Sports Performance VBC/Illprepvb.com Player of the Year Katie Hurta of Nazareth Academy was recently named the 2021-22 Gatorade Illinois Volleyball Player of the Year. (Photo by Dave Ruggles). Katie Hurta led Nazareth to the IHSA Class 3A championship this fall. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) CHICAGO (January 11, 2022) – In its 37th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Katie Hurta of Nazareth Academy is the 2021-22 Gatorade Illinois Volleyball Player of the Year. Hurta is the first Gatorade Ill...
SPVB 18 Elite seeks return to AAU glory; injury sets back Illini Elite 18 Cardinal
SPVB 18 Elite outside hitter Ella Wrobel (Plainfield North) has her sights set on returning the Aurora club to the AAU championship stage after a three-year absence. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorIs it coincidence that the last names of SPVB 18 Elite’s top three outside hitters all start with the letter “W?”“We purposely did that,” joked SPVB 18 Elite coach Troy Gilb. “We wanted to make life easy for me … coaching two teams.”Gilb, who also coaches the club’s top 18s boys’ team, expects 6-4 outside hitter and ...
Goodbye, USAV. Hello, AAU. Boys volleyball clubs are ready for change
Boys volleyball clubs nationwide are opting to compete in the AAU junior national tournament this summer, a departure from their long-standing participation in the USAV-sponsored event. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorDrew Rogers, you just graduated from Benet Academy.What are you going to do next?“I’m going to Disney World!”Just kidding. Rogers won't graduate from Benet for a few more months, and he didn't really say that ... yet. But the 630 Volleyball 18-1 outside hitter did express his excitement over the ...
Illinois entries bring home a busload of medals from the JVA World Showcase
Balance 18 won the 18 Classic division at last weekend's JVA World Challenge at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Kentucky. The JVA World Challenge last weekend at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Kentucky, produced a motherload of medals for the local entries, including three teams that won their respective 18s divisions.Balance 18 won the 18 Classic division despite losing two setters to ACL injuries this season, using a former libero to set and employing a former outside hitter as a libero. Balance finished 8-1 o...
(Almost) everything you need to know about the 2022 girls' season from M-Z
Montini completed a near-perfect 2021 season with a Class 2A championship , but graduation took a heavy toll on the Broncos, claiming four starters from Trish Samolinski's crew. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorThe real fun begins tomorrow, so today Illprepvb.com takes a look at some of the teams and players who will be gracing gymnasiums throughout Illinois this fall with their athleticism, cohesiveness and determination.Due to the number of teams responding to our request for information and the amount of info...
Hurta joins long list of distinguished players who reaped POY honors
Nazareth's Katie Hurta (9) joins a long and distinguished list of players who earned Player of the Year honors since the award was first presented in 1982. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com Editor Did you know that girls were not permitted to participate in interscholastic volleyball contests until 1973? Then during the 1974-75 school year, the IHSA sponsored its first volleyball tournament at Lantz Gymnasium on the campus of Eastern Illinois University. New Trier East won that affair, defeating Rich East 15-10, 6...
Who's the best team in Plainfield? For one night only, give the nod to North
Plainfield North bounced back from a rough couple of weeks to upend Joliet West in Plainfield on Monday and all but end the visitors' chances of catching Plainfield East in the Southwest Prairie Conference chase. By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorAndrew Fedmasu said that his team’s goal is to be the best team in Plainfield.They certainly were Monday.Fedmasu drilled 9 kills to go along with 2 blocks, and fellow pin hitter Aidan Cupps added 8 kills and 2 blocks as Plainfield North handed Joliet West its second loss in the Southwest Prairi...
Montini putting the puzzle together, befuddles visiting Genoa-Kingston
York's Emelyn Stettin tries to work around the block of Glenbard West's Penelope Vilkama during the team's West Suburban Silver opener Tuesday in Glen Ellyn. (Photo by Dave Ruggles) By Randy WhalenSpecial to Illprepvb.comDon't count out Montini.Led by a monster match from senior Jordan Heatherly, the defending IHSA Class 2A champions showed that despite a .500 record over their first 10 matches, they aren't done yet. Heatherly had 9 kills, 4 blocks, 17 assists and 14 digs as Montini never trailed and held off a furious rally in the sec...
Byas, Lincoln-Way East take early control of conference race by beating Lockport
Lincoln-Way East, which handed Glenbard West its only loss this spring, has won the conference title three times since the Southwest Suburban Conference went to a single division alignment in 2017. By Randy WhalenSpecial to Illprepvb.comJared Byas missed most of last season with tendinitis. This season, the Lincoln-Way East outside hitter hopes to help lead his team on another state finals run.Meanwhile, Byas did his part to make sure the Griffins win another Southwest Suburban Conference championship. He contributed 4 kills and 3 ...
Work harder, get better — that's life in the Windy City Power League's nether regions
Mission 15 Elite has been without one of its top players throughout much of league play, but showed promise at the President's Day Classic in St. Louis recently. https://youtu.be/jLB6h8JQRAE By Phil BrozynskiIllprepvb.com EditorFew teams that compete in the Windy City Power League have a realistic shot at earning one of the league’s automatics bids to the USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championship. Goals become particularly incremental for those teams exiled to Bracket D or E.“We definitely had to change our priorities being i...