Purcellville, Va. — For three and a half decades, the name Carmel Keilty has been synonymous with volleyball in Loudoun County. After opening the Loudoun Valley High School volleyball program in 1989, Keilty spent three decades coaching at Loudoun Valley, Heritage, and Woodgrove High Schools, before returning home to Loudoun Valley in 2020.
During her first tenure at Loudoun Valley, Keilty led the Vikings to AA State Championships in 2001 and 2002, marking the first of what has become more than 20 state championships by LCPS volleyball teams. She also set the foundation for a program that would go on to win two additional state championships in 2004 and 2009 under the only other head coach in the Vikings’ 35 year history, Laird Johnson.
“When I started here at Loudoun Valley, I didn’t know anything about volleyball, but [longtime Valley AD] Bootsie Leonard said, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll learn it,’ and I did. I really did have to start from level one and work my way up,” Keilty said. “With the help of all our coaches over the years, I feel like we’ve built a really good program. It’s a program where kids understand character, they understand leadership, they understand integrity; it goes beyond just playing on the court.”
After winning the state title in 2002, Keilty endeavored on her next challenge: opening her second volleyball program at Heritage High School in Leesburg, where she led the Pride to a AAA Region title in 2010.
After 11 years at the helm at Heritage, Keilty shifted her focus to three-year-old Woodgrove High School, where she led the Wolverines for eight years.
Following the 2019 season, Johnson announced he’d be retiring from Loudoun Valley, opening the door for Keilty to come full circle by returning to the program she had opened 30 years prior.
In just her second season back at Loudoun Valley, Keilty notched her 500th career win, becoming just the fifth coach in VHSL history to reach the 500-win milestone.
Despite her now 525 wins—after the Vikings swept the Park View Patriots 25-15, 25-7, 25-10 on October 8 in Purcellville—Keilty said she’s most grateful for the relationships she’s built along the way.
Prior to their October 8 match with the Patriots, the Vikings celebrated 35 years of Loudoun Valley volleyball by welcoming back dozens and dozens of former players and coaches from as far back as Keilty’s first year at Loudoun Valley in 1989-1990.
“When I started thinking about how I’ve come full circle and all the years I spent with Laird, I knew in my heart I wanted to do something for our volleyball program,” Keilty said. “To see so many kids who came back, even from the first team in 1989-1990 all the way through 2022, just means everything. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. It’s the best night I’ve had in years.”
“I’m almost speechless. Seeing some of these people who I haven’t seen—some of them in literally 35 years—is everything.”
While Keilty hadn’t seen some of her former volleyball players for more than three decades, she gets to see one of her former players every day at practice. After graduating from Loudoun Valley in 1997, Sara (Schwartz) Bolen—who was recently inducted into the Loudoun Valley Athletics Hall of Fame—picked up coaching, where she coached alongside Keilty both at Heritage and currently at Loudoun Valley.
“Sara’s a very special individual,” Keilty said. “It’s fun, because I still sometimes see her as an athlete and the intensity she brought as an athlete. Now to see her on the sideline and how she interacts with this generation of athletes is invaluable.”
“Having coached with her, I can say she’s so much fun, but she’s so different now than she was when I played for her. She’s grown as the kids have changed,” Bolen said. “She’s had to change the way she coaches and teaches and the things she tolerates, but she’s done a great job of learning and evolving.”
Having seen her coaching evolution firsthand, Bolen said it was clear the impact Keilty has had on the Loudoun Valley community and hopes that one day her own kids might get to play for the legendary head coach.
“It says a lot when you see how many people came back for alumni night,” Bolen said. “I haven’t seen other coaches who have been able to build up your confidence the way she does. She motivates you to do things that you don’t think you’d ever be able to do.”
For most coaches, winning a single state championship might be the greatest coaching achievement of their lives. For others, crossing the 500-win plateau is simply a fantasy. But for Keilty, those 525 wins don’t even come close to the lives she’s impacted, the leaders she’s helped develop, and the relationships she’s built over the years.
“[Sara and I have] built a great friendship over the years,” Keilty said. “It was great to have her as an athlete, it’s great to have her as an assistant coach, but to have her as a friend, in the end, that’s what means the most.”