Marist will be among the teams vying for the title at this weekend's Asics Challenge hosted by Mother McAuley. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) What do Assumption (Louisville, Kentucky), Ballston Lake (Burnt Hills, New York), St. Thomas Aquinas (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida), Marist, Sandburg, St. Francis and Huntley all have in common? They are among the 24 teams competing this weekend at the Asics Challenge hosted by Mother McAuley. The Asics Challenge has long been the playground of Ron Kordes’ Assumption Rockets, although the locals have broken t...

Amanda Rice of Lemont and her Adversity G18 Adidas teammates won the Windy City Power League 17&18 Open division championship, going 14-1 overall with its only loss at the hands of Sky High Adidas 18 Black on February 2. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) The Windy City Power League wrapped up Sunday and the chase for bids to the USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championships is on, beginning with the 2020 Nike Mideast Qualifier at the Indianapolis Convention Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, March 20-22.Here are the final 2020 Michio Chi...

1st Alliance 17 Silver takes over the top spot in the latest 17s rankings despite going 1-6 at the Triple Crown NIT in Kansas City, Missouri, last weekend. While the Illinois boys’ high school season enter the home stretch, the girls club season continues in earnest for the 17-and-under age groups.  Local clubs have been in action at the Triple Crown NIT in Kansas City, Missouri, May 29-31, and the 2021 adidas Windy City National Qualifier in Indianapolis, Indiana, May 14-16, among other events both local and out-of-state.Looming o...

Chicago Bounce 18 Red should get even better when Barrington's Ben Ridgway and New Trier's Peter Brown are fully healthy. (Photos by Dave Ruggles) The preseason is over. Let the qualifier season begin. The 2020 Boys Winter Volleyball Championships at McCormick Place on January 18-20 will give us a better idea of where the Illinois boys club teams stack up regionally and nationally, but after three weekends at Palos Courts, it’s never too early to speculate on who are some of the best bets to make noise on the lakefront. So here i...

New Trier outside hitter Julia Hall (12) tries to split a pair of Assumption (Louisville, Kentucky) defenders during last weekend's Asics Challenge at Mother McAuley. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) The Asics Challenge has come and gone. Mother McAuley and Marist met for the second time this season, albeit it for third place, not first, and the result was the same, although the rematch was much closer than the teams' first meeting. Not that there wasn’t any interest in an all-Kentucky championship match, but there’s something special about the...

ESVBC Elite 15U Ice (Eastside Volleyball Club, East Peoria) joins the rankings after winning the Midwest Challenge at Academy Volleyball Club in Indianapolis on January 30-31. This is the last installment of Illprepvb.com’s latest look at some of the top clubs in Illinois in their respective age groups.Like we said back in December, the 15s are always the most difficult to predict for a number of reasons. This season, that uncertainty was magnified partly because many 14s experienced a shortened competitive season in 2020, and in some...

Marist walked off with a lot of hardware in 2018, including the title of the Illprepvb.com/Crosstown Classic hosted by Plainfield North. Marist was Illprepvb.com’s No. 1 team in the preseason in 2018, and justified that confidence by rolling through the regular season and the IHSA to win its second consecutive IHSA Class 4A championship. Will history repeat itself … again? Meanwhile, this season, Illprepvb.com is changing things up a little. After ranking 25 teams regardless of class each of the previous two seasons, this fall...

Sandburg and Ultimate Volleyball Club's Gavin Kissane (1) returns from a 16s team that enjoyed a successful run during last year's Palos Point Series. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) Boys’ volleyball clubs throughout Illinois (and southeastern Wisconsin) got some bad news last week when Palos Courts was forced to postpone the start of the 2020-21 Palos Point Series due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So while they wait for a possible January reboot, it’s never too early to look at what the boys’ club scene will look like in 2021. Most clubs – but...

Lions 15-1 showed a lot of determination Sunday to defeat Adversity G15 Adidas at UNO Volleyball Club and win the 15 Girls division of the GLR Girls Regional Qualifier. Lions 15-1 outside hitter Elizabeth Sessa tips the ball between Adversity G15 Adidas defenders Morgan Jones (20) and Josilyn Wadas (6). Photo by Dave Ruggles. The GLR Girls Regional Qualifier is in the books. There were a few surprises. There were also some predictable finishes.  What's next?The girls' high school season kicks off Saturday, interrupted briefly ...