Stockton graduated several key players off last year's regional championship team, but hopes to build on a strong summer heading into the 2019 season. Illprepvb.com continues its coverage of the 2019 Illinois high school girls' volleyball season with another set of team previews. School: FentonConference: Upstate EightHead coach: David MelloLast season’s highlights: 24-12 overall (most wins since 1991), 3-3 in conference (Metro Suburban), lost to Glenbard East, 25-14, 25-14, in a Class 4A regional semifinal.Top returnees: senior middle ...

Benet middle hitter Maeve Nelligan slams a kill past Wheaton Warrenville South's Kaileigh Ammons during the Redwings' quarterfinal victory Saturday at the Wheaton Classic. (Photos by Dave Ruggles) Momentum. It’s fickle. Momentum is a cliché in volleyball. Every coach and every player talks about it. But it was never more applicable than in Saturday’s championship match of the Wheaton Classic at Wheaton Warrenville South.After Marist took a timeout trailing 14-10 to Benet in the third set of the championship match, the two-time defending to...

Wheaton Warrenville South's Josh Gottlieb (left), who is committed to Loyola, will reunite with Zeo Meyer as the Tigers look to reverse last season's fortunes. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) Note: Although Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzer’s recent “shelter-in-place” order extended school closings until April 8, Illprepvb.com will continue to publish content relevant to the 2020 high school boys’ volleyball season in the hope that it will be resumed at some point this spring.School: ElginConference: Upstate EightHead coach: Andy LeGoffLast season’s...

New Trier rallied from a 20-16 deficit and fought off two match points in the third set to defeat Oak Park-River Forest and win the Northside Classic Saturday at Glenbrook North. https://youtu.be/exxcEp93N_A New Trier showed ‘em.At full strength for the first time this season, New Trier rallied after squandering a 23-17 lead in Game 1 to defeat Oak Park-River Forest, 23-25, 27-25, 27-25, and claim the championship of the Northside Classic hosted by Glenbrook North Saturday in Northbrook. “O, my God,” said New Trier junior outside hitte...

A huge crowd was on hand Tuesday to watch Marist blast error-prone Benet and hand the Redwings their first loss of the season. It had everything … except perhaps drama.A huge crowd. A recognition of teachers. A ring ceremony for the 2019 IHSA championship boys’ team (minus Marty Jepsen, who was the team’s heart and soul). A conference championship at stake.At one point in the second set, the officials even had to stop play to warn the Marist student section on the stage to stop relaying zone serving signals to the Marist players on the othe...

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,...

Joliet Catholic's Bella Ray (14) tries to hit through the block of Sterling's Brooklyn Borum (10) and Kierra Collins (15). Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Randy WhalenSpecial to Illprepvb.com NORMAL – Sterling believed all season. Now the Golden Warriors are back-to-back IHSA Class 3A champions. Brooklyn Borum bashed 16 kills, and what Grace Egan imagined came through as the freshman outside hitter added 11 kills and 5 digs, as Sterling stopped Joliet Catholic with a 25-16, 25-19 victory Saturday in the Class 3A championship match at R...

Sky High Adidas 16 Black flashed its potential when it finished 10th at the 2020 Triple Crown Volleyball NIT two weeks ago. https://youtu.be/FOg54ng8no4 Perhaps no one is harder on Sky High Adidas 16 Black than … Sky High Adidas 16 Black.“I have a lot of perfectionists on this team,” said Sky High Adidas 16 Black coach Steve Bonnem. “You can’t be that in this sport. You have to learn to get over the mistakes and move on from them. Even an elite team is going to make mistakes.”Sky High Adidas 16 Black certainly showed it can be an el...

New Trier's Colin Heath (12) and Glenbard West's Ben Harrington (1) could meet at Hoffman Estates again in 2020. (Photos by Dave Ruggles) Which teams will be among Illinois’ best in 2020? Peering into the Illprepvb.com crystal ball … Can Glenbard West return to the top of the Illinois boys volleyball world after falling to Marist and Marty Jepsen in the 2019 IHSA championship game? Can Marist repeat without the 2019 Illprepvb.com Player of the Year? Will New Trier ride its two fabulous outside hitters to the school’s first title in 25 years...