By Randy Whalen Special to Illprepvb.com As advertised. In a matchup between two teams that have combined to win the past five IHSA championships, No. 1-ranked Glenbard West pulled away down the stretch Thursday to defeat Lincoln-Way East 22-25, 25-21, 25-22, in a scintillating match before a pack-the-place crowd in Glen Ellyn. Ben Harrington (16 kills, 6 digs, 3 blocks, ace) led the way for Glenbard West (2-0). But the junior outside hitter had plenty of help down the stretch as the Hilltoppers rallied for the final 4 points. ...

Minooka saw its eight-match winning streak snapped Tuesday by No. 1-ranked Marist, which extended its win streak to 49 and moved into second place on the Illinois' all-time win streak list. By Randy Whalen Special to Illprepvb.com If a team is going to move up the ranks of the all-time win list, it might as well do it in a big match. That's what the Marist volleyball team did Tuesday. By virtue of its 25-13, 25-21 victory over the host Indians in Minooka, the RedHawks won their 49th consecutive match to move into sole possession o...

(Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Randy Whalen Special to Illprepvb.com Before the Marist boys’ volleyball team kicked off its season, there was one bit of business that took place on the court – a ring ceremony for the last fall’s Marist girls volleyball team, which captured its second consecutive state championship. Watching the girl’s team honored planted a seed for RedHawk boys’ star player, Marty Jepsen. “Oh yeah, oh my gosh, that would mean so much to me,” Jepsen said. “Not for me as an individual, but for the memories of being with...

Each week during the season, Illprepvb.com will name a "Player of the Week" selected from nominations provided by Illinois volleyball coaches. Coaches can nominate their players by providing a 100-150 word summary of their achievement and a large quality headshot and sending it to illprepvb@gmail.com by noon on Sunday of the week for which they wish to nominate a player.This week’s Illprepvb.com "Player of the Week" is 5-foot-10 sophomore outside hitter Annie Bart from Carmel Catholic High School in Mundelein. Bart registered 46 kills, 6 se...

Ceiling redirections, service errors and momentum swings. Tuesday’s nonconference matchup between St. Francis and host Wheaton North had them all. But the biggest factor may have been a seemingly innocent 5-point run by St. Francis midway through Game 2 following a Wheaton North service error that allowed the Spartans to break an 11-11 tie and put some distance between themselves and the Falcons. No. 10 St. Francis seized the momentum and scored 23 of the next 30 points on its way to a 19-25, 25-17, 25-19 win over No. 20 Wheaton N...

Prairie Ridge overcame the loss of setter Jayden Otto (ankle) to win the Wheaton Classic Silver division. Any chance Marist’s players had to be on time for their Homecoming celebration Saturday night was squashed when the title match against Benet at the Wheaton Classic hosted by Wheaton Warrenville South started nearly two hours later than the scheduled 5:00 p.m. start time.Was it worth the wait?You’d have to ask the RedHawks, but an educated guess would be an emphatic “Yes.”No. 1-ranked Marist (16-0) rallied from a 14-11 deficit in the...

Host Plainfield North hopes to make some noise at the Illprepvb.com Crosstown Showdown. Bigger, better and tougher top to bottom. The Illprepvb.com Crosstown Classic at Plainfield North has expanded to 32 teams this year from 24 teams in 2017 and has added more of the top teams in the state, providing back-to-back nights of some of best high school volleyball anywhere. “The Crosstown Showdown will be bigger and better,” Plainfield North coach Matt Slechta said. “With the addition of eight more teams, we now have a 32-team field tha...

Maybe it was the Hawaiian shirts. “It was a good opener for us,” said Downers Grove North’s 6-foot-1 senior outside hitter Griffen Liszka. “Everyone played really well. I think we exceeded our team’s expectations for the first game.” But what about the Hawaiian shirts? “The whole Hawaiian thing is kind of the staple of our team,” he said. “But we usually do things for every match.” If the rest of the season goes as well for No. 17 Downers Grove North as its opener did Monday against visiting Naperville Central, the Trojans m...