Tortorello, Surowiec lead Nazareth to second in state after tough 2024

BY JEFF VORVA | PHOTOS BY JEFF VORVA

Hinsdale’s Tess Tortorello comes from a volleyball family that includes three aunts and a cousin who played at Division I colleges.

Her sister, Lola, plays at Tufts University.

Tess also has uncles who have competed in tennis, swimming, water polo, basketball, and football on the college level.

Hinsdale’s Tess Tortorello (light jersey) is just a sophomore and has seen her team grow in two years.

They all experienced great triumphs during their high school careers, but none of them have the stories that Tess, a sophomore libero, has in her first two years playing volleyball at Nazareth Academy.

Clarendon Hills’ Beth Surowiec (holding trophy) and Hinsdale’s Tess Tortorello (in light blue jersey) were key players in Nazareth’s turnaround season as they won three matches in 2024 and finished second in the state in Class 3A in 2025.

Tortorello, Clarendon Hills’ Beth Surowiec, and the rest of the Roadrunners finished second in the state in Class 3A one year after enduring a 3-31 season.

Oh, and the team started the 2025 season 0-5 and entered the Illinois High School Association playoffs with a losing record.

“At the beginning of the season, we had a goal to go down state,” Tortorello said. “Now that we’ve accomplished it, we want to just keep on building from it. We used last year as motivation to prove everyone wrong and show everyone what we can do.”

Surowiec has been a part of an even more amazing story. She was a part of the 2022 team that also took second in the state and saw the Roadrunners’ fate take a nosedive before this year’s amazing run.

“I really think our mentality changed this season,” she said. “We just wanted it. We wanted to see a turnaround. Our team hit rock bottom last season, and we couldn’t go any further down. So, I think this season, we took everything we could and brought it right back up. When we got to the playoffs, we said we were going to the state championship, and we were going to win state. We had a good mindset in every single game this season, and I think we did well.”

The dream of a state championship was dashed when the Roadrunners lost to Normal U-High, 25-20, 25-20, on Nov. 15 at CEDFCU Arena on the campus of Illinois State University in Normal. While they lost that match, they were involved in an amazing rally that lasted more than a minute and 20 seconds, which picked up an avalanche of views online.

The coach of the turnaround is Esai Velez, who was a head coach at Division I Iona and an assistant at Hofstra and Lewis University.

This was his first year at the LaGrange Park school, and he knew that turning the program around was not going to be an easy task. But it turned out easier than he thought it was going to be.

“It was easy because they were all committed and they all wanted to be here,” he said. “I’m proud of the kids. They did a good job. I don’t have the words to describe it. We worked hard for a long time, and we are here.”

Because of the Roadrunners’s 15-18 regular season, they did not place anyone on the Illinois Volleyball Coaches Association All-State teams. But Tortorello was recognized by the organization after the state tourney and was named to the Class 3A-4A All-Tournament team.

The highlight of the postseason was a 26-24, 25-17 stunner over powerhouse Timothy Christian in Elmhurst in sectional play, followed by a three-set thriller over Geneva.

The team will go from Cinderella this year to the hunted next season.

“My first year, we set the bar high,” Velez said. “But that’s what we’re here for, right? This is why I love to do it. The bar is high, and we’re going to continue working, but we will enjoy this year because it was a great one.”

For Tortorello, she will always remember how wild her first two seasons at Nazareth were.

Clarendon Hills’ Beth Surowiec (holding trophy) and Hinsdale’s Tess Tortorello (in light blue jersey) were key players in Nazareth’s turnaround season as they won three matches in 2024 and finished second in the state in Class 3A in 2025.

“We had a few wins last season, and we were a very good team, but we didn’t put all the pieces together,” she said. “This year, everybody stepped up, and everyone wanted to change our past habits and improve as a team, and that’s exactly what we did. We set a lot of goals at the beginning of the season, and we accomplished them. It’s been quite a journey.”