Ellie Klokkenga (6) and Celia Cross (7) will try to lead Hartsburg-Emden back to Redbird Arena after their second-place IHSA Class 1A finish a year ago. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorLet the countdown to Redbird (now CEFCU, but it will always be Redbird to us) Arena begin.(What else is there to say?)Here are the final regular-season Michio Chicago VBA/Illprepvb.com Girls H.S. Rankings:Michio Chicago VBA/Illprepvb.com 2024 Girls H.S. Rankings(last week’s ranking in parenthesis) Class 4A1. Benet Academy (...

Benet Academy's Ava Ledebuhr (left) and tournament MVP Aniya Warren (right) helped the Redwings defeat Mother McAuley, 25-13, 25-22, in Saturday's championship match of the Autumnfest tournament hosted by Glenbard East. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorA champions division in volleyball?Joe Trost, a former colleague at the (Chicago) Sun-Times, recently tweeted that a champions division, separating the top eight schools into their own playoff series, could be coming soon to the IHSA football playoffs.I...

All eyes will, be on Glenbard East this weekend for a potential showdown between defending IHSA Class 4A champion Mother McAuley and unbeaten Benet Academy. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorThe seeds, pairings and brackets are out for the 2024 IHSA tournament, and while we should have learned better from our disastrous experience with “Pigskin Picks” at a former media stop, we decided to go out on a limb and try to predict the Elite Eight in each class based on the seeds and brackets. Disagree? Like the...

Mother McAuley and Sydney Buchanan (13) finished third at last weekend's ASICS Challenge, but still have not lost to a team from Illinois. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorIf you’re a fan of rankings, it’s a big week for scoreboard watching.It’s an even bigger week with seeding to the IHSA tournament scheduled to be held virtually this week. Of course, we prefer that coaches argue their cases in a public forum to avoid some of the shenanigans that occurs (albeit rarely) in certain sectionals.So, like many t...

Mother McAuley libero Samantha Falk and the Mighty Macs defeated Marist, 27-25, 25-23, in front of a packed house on 115th and Pulaski Road last Thursday. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorThirteen in-state schools will join 11 schools from throughout the Midwest and Florida for the annual ASICS Challenge this weekend at Mother McAuley.The local hopefuls include Downers Grove North, Huntley, Joliet Catholic Academy, Marist, Minooka,Mother McAuley, Montini, Nazareth Academy, New Trier, Sandburg, St. Charl...

Lynney Tarnow (12) and Benet Academy defeated Lincoln-Way East, 25-16, 25-10, to win last weekend's Wheaton Classic. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorThe IHSA released the sectional assignments for the 2024 IHSA Girls Volleyball Tournament last week, and to almost no one’s surprise, they look almost the same as last year. The more we look, the more the same they look.Not that we would expect anything different.But next year, when the current two-year enrollment classification period expires, a few changes...

Class 4A No. 9-ranked Oswego visits St. Charles North on Wednesday. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorThere weren’t many surprises in the rankings this week … that is, if you totally ignore Class 3A, where defending IHSA champion St. Francis had a rough week, losing to Loyola Academy, Timothy Christian, Normal U-High and Ozark (Arkansas), yielding the top spot this week to the Pioneers.But that wasn’t the only change in Class 3A, where (Chatham) Glenwood, Crystal Lake Central and Mascoutah were bounced from th...

Any time is a good time to enjoy a picture from photographer extraordinaire Dave Ruggles. By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorJust when you think you’ve got it all figured out.The first regular-season edition of the Michio Chicago VBA/Illprepvb.com 2024 Girls H.S. Rankings saw some shuffling among the top 10 in each class, but the bigger news was the number of “other teams to watch” falling by the wayside.Of course, a few of those teams were based on recommendations by coaches in their conferences, so we can conveniently blame them...

Marist hopes to end Mother McAuley's run of consecutive Class 4A championships should the two teams meet during the IHSA tournament. By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com Editor In our 2023 preseason rankings, Illprepvb.com accurately predicted eight of the 16 IHSA semifinalists – no easy feat since we don’t know who will be assigned where and which sectionals will match up in the supersectional.Those eight teams included the eventual IHSA champions in Class 2A (Breese Mater Dei), 3A (St. Francis) and 4A (Mother McAuley). We also accu...

Top Notch 15 Elite, based in Springfield, finished fifth in the LIberty division at the USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada. By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorGame over.The USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championship 14-17s at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, are in the books.The final chapter was written Thursday with the conclusion of play in the various 15...