Elijah Fleming of Bolingbrook and Sports Performance has committed to Lourdes University in Ohio. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) Illprepvb.com is creating a list of the top boys players in Illinois from the Class of 2021 and beyond who have committed to a college or university to continue their volleyball careers. If you are a coach, club director or parent and know of a player who should be on this list, please contact us at Illprepvb@gmail.com.Class of 2021Josh Albers, 6-3, S, Rockford Guilford/VC United VBC, Rockford UniversityMatt Arens, 6-5,...
Sterling connection has Fusion 17 Red thinking big during the 2020 club season
The addition of four players from Sterling's Class 3A championship team, including Brooklyn Borum and Lexi Rodriguez, has Fusion 17 Red poised to make a run at a national championship in 2020. (Photos by Dave Ruggles) They’re getting the band back together in Batavia.Freshman Grace Egan, libero Lexi Rodriguez and twin sisters Brooklyn and Breelyn Borum teamed up to lead Sterling to its second consecutive IHSA Class 3A championship at Redbird Arena last fall.Now they’re getting together to try to go one better.The Sterling quartet, Belvider...
Adversity reaches into ranks of former Olympians to add new coach to staff
Adversity Volleyball Club has hired former Olympian and Pepperdine Hall of Famer Tom Sorensen to coach its boys and girls teams. (Photo by Dave Ruggles of Adversity 18 Adidas at last year's Winter Volleyball Championships) Tom Sorensen during his playing days at Pepperdine University. By Matt Le CrenSpecial to Illprepvb.comFew youth volleyball clubs can say they have a former Olympian on staff.Adversity is one of them.The Vernon Hills-based club recently hired Pepperdine Hall of Famer Tom Sorensen to coach both boys’ and girls’ teams. ...
Chicago Elite 2019 Winter Holiday Camps
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Presenting the initial Michio Chicago/Illprepvb.com Boys 16s, 15s Club Rankings
Adversity 16 Adidas finished third in Bracket AA last weekend at Palos Courts, falling to SPVB B16 Elite in the semifinals. Last week, we looked at the top 18s and 17s boys club teams in Illinois. This week, after three weeks of the Palos Point Series and a few other minor tournaments, we look at the top 16s and 15s. 2019-20 Michio Chicago/Illprepvb.com Boys Club Rankings (Season-to-date record in parenthesis) 16s1. SPVB B16 Elite (16-1)The boys from Aurora avenged their only loss of the young season, defeating Adversity 16 Ad...
Ultimate B16 Gold, vying to be top dog at Palos Courts, sees unbeaten streak end
Ultimate B16 Gold finished third Saturday at the Palos-B16 Point Series #3. https://youtu.be/6uDvC1_hKmo It had to happen sometime.Ultimate B16 Gold entered Saturday’s Palos-B16 Point Series #3 on the heels of 17 consecutive wins to start the season. After extending its win streak to 18 with a 25-15, 25-20 victory over SPVB B16 Charlie, Ultimate ran afoul of MVC 16-Jake, 14-25, 25-19, 15-7.Ultimate rebounded to beat Adversity 16 Adidas, 25-19, 25-13, in its finale Saturday, and will look to start another long win streak, and avenge it...
Who are some of the top uncommitted girls in Illinois in the classes of 2020-23? (updated 2/12)
Illprepvb.com is compiling a list of the top uncommitted players in the classes of 2020-23. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) Illprepvb.com is creating a list of the top players in Illinois in the classes of 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 who have yet to commit to a college or university to continue their volleyball careers. The following list includes players who compete at a very high level either for their high school or club teams. All parents, coaches and club directors are invited to provide the names of their players who should be on the list.If yo...
Presenting the initial Michio Chicago/Illprepvb.com Boys 18s, 17s Club Rankings
Chicago Bounce 18 Red should get even better when Barrington's Ben Ridgway and New Trier's Peter Brown are fully healthy. (Photos by Dave Ruggles) The preseason is over. Let the qualifier season begin. The 2020 Boys Winter Volleyball Championships at McCormick Place on January 18-20 will give us a better idea of where the Illinois boys club teams stack up regionally and nationally, but after three weekends at Palos Courts, it’s never too early to speculate on who are some of the best bets to make noise on the lakefront. So here i...
Former Sandburg star tackles new role as assistant coach at Pepperdine
Matt Pollock (back row, No. 18) was named to the Chicago Sun-Times All-Area Boys Volleyball Team in 2008. (Sun-Times photo by Jean Lachat. Cover photo courtesy of JVC Civita Castellana) Matt Pollock played professionally overseas after graduating from Pepperdine. (Photo courtesy of JVC Civita Castellana) By Randy WhalenSpecial to Illprepvb.comMatt Pollock is excited.But the Orland Park native and 2008 Sandburg graduate is not only excited about his new job as assistant men's volleyball coach at Pepperdine University, where he starr...
SPVB 16 Elite is likely to face some adversity as it seeks to repeat last season's success
SPVB 16 Elite, which added five new faces to the roster that finished second in the nation as 15s last summer. Question: Which was the only team from Illinois to reach an open division championship at the 2019 USA Volleyball Junior National Championships in Dallas, Texas, last summer?It wasn’t Ultimate B18 Gold, which won the 2019 Boys Winter Volleyball Championships at McCormick Place on January 19-21 and topped the final Illprepvb.com boys club rankings. The boys from the south side finished 10th at nationals.It wasn’t Chicago Bounce 17 R...