coach of the Lady Lion volleyball program as her potential to develop a still young program was recognized early on.

Her first season at the helm featured an 18-16 record with a 10-4 mark in conference play, a record that represented the first winning season in the program's history.  In six of her eight seasons as the head coach of the green and gold, the Lady Lions finished with 20 or more wins.

During Piedmont's association with the NCCAA, O'Brien-Chapman had eight scholar-athletes and nine NCCAA regional players while garnering the organization's #15 national ranking in 2001.  The following year, Piedmont was the South Region's runner-up while Katie was named the South Regional Volleyball Chair in 2003 and 2005.

In 2007, O'Brien-Chapman guided the Lady Lions to the program's first-ever NCAA Division III National Tournament appearance along the way to capturing a pair of GSAC tournament championships, one in 2007 and the other in 2001.  Twice voted GSAC Coach of the Year ('05, '07), Katie mentored 36 Academic All-Conference selections, 22 All-Conference honorees, and 12 All-Freshman picks as well as a trio of GSAC Freshman of the Year and a Conference Player of the Year. 

Katie developed some of the program's most memorable players including volleyball's first Hall of Fame inductee, Katie Gibbs and this year's latest HOF addition, fellow inductee Jacque DeMarrais.

During Coach Katie's career at Piedmont, her players were also known for their success in the classroom as her teams' cumulative grade-point average was 3.32 over the eight years of her tenure. The 2006-07 season saw her team earn the American Volleyball Coaches Association's (AVCA) Game Plan Academic Team Award as the squad carried a 3.42 cumulative GPA.

Prior to beginning her coaching career, O'Brien-Chapman was a standout volleyball player at NCAA Division I member University of Iowa. She was ranked 14th on the Hawkeyes career blocks list and 13th in career attack percentage. Additionally, O'Brien posted back-to-back top-10 finishes in the Big-10 Conference in blocks per game (1997, 1998). 

The feared Hawkeye totaled 11 blocks vs. Northwestern on November 14, 1998, a mark which stands in the top five of Iowa volleyball history in that category.  O'Brien-Chapman is also tied for 17th in program history in attack percentage and also holds the 17th spot in all time blocks.  Katie also took down the Golden I-Book Award during the 1996 season.

Following the completion of the 2007 NCAA National Tournament run, O'Brien-Chapman was named the next Head Volleyball Coach at the University of Montevallo, a Division II school in Alabama.  In 2011, she coached UM's first Peach Belt Conference Scholar Athlete of the Year, which is the highest individual award the PBC gives out each year. She also coached UM's first female First Team Academic All-American in school history. 

In 2010, the University of Montevallo not only made it to the NCAA tournament but won their first round match-up with Lincoln Memorial University. That victory represented the first win in NCAA postseason play for the Falcons in the volleyball program's history.

Coach Katie received her Bachelor of Science degree in Sports, Health, Leisure and Physical Studies from the University of Iowa in 1999. She then earned her Master of Business Administration in Public Administration from Piedmont in 2001.

In 2005, Coach Katie married Freddie Chapman whom she met while they were working at Piedmont College. They currently reside in Calera, AL, near the University of Montevallo Campus where Katie serves as the Division II school's Head Volleyball Coach.  Heading toward her 6th season in that role this fall, she has amassed a 275-189 career record and led her Falcons to a Peach Belt Conference tournament appearance in 2012.

Rob Weisel - 2004 Graduate - Men's Soccer
As one of the Lions' most respected and feared goalkeepers of the program's now more than 20 year history, Rob Weisel helped his men's soccer team to a 71-23-3 record during his time wearing the green and gold.  That four-year stretch represents the most successful such stretch since the program was founded in 1991 as the Pennsylvania native was a four-year stud in net for then Head Coach Jason Smith.

Starting in every game that occured since he arrived in Demorest, Rob was in goal to help lead his Lions to their first ever Great South Athletic Conference title during the 2000 season being named Tournament MVP for his efforts behind the PC back four.  The title would be the first of three conference crowns that Rob experienced while also assisting his team to a pair of NCCAA National Tournament appearances where PC finished 7th and 4th respectively. 

Season records are littered with Weisel's name as he is 2nd all time for saves in a season with 181 in 2000, his first year in Demorest.  Rob also possesses the 1st (0.95 in 2001) and 2nd (1.00 in 2003) ranked spots all time for goals against average with his remaining two seasons placing in the top six in the same category. 

He is also 1st all time in career shutouts with 36 and holds the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th ranked spots for shutouts in a season.  The man between the posts is 2nd all-time in total saves as well with 467 over his four seasons.

All-Freshman honors came his way in 2000 from the GSAC while All-Conference honors were his in 2001, 2002, and 2003. Also a NCAA Division III All-South selection in 2002, the keeper was a NCCAA All-American Honorable Mention in 2000 and 2002 before earning first team honors in 2003, his final campaigns for the Lions. 

Additionally, he was also NSCAA All-Region in his junior season and earned NCCAA All-Region honors in all four seasons playing at Walker Athletic Complex, one of just two players to do so in the history of the men's soccer program with the other being Stephen Andrew, former men's soccer standout himself and now the the Head Coach of the Lady Lion soccer program. 

His achievements were not limited to the field though as Weisel earned GSAC All-Academic honors in each of the three seasons he was eligible while also helping his team to the NSCAA Team Academic Award in 2001, 2002, and 2003.  Additionally, Rob was a NSCAA Academic All-South honoree as well during the 2003 season and a two-time NCCAA Academic All-American (2002, 2003).

Rob's team success is perhaps best remembered as he was a part of the 2003 team that made an incredible run to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA National Tournament in Piedmont's first full season as a Division III member.  That squad, which finished 19-5 overall and ranked 16th nationally, defeated both Greensboro College and Emory University on the road before falling to the nation's then #1 and eventual National Champion Trinity University.

Weisel received his Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Piedmont in 2004 after four seasons with Lions soccer.  He is finishing up work on his Master of Education in Higher Education/Administration from Georgia Southern University this spring.

Rob married his wife Anne in 2006 and the two now call Savannah, GA their home. The couple have a pair of young children including a one-year-old daughter Grace and a five-year-old son Benjamin.  Weisel serves an Admissions Advisor for transfer students at Savannah College of Art and Design, the same spot where he spent 8 seasons as an assistant coach after departing Piedmont. 

Weisel was on staff at SCAD when the 2010 set the season record for wins in a season with 14 when the Bees won the Sun Conference regular season title, and he mentored the goalkeepers who set the record for goals against average in a season (0.80 in 2009). He is also the Boys' Select Technical Director at Coastal Georgia Soccer Association, a competitive soccer club he has been with since 2005.