SPVB 18 Elite's Bella Bullington (22) was also nominated for Player of the Week after producing 48 kills and 10 aces during last weekend's preseason scrimmage at the Great Lakes Volleyball Center. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorToday, we announce the first Ultimate VBC/Illprepvb.com Player of the Week for the 2025 Boys/Girls Club season.Each week during the club season, we will be naming a “Player of the Week.” Coaches/club directors throughout Illinois have been invited to nominate a boys’ or girls’ pl...

SPVB 18 Elite's Faith Jordan (Joliet West) avoids the block of 1st Alliance 17 Gold's Natalie Surges (Brookfield East, Wisonsin) and Molly Welge (Benet Academy) during the GLC preseason scrimmage event at the Great Lakes Volleyball Center. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorIt’s time to get serious.The 2025 girls’ club season opened in earnest last weekend with the seeding portion of the Windy City Power League and preseason scrimmages held at the Great Lakes Volleyball Center in Aurora.We talked to a few coac...

Sports Performance VBC 18 Elite outside hitter Haley Burgdorf from St. Charles North led all Illinois attackers this fall with 611 kills. (Photo by Dave Ruggles). Cover photo of Wild Bunch VBC players courtesy of Michelle Burzynski. 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 Editor The girls’ club season will kick o...

Sky High Adidas B17-1 breaks the huddle after a few words of instruction from head coach Austin Thorsen during 17 Club division play at the 2024-25 Great Lakes Boys Regional Championships Sunday at the Wintrust Sports Complex in Bedford Park. On the home page, Chicago Legends 17 Black breaks during its 25-19, 25-18 loss to Sky High in the semfiinals. https://youtu.be/5bjA3xhEde8 By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorHow do you overcome a bad start?Easy. With a great finish.Yeah, but how do you overcome two bad starts?Sky High Adidas B17...

Illprepvb.com presents its annual list of the top 100 boys club players in Illinois. The list is headed by Marist's Chistian Teresi, an Ohio State recruit. 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 EditorBetter late than never.The boys’ club season is well underway with the conclusion of THE Point Series 15-18's 2024 ...

Alayna Briggs (9) and Hartsburg-Emden will vie for their third consecutive trip to Redbird Arena in 2025. (Photos by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorKeep thinking speculation.Every year, we at Illprepvb.com put together a list of the teams we believe can make some noise the following fall. IHSA Class 2A champion Breese Mater Dei and Class 4A champion Marist were among the 25 teams we spotlighted last year, and Class 1A champion (Hardin) Calhoun was listed among the teams to watch.The only team we totally missed was Cl...

Future 17-Elite was the top local finisher in the 17 Open division at last weekend's 2024 AAU/JVA Chi-town Boys Challenge at McCormick Place, outperforming its No. 8 seed heading into the tournament to place third. 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 Editor“Not so fast. Not so fast!” – the Cowardly Lion in “The Wiza...

Benet Academy libero Aniya Warren is making her third consecutive appearance on the Michio Chicago VBA/Illprepvb.com Girls High School All-State Team and is widely considered one of the best liberos in the nation. She will continue her academic and athletic career at Pudue University. (Photo 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 permiss...

Quincy Notre Dame setter Annie Eaton led the Raiders to 137 wins during her four-year career and ranks among the top five on the IHSA list of all-time career assist leaders. (Photos courtesy of Muddy River Sports). By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorAsk somebody who knows her, and they might tell you that despite her mind-numbing assist record set while at perennial Class 2A power Quincy Notre Dame, 5-8 setter Annie Eaton’s "best and prettiest” assist might not have even occurred on the volleyball court.Back in the spring of 2022,...

Bella Bullington had 16 kills to lead Marist to its first IHSA Class 4A championship since going back-to-back in 2017 and 2018. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorNORMAL – Someone along press row asked, “How do you explain it?”Sheer toughness, that’s how.“That’s an upset for the ages right there,” said Marist coach Jordan Vidovic. “No question about it. All toughness, right? You can have the biggest players, you can have a Division I roster, you can bring in transfers, you can do whatever you want, but you still g...