Belleville Althoff, which won the IHSA Class 3A title in 2017, finished fifth in the Illprepvb.com final rankings published last November.
Illprepvb.com will begin releasing its 2018 preseason rankings on Tuesday, August 14. This season’s weekly rankings are being sponsored by 1st Alliance Volleyball Club and will expand to include 25 teams statewide and a teams to watch category. Meanwhile, here are last year’s final rankings:
Illprepvb.com 2017 Final Top 20 Rankings (Preseason rank in parenthesis)
1. Marist (41-1) 3
2. Minooka (39-3) 1
3. Mother McAuley (35-5) 2
4. Benet (32-7) 7
5. Belleville Althoff (41-1) 16
6. Crystal Lake Central (33-4) 14
7. Edwardsville (31-6) NR
8. Joliet Catholic (29-8) NR
9. Marian Catholic (30-8) NR
10. St. Charles North (36-5) NR
11. St. Charles East (31-8) 8
12. Prairie Ridge (27-8) 18
13. Normal Community (31-6) 15
14.Downers Grove North (27-13) 9
15. Payson Seymour (41-1) NR
16. (Champaign) St. Thomas More (39-3) NR
17, Resurrection (34-9) NR
18. Sterling (35-3) NR
19. Waubonsie Valley (24-14) 11
20. Huntley (26-8) NR
Honorable mention: Breese Mater Dei (27-10-2),Kewanee Wethersfield (35-1), LaSalle-Peru (33-4-1), Metea Valley (29-8), Naperville North (29-9), New Trier (34-6), Normal U-High (29-11), Quincy Notre Dame (33-9), Windsor-Stewardson-Strasburg (34-7), St. Viator (29-13).
How many starters did Marist lose? Won’t be surprised to see them drop out of the top 20 quickly.
Marist has a team of basically #1 team club players. Obviously we won’t know how good they can be, but dropping out of the top 25 would be really hard for a team this talented! But thats why they play the games!!