As a setter for The W volleyball from 1983-86, Celeste Waguespack – now Vial – was the one player charged with making the Blues’ (as the athletic programs were known back then) offensive attack spin. She was the volleyball version of Tom Brady for the New England Patriots or Magic Johnson for the “Showtime” Los Angeles Lakers.
Waguespack was simply the glue that held it all together. And as a chemistry major at The W, she certainly knew the right elements needed to create a strong and successful bond.
Recruited to The W out of New Orleans’ Cabrini High School – where she was a part of the 1982 City Championship team – Waguespack earned a starting position for MUW as a freshman. Coach Samye Johnson’s Blues ran a 6-2 system (with two setters) during Waguespack’s first two years. But by her junior and senior years, the program had gone to a 5-1 with Waguespack now the Blues’ “quarterback.”
It’s no coincidence that those 1985 and 1986 seasons produced the greatest two-year span in program history, amassing a composite record of 81-7 and making the NCAA
Division II national tournament both years, finishing in the top-8 in the nation both years. During Waguespack’s four-year career, the Blues volleyball teams were a combined 138-27, a winning percentage of 84 percent.
For her part in the team’s amazing 1986 run – that included a 27-match winning streak – Waguespack was tabbed as a second team NCAA II All-American and joined teammate Lee Cole, who was recognized on the First Team. Waguespack, Cole, and fellow teammate Lisa Duncan were all selected NCAA II All-South Region, as well.
(Fittingly, Cole and that 1986 Team are also a part of the 2025 The W Athletics Hall of Fame induction class.)
After graduation, Waguespack stayed around for the 1987 season as a graduate assistant for Coach Johnson, while completing her teaching certificate.
Waguespack carried her passion into a teaching and coaching career at the prep level. Her very first job was back home in NOLA, as a teacher and coach at Mt. Carmel Academy. Her team would go on to win the City championship, with Waguespack tabbed as the New Orleans-area Coach of the Year by the Times Picayune. That was followed by two more playoff years at MCA, before Waguespack stepped away from teaching and coaching to get married and start a family.
Fast forward to 2009, as Waguespack – now with a pair of daughters nearing high school age – began a two-year petition process to the MAIS (the governing body for private school athletics in Mississippi and surrounding states) to add volleyball. Once approved, Waguespack returned to coaching and was able to develop and coach her daughters at Presbyterian School in Hattiesburg for four years, winning three championships. She also coached one season at Oak Grove High School, taking the Warriors to the 6A state championships.
Even after she “retired’ as a head coach, Waguespack volunteered her time and expertise to help South Jones High School in Ellisville, Miss., establish its volleyball program and mentored its coaches.
A resident of Laurel, Miss., her cohesiveness can still be seen in the fact that – nearly 40 years after graduation – members of the Blues volleyball team, to the person, still remain in close contact, thanks in great part to Waguespack’s efforts. Recently, the team even held their own reunion, hosted by Waguespack in Laurel.
Be it in her volleyball position as a setter, as an educator, as a coach and mentor to young women, or even as the hub that facilitates and maintains the connection between teammates over decades, Waguespack has gladly accepted the duties as the facilitator who keeps it all together.
Her induction into The W Athletics Hall of Fame recognizes those efforts. And it is an appropriate testimony to all she has done over the years to bring honor and prestige to The W.
