Bolingbrook, which won the 24-team tournament at Joliet Junior College this summer, looks to build on the success of last spring's team which went 10-3 and posted wins over Joliet Catholic and Lockport. Today is the first day of practice and tryout for hundreds of high schools across Illinois, anticipating that we will have a full and interrupted season of girls volleyball in 2021.As we learned last week, masks will be mandatory at all volleyball events this fall -- practices, matches and tournaments -- but it seems like small price to pa...
Pandemic prompts Oak Lawn's restless Kate Dillon to add golf to busy calendar
When the pandemic forced the cancellation of the fall volleyball season in 2020, Oak Lawn's Kate Dillon decided to take up golf. She also plays basketball and softball at the southwest suburban Chicago school. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) Oak Lawn outside hitter Kate Dillon began golfing last fall and has seen her game measurably improve over the past year. By Matt Le CrenSpecial to Illprepvb.comKate Dillon was a girl in search of something to do last fall.The girls’ volleyball season had been postponed until the spring due to the coronavi...
Presenting the Michio Chicago/Illprepvb.com 2021 girls H.S. preseason rankings
Plainfield North's Ella Wrobel (17, far right) is widely considered the best player in the state and will join Big Ten power Wisconsin after graduating this spring. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) You know the season is thisclose when somebody starts asking about rankings. So here we go. Maybe not the answer they’re looking for, but by all calculations, our best guess.Marist, Illprepvb.com’s No. 1 Class 4A team in the preseason in 2018 and again in 2019, is the preseason favorite in 4A again this fall. Marist went on to win it all in 2018, b...
K-8th graders invited to learn and develop basic skills at Club Fusion
Single day per week sessions committed to teaching and developing basic volleyball skills to K-8th graders through high repetition drills formatted solely for youth volleyball. Players will be split up based on their grade. FVA is the youth volleyball academy of Club Fusion Volleyball, one of the nation's top volleyball clubs. Visit www.fusion4kids.com to learn more, or to get registered! Spots are limited so don't wait to get registered! ...
Final 2019 Michio Chicago/Illprepvb.com rankings, and what lies ahead?
Zayna Meyer (left) and Wheaton Warrenville South rode some mid-season changes to the IHSA Class 4A finals at Redbird Arena. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) The 2019 season is in the record books.Newark and Sterling repeated. Benet denied Marist’s bid to three-peat. St. Teresa ruled Class 2A. But once again, the tournament reinforced the idea that the final eight teams in each class, if not the final 16, should be seeded, and the “rolling of the peas” abandoned. And while they’re at it, “geographic representation” should be trashed, too.The...
Illini West is in camaraderie-building mode; JCA, York welcome new head coaches
York's Ella Contant (13) and Ella Lawton (16) are two of the few players back from last season's team to greet new head coach Danny Piwowarczyk. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) Out with the old – well, not completely – and in with the new.Today, Illprepvb.com continues its look at the 2021 season with previews of two schools welcoming new coaches, a look at a downstate school hoping to blend some veteran players with a few new ones, and a new coop featuring one of the smallest high schools in Illinois.(Last season's record in parenthesis):Fenton (2...
Illinois Volleyball Coaches Association names regional representatives
Tryouts for Lions' boys club season will be held August 29
IC Catholic Prep, Lincoln-Way East ponder what might have been, get set for fall
IC Catholic Prep is getting ready for the fall 2021 season after finishing the state tournament-less spring campaign at 17-0 without dropping a set. What if? What if there had been a state tournament last year? What if we just forget last spring altogether? There are teams on both sides of the coin. Yes, it would have been interesting to see what would have happened had there been a state series last season. Yes, there are some teams that are thankful to have a “do-over” and simply happy to put the past behind them. Today,...
