Colin Dahill (16) is one of four starters returning for St. Rita, which lost a heartbreaking three-setter to New Trier in the 2019 IHSA quarterfinals at Hoffman Estates. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) Illprepvb.com continues its look at the 2020 boys' high school volleyball season with another set of team previews. Illprepvb.com provides the best in boys volleyball coverage throughout the season anywhere in the state. School: Metea ValleyConference: DuPage ValleyHead coach: John Aister (10th year, 181-143)Last season’s highlights: 16-22 overa...
The boys are back in town, but who will wear the crown … if there's a crown to wear?
Marist won it all in 2019, and if the RedHawks are to successully defend their title (providing there is a state tournament beyond the promised regionals), it will be due in large part to 6-8 senior Nyherowo Omene (center, standing behind Marty Jepsen), the one holdover from that championship team. (Photo by Dave Ruggles). (Updated 4/23)Marist won the IHSA boys’ championship in 2019, the last time a state series was conducted, the last time a boys’ volleyball season was conducted in Illinois.Who would have won it all in 2020? We can only s...
Top Flight VBC ready to take flight at AAU nationals in Orlando
Top Flight Volleyball Club, which is based in Elgin, is sending five teams to the 47th Annual AAU Girls Junior National Volleyball Championships this week in Orlando, Florida. Top Flight 18 Theta coach Jake Mattern. By Matt Le CrenSpecial to Illprepvb.comTop Flight Volleyball Club didn’t take long to live up to its name.In the 12 years since Cindy Gritzman founded the club with her husband, Sean, the Elgin-based organization has won 15 national titles and grown from an initial 90 players to nearly 2,500. More than 100 Top Flight alums ...
Who survives? A not-so-brief look at all 32 sectionals, from Bolingbrook to Waterloo
Naperville Central is one of 128 teams hoping to extend its IHSA tournament run when it joins the field at the Bolingbrook Class 4A sectional beginning this week. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) Here it is, Illprepvb.com’s not-so-brief look at the 32 sectionals feeding into 16 supersectionals that will provide four fields of four semifinalists in each class November 15-16 at Redbird Arena on the campus of Illinois State University in Normal. Class 4A Fremd supersectional At Warren sectionalLibertyville (27-10) vs. Lake Forest (28-8)Cary-Grov...
Sterling makes itself at home against Nazareth; Joliet Catholic downs U-High
Sterling's Brooklyn Borum smashes one of her 12 kills past the block of Nazareth's Izzy Decker (3) and Danielle Wojtycki (8). (Photos by Dave Ruggles) By Randy WhalenSpecial to Illprepvb.com NORMAL – The Borum twins felt right at home Friday at Redbird Arena.That showed as they led Sterling back to the IHSA Class 3A championship match.The Borums combined to bang home 19 kills as the defending state champion Golden Warriors defeated Nazareth, 25-18, 25-19, in the first 3A semifinal at Redbird Arena on the campus of Illinois State University...
Lauterwasser: Naperville North has a new vibe with several 'newbies' in the lineup
Paige Lauterwasser (14) and her Naperville North teammates suffered their first loss in the DuPage Valley Conference on Thursday. By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorGone is longtime setter Anna Jaworski, who is busy setting all kinds of records at Southern Illinois University.Gone, too, are middle hitter Ellie Hall and outside hitter Eva Hartung, who were a big part of Naperville North’s unbeaten season last spring.So there are a lot of new faces on the Huskies’ side of the court this fall. But there is one familiar face.“Yeah, we only d...
Rodriguez leaving Sterling early to join highly-touted recruiting class at Nebraska
Sterling libero Lexi Rodriguez announced that she will graduate early and start her college career at Nebraska in January, bypassing her senior season for the two-time defending IHSA Class 3A champions. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) Sterling's Lexi Rodriguez The next time Sterling’s Lexi Rodriguez digs a ball in anger will not happen in the Land of Lincoln.It will happen in Lincoln, Nebraska.Rodriguez, ranked No. 10 in the 2021 recruiting class according to Prepvolleyball.com, announced last week that she will graduate from high school early ...
Sterling’s Rodriguez, WW South’s Meyer head Illprepvb.com All-State Second Team
Sterling junior Lexi Rodriguez, a Nebraska recruit, assumed an expanded role as libero and setter to help lead the Golden Warriors to a second consecutive IHSA Class 3A championship. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) Today, we continue to announce the Illprepvb.com 2019 Girls All-State Volleyball Team with those players named to the Second Team. Coaches across Illinois were invited to nominate players to the Illprepvb.com all-state team. Team members were selected based upon their accomplishments on the court and in the classroom as high school stu...
Walden, Waubonsie Valley rally to defeat Plainfield North; Gregus powers Benet
Plainfield North's Ariel Amaya gets past the block of Waubonsie Valley's Gabi Croll (7) and Aryanna Ruffin (8) during Monday's second sectional semifinal at Bolingbrook. (Photos by Dave Ruggles) Waubonsie Valley’s Melissa Walden didn’t recognize her team while it was being – to put it politely – pounded by Plainfield North in the first game of their Class 4A sectional semifinal Monday at Bolingbrook. “After the first set, we knew that's not how we play as a team,” she said. “We started pulling ourselves together in the second set, and knew ...
Where are they now? A look at where 600+ Illinois girls are playing college volleyball
Emily Holbrook (8) of Joliet Catholic and Sports Performance is now playing collegiately at Arizona State. (Photos by Dave Ruggles) Illinois not only ranks third among all states in the number of girls who play high school volleyball (behind California and Texas), it is also at 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 their lists of alumni who are currently playing volleyball at a college or university anywhere in the country. There are nearly 50...