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...

630 Volleyball 17-1 sits atop the Michio Chicago VBA/Illprepvb.com Boys' 17s Club rankings after winning the 17 Open division at the JVA Showdown in Motown last weekend. 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...

Lions 15-1 veterans libero Sam Falk (32) from Mother McAuley and Oak Park-River Forest's Grace Nelson (29) are expected to lead 1st Alliance 16 Gold this season. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) The 2022 Windy City Power League seeding tournament starts 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 16’s rankings feature a number of teams that have undergone major “facelifts.” Ther...

Plainfield North's Ella Wrobel (88) headlines Sports Performance 18 Elite, which welcomes back four players from the team that was runner-up in the 18 Open division at the 48th AAU Girls Junior National Championships last summer. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorAnd so it begins.We will get our first look at three of the top 18’s teams in the Great Lakes Region -- Sports Performance 18 Elite, VC United 181 Elite and Illini Elite 18 Cardinal -- this weekend when they scrimmage at the Great Lakes Volleyball Ce...

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...

St. Thomas More's Mallory Monahan (6) figures to add a lot of punch to Illini Elite 17 Cardinal this club season. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) The 2022 Windy City Power League seeding tournament for 17’s and 18’s is still two weeks away when we’ll get our first look at many of the teams listed here, but a few have already started competition and others will scrimmage this weekend at the Great Lakes Volleyball Center in Aurora.As has become the norm, the rankings feature a number of teams that have undergone major “facelifts.” There are also...

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...

Barrington's Jessica Horwath (2) and the Fillies handed Class 3A No. 1 Belvidere North its first loss of the season Saturday at the Huntley tournament. (Photo by Dave Ruggles). (Editor's note: There will be no rankings Monday, October 18. The final regular-season rankings will run Monday, October 25.)The “rolling of the peas” took place Monday morning at the IHSA offices in Bloomington to determine the semifinals pairings for all four classes November 12-13 at Redbird Arena.No one should expect all the top seeds to survive their sectio...