Club Fusion 18 Silver went 9-0 to win the 18 American division at the recent Winter Volleyball Championships at McCormick Place and earn a bid to the USAV Girls Junior National Championship in Phoenix, Arizona. By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorMaybe, it’s cold outside, but club volleyball is beginning to heat up.The initial Windy City Power League 18/17 Open Seeding Event wrapped up last weekend with only a few surprises, while SPVB 18 Elite flexed its muscle at the first Champions Cup event at the Great Lakes Volleyball Center.This...

After playing 22 games in 23 days and suffering its first loss since March 24, Glenbard West entertains West Suburban Silver foe Lyons on Tuesday. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) No sooner had many observers crowned Glenbard West as the inevitable IHSA champion than the Hilltoppers found themselves pushed to the brink by circumstance at the Northside Classic last weekend.All last weekend really proved is that if you take two of the top three players from even the best team in the land and put them on the shelf, it’s very difficult to beat an ...

SPVB B16 Elite won the 16 Open division of the JVA Showdown in Motown last weekend to earn the top spot in the Michio Chicago VBA/Illprepvb.com Boys 16's Club rankings. By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorTime to play catch-up with boys’ volleyball clubs.While the girls were wrapping up their high school season, boys club teams in Illinois were quietly going about their business at THE Point Series at the Wintrust Sports Center in Bedford Park and the Third Coast Invitational at the Wisconsin Center.Last weekend, several Illinois boys’...

Emotions ran high Saturday at the IHSA tournament at Redbird Arena among both winners and losers. But win or lose, most agreed they were just happy to be back on the court this fall. (Photos by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorAnother IHSA tournament is in the books. Let’s pray that 2020 is the last time the tournament is cancelled. Recommendation to avoid future cancellations? Encourage folks to get vaccinated. (P.S. Just another reason not to like Aaron Rodgers).My biggest beef of last weekend? The prices at the conc...

Lauren Coyne (far right) of Wheaton Warrenville South is one of the reasons Sports Performance 15 Elite should be one of the top 15's teams in the state this club season. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) The 2022 Windy City Power League seeding tournament starts next Saturday at a number of sites throughout the Chicago area and we’ll get our first look at many of the teams listed here, but for now, it’s mostly speculation as we present our first rankings of the season. The 15s are always the most difficult to predict for a variety of reasons....

Middle hitter Josh Weyerhauser (9) and his Adversity B18 Adidas teammates won the 18 Open Silver bracket at last weekend's 2022 Boys Winter Volleyball Championship at McCormick Place. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) Will it be the last “stay-cation” for several suburban Chicago and out-of-state clubs?The 2022 Boys Winter Volleyball Championship wrapped up Monday at McCormick Place, but at least some of the conversation over the weekend centered on the move by many boys’ clubs across the country away from the USAV junior national championship to...

York's 6-7 sophomore Luke Shorter (22) tries to drive the ball past Hinsdale Central defenders Matthew Hughes (25) and Emmanuel Jurineack (14) during Saturday's tournament in Elmhurst. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) Takeaways from last week?After last weekend's showing at Lincoln-Way East, it's becoming more apparent that the IHSA championship is Glenbard West’s to lose.The field of bonafide challengers continues to dwindle.There is growing sentiment for a return to in-person sectional seeding.Not all sectionals are created equal.Some sectio...

York junior outside hitter Emelyn Stettin (8) and the Dukes took down Hinsdale Central last week and have two matches this week before hosting Glenbrook South and Lyons next Monday and Tuesday. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) Short and sweet. That’s how we’ll keep the introduction to this week’s rankings. However, we would like to take this time to thank the folks at Rochester for their wonderful hospitality Saturday. We arrived unannounced (it was a late – actually early Saturday morning -- decision to make the 360-mile round trip) and th...

Teams like unranked Wheaton North will get a fresh start when the IHSA tournament begins tonight. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) Even if you were paying attention, based on the organization’s fixation on football you probably didn’t know there was an IHSA girls’ volleyball tournament beginning this week.A television show to present pairings? Endless tweets? Shutting down the website for an entire day so as not to interrupt people going to the website to check out the pairings? An early sneak peek for the press so they can beat their deadlines...