Five-foot-7 junior defensive specialist Sarah Jensen (Barrington) and her teammates won SPVB 18 Red's third consecutive national championship in the 18 Club division at the 50th annual AAU Girls Junior National Championships in Orlando, Florida. (File photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorThe dust has barely settled on the 2023 girls’ club season and tryouts for upcoming season have already begun.Although Illinois produced no national championships in the Open divisions at the USAV tournament in Chicago or...

MOD Elite and lvirtually every other club in Illinois will compete in the 2024 AAU/JVA Brew City Battle on January 27-28 in Milwaukee. Notice: You may not distribute, modify, transmit, reuse, re-post, or use the content of the Site for public or commercial purposes, including the text, images, audio, and video, without Illprepvb.com, LLC’s written permission. By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorNow that the local teams have returned from sunny California and last weekend’s 2024 SoCal Cup: The Open Championship at the Los Angel...

Mother McAuley and Benet Academy could be headed toward another IHSA Class 4A championship match clash, or will the folks downstate pair the two big-school powerhouses in a supersectional smashup like they did in 2014? Stay tuned. (Photos by Dave Ruggles) Notice: You may not distribute, modify, transmit, reuse, re-post, or use the content of the Site for public or commercial purposes, including the text, images, audio, and video, without Illprepvb.com, LLC’s written permission.By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorLet the (guessing) games be...

GabriellaTowns (6) and the Oak Park-River Forest Huskies finished fifth at last weekend's Autumnfest tournament hosted by Glenbard East. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorOK, who is the No. 1 team in Class 4A this week?Right now, it’s Benet Academy (again).Why?Mathematics. It’s as simple as A beats B, B beats C, C beats A. Benet is 1-1 against Marist (splitting two matches) and 1-0 against Mother McAuley. Meanwhile, Mother McAuley is 0-1 against Benet Academy and 1-1 vs. Marist, and Marist is 2-2 with a win an...

Sophomore Laney Snow (18) and Normal University HIgh were scheduled to visit Normal West on Monday as part of the Bloomington/Normal Intercity Tournament. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorLeave it to the IHSA.What’s their latest outrage?How about assigning defending Class 2A champion Genoa-Kingston, last year’s runner-up IC Catholic Prep and No. 3-ranked Timothy Christian to the same sectional? We suspect that’s one way to placate certain members of their constituency.Not that those teams will get any sym...

Junior libero Mari Rodriguez and the undefeated Huntley Red Raiders host Barrington on Wednesday in a remacth of last year's supersectional meeting at Dundee-Crown. (Photo by Dave Ruggles). By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com Editor“Well, at least we haven’t been sent to the ‘sectional of death.’”That’s how one suburban Chicago coach reacted to the release of the regional, sectional and supersectional sites by the IHSA last Friday. Similar sentiments are likely being felt by coaches throughout Illinois regardless of their team’s class, ...

Junior Addie Brookbank (5) and Barrington will try to improve to 12-1 when they visit Mid-Suburban West rival Fremd on Tuesday. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorThree weeks in the books and we still have more questions than answers.This week's Wheaton Classic may answer a few of those questions in Class 4A, or it could leave us with a preponderance of riddles much like the Lincoln and Effingham tournaments did last weekend.Meanwhile, while some schools already know if they are hosting regionals, we are lookin...

Mother McAuley defeated Notre Dame Academy (Louisville, Kentucky) on Saturday to win its second consecutive ASICS Challenge championship. By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorIt’s the same old story – B beats A, C beats B, A beats B.Can anyone hold down the top spot in the Michio Chicago VBA/Illprepvb.com Girls High School Class 4A rankings?We could find out this week when Marist, which beat Mother McAuley to open the door for Benet Academy to assume the top spot after the Redwings beat Marist in the finals of the Wheaton Classi...

St. Francis (far court), which has elected to play up in the Class 3A tournament starting next week, and Class 2A Chicago Christian were among the teams that participated in Blocktober Fest last weekend at Planfield Central. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) How many boundary-restricted public schools can lose their second-leading attacker and one of their top setters/hitters from the previous season and still manage to survive, let alone thrive?Not many, unless you’re Barrington.The Fillies lost 6-5 outside hitter and South Carolina recruit Ca...

Ultimate B18 Gold (far court) finished 13th in the 18 Open division at the 50th AAU Boys National Championships in Orlando, Florida, behind 6-7 outside hitter Tyler Tharpe (Whitney Young), who is headed to Ohio State in the fall. (File photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorThe boys’ club season ended a little over a week ago, but the start of another season is just around the corner.So, what did we learn from the past year?There are strong rising senior and junior classes in Illinois, but the time lost to COVID has sig...