Top Notch club director Jen Holliday, a former All-American at Florida and standout at Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin, knows when it's time to be serious and when it's time to have fun. Top Notch 16-1 setter Megan Becker from Springfield High School. By Randy SharerSpecial to Illprepvb.comSPRINGFIELD – As a measure of coaching excellence, few statistics reveal more than the number of invitations to weddings.Great coaches win, of course, but the best also win when wedding invitations arrive from former players, clear evidence a coach ...
Schuele answers the call to the pen; Lenny takes the road less desired to advance
Future 18 Elite advanced to the Gold bracket of the Boys 18 Open division at the Winter Volleyball Championship in Indianapolis, Indiana, despite its late Sunday afternoon loss to SPVB B18 Elite. Gavin Swartz and his SPVB 18 Lenny teammates took the hard road to the Gold semifinals of the 18 USA division. Indianapolis, Indiana – Four points into its match with Academy 18 Adidas early Sunday at the Winter Volleyball Championship, Sports Performance 18 Elite had to go the bullpen. Kevin Schuele turned out to be quite a reliever.Schuele,...
NVA/AVCA Division I-II, III Men's Preseason Coaches' Poll January 4, 2021
Mission not impossible: Fresh faces, coaching staff attract players to new club
Mission Volleyball Club enjoyed a successful competitive debut at the Wisconsin Juniors Pre-Season Kick-Off at the Lake View RecPlex in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. By Matt Le CrenSpecial to Illprepvb.com Mission Volleyball Club was initially conceived as a rebranding of Club Fusion's branch operation in Marengo before becoming its own entity. If you open it, will they come?That’s the question for anyone thinking of starting a new volleyball club.For Mission Volleyball Club, the answer has been a resounding, “yes.”Over 200 athletes ...
It's back to business (finally) as Champions Cup series gets underway at Great Lakes
Mission 16 Green was among the teams participating in the Champions Cup event last weekend at the Great Lakes Volleyball Center. https://youtu.be/7xLNt1UG5-M They got back to business last weekend for the first of several Champions Cup events at the Great Lakes Volleyball Center in Aurora.However, it was anything but business as usual.Mandatory masks. A limit of one parent per player allowed inside the facility. No lineup cards. No changing of sides at the conclusion of each game. No handshake lines at the conclusion of each match. No...
Tuscola's Kate Dean gets all the motivation she needs from sister, Karli
Kate Dean (left) calls older sister Karli "her best friend." (Cover photo by Douglas Cottle) Karli Dean is now a freshman at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. (Photo by Douglas Cottle) By Randy SharerSpecial to Illprepvb.com TUSCOLA – As they seek to maintain a level-playing field, sports rule enforcers keep an eye on performance enhancers. Kate Dean, however, has surely found a performance enhancing loophole that will never be outlawed in volleyball: her big sister, Karli, a 6-foot-1 freshman middle hitter at the University of...
Where are they now? A look at where 150+ Illinois boys are playing college volleyball
Neuqua Valley's Kevin Kauling is now plying his talents at Lewis University in Romeoville, where he was a second team All-MIVA selection as a freshman. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) Illinois not only ranks second among all states in the number of boys who play high school volleyball (trailing only California in the most recent survey by the National Federation of State High School Associations), it is also near the top of the list for the number of its student-athletes who go on to play volleyball in college.So we asked club directors to send us ...
Hurlburt finds a way to balance both of his loves – family and volleyball
Former Glenbard East standout Alex Hurlburt helped to establish 630 Volleyball in the western suburbs. He now coaches individuals one-on-one so he can spend more time with his growing family. He sees individual coaching as complementing, not competing with, club volleyball, and works with boys and girls. https://youtu.be/Mk-32b5wX1A By Matt Le CrenSpecial to Illprepvb.comAlex Hurlburt has coached at nearly every level of volleyball during the past six years, from high school to club to college.He has even worked with USA Volleyb...