Tracey Marshall, pictured with one of the teams she coached at Sports Performance, passed away Thursday. (Photo courtesy of Sports Performance). Former Plainfield North and Hinsdale Central volleyball coach Tracey Marshall passed away Thursday. She was 42.No further details about the cause of death are available.Marshall was Plainfield North’s girls head coach from 2010-2017, winning three Class 4A regional titles and a sectional title in 2015. She was also the boys’ volleyball head coach for four seasons before taking the head girls p...
Sky High Adidas 18 Black coming to the end of a very long but successful journey
The nucleus of Sky High Adidas 18 Black has been together since they were 12-year-olds. They are trying to make their final season together one to remember. https://youtu.be/5mT8j2vTEaM “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” – Winnie the Pooh.Sky High Adidas 18 Black’s Camryn Hausler and Taylor Jakubowski have been teammates at the Crystal Lake Club for the better part of nine years. Maddie Blake, Josie Schmitendorf, Hausler and Jakubowski have been together for almost eight.But come May 4 – the day afte...
Former Murphysboro coach Mike Layne gets back in the game at Pinckneyville
Mike Layne was named the new head coach at Pinckneyville in late July after more than 20 years as head coach at Murphysboro. Mike Layne took a year off from coaching to watch daughter Stephanie play at Judson University in Elgin. Mike Layne is trading in his Crimson/Corn polo for Columbia Blue.Layne, who won nearly 1,000 matches as head coach of the Murphysboro high school and middle school girls’ volleyball programs, was recently hired at Pinckneyville High School to be the Lady Panthers’ next head coach.Layne succeeds Cathy Kohnen, wh...
In time, Sandt hopes to deliver 1st Alliance 18 Silver a solid-gold finish
1st Alliance 18 Silver setter Elizabeth Sandt (37), one of only four team members who have experience playing with each other, likes the direction the team is going. https://youtu.be/SFjT9Wnvbjo Elizabeth Sandt saw only a few familiar faces when 1st Alliance 18 Silver got together for its first practice two months ago.“The team is pretty new this year,” said Sandt, a product of Nazareth Academy who guided the Roadrunners to a third-place finish in IHSA Class 3A last fall following the first-ever semifinal appearance in school history.“...
West Aurora's Ortiz patiently waits to rekindle his two great loves – music and volleyball
West Aurora middle hitter Emilio Ortiz (back row, left) has been playing in a popular Mexican band, L2M Y Su Grupo Sierreño, for the past three years. But the coronovirus pandemic has forced Ortiz to put both careers on hold. Ortiz was inspired to take up the guitar by the late Mexican pop star Ariel Camacho, who died in a car accident in 2015 at the age of 22. By Randy WhalenSpecial to Illprepvb.comVolleyball is music to Emilio Ortiz’s ears. Ortiz, a senior at West Aurora, is a middle hitter on the Blackhawks’ volleyball team....
Wolfpack's Eastman excited to help pioneer new program at Illinois Wesleyan
St. Ignatius' Michael Eastman is the first player to commit to joining the new men's volleyball program at Illinois Wesleyan University. (Photo by Tim O'Brien) Michael Eastman By Randy WhalenSpecial to Illprepvb.comMichael Eastman is holding out hope that his final high school season will be played. Either way, the St. Ignatius senior will not only start anew next year, he will also help establish a new collegiate program.“I hope so,” Eastman said about the possibility that part of this season could still be played if the coron...
Abbreviated NCAA fall volleyball season concludes for handful of Illinois girls
Belvidere North's Class of 2019 outside hitter BrookLyn Messenger and her Air Force Academy teammates are expected to begin their COVID-19 delayed season in February. Notre Dame junior and Mother McAuley graduate Charley Niego While Illinois high school teams sit idly until February due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several NCAA Division I college teams featuring Illinois Class of 2020 graduates are wrapping up the fall portion their schedules.The NCAA Division I Board of Directors approved a plan in late September to conduct 2020 fall cham...
Assist king Burchett continues to give back to the game he once dominated
Former Wheaton Warrenville South and Illinois men's club volleyball setter Doug Burchett recently shared some of his knowledge with middle school and high school players at 630 Volleyball Club in Darien. Doug Burchett led Wheaton Warrenville South to two of its record seven state boys' volleyball titles. By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.comDoug Burchett believes someone will break his Illinois’ high school all-time assist record. But it likely won't happen anytime soon.“There's a lot of really solid setters out there,” said Burchett, whos...
Which boys' high school teams will be among Illinois’ best in 2020?
Many athletes, coaches and fans are holding out hope that some of the 2020 boys high school volleyball season can be salvaged and scenes like this one be repeated. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) Updated 3:45 p.m., Wednesday, April 1 Two weeks on the shelf (and more ahead), but here and elsewhere we’re still hoping that there will be a boys’ high school volleyball season, even a substantially abbreviated one. After Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzer announced Tuesday that schools would remain closed through April 30, the IHSA released a statement...
'Stronger together' – merger of Wildcat Jrs., Division 1 offers new opportunities
Division 1 and Wildcat Juniors recently merged, creating more training and participation opportunities for athletes who live in the North Shore area. By Randy WhalenSpecial to Illprepvb.comThe COVID-19 pandemic has played havoc with youth sports.One of the hardest-hit sports has been volleyball, which saw the cancellation of the Illinois boys’ high school season last spring, the cancellation of the USA Volleyball Junior National Championships and a scaled-down AAU Junior National Championships this summer, and the postponement of the IHSA...