IC’s D’Amore commits to St. John’s in New York

SHARE IC’s D’Amore commits to St. John’s in New York

IC Catholic Prep senior Delaney D’Amore has verbally committed to play volleyball at St. John’s University in Queens, N.Y., as a libero/defensive specialist. St. John’s is a member of the Big East conference. D’Amore had 419 kills, 29 blocks, 58 aces and 509 digs heading into the state finals and had 11 kills and seven digs in the championship match against Albion Edwards County.

Whitney Young will host the 2013 ChiTown Showdown on Friday-Saturday, December 13-14.

Friday’s games feature Champaign Central vs. Harlan at 5 p.m.; Proviso East vs. Morgan Park at 6:30 p.m.; and Huntley vs. Whitney Young at 8 p.m.

Saturday’s schedule has Mother McAuley vs. North Lawndale at 11 a.m.; Bolingbrook vs. Crete-Monee and Phillips vs. South Shore at 12:30 p.m.; Vernon Hills vs. Trinity and Bloom vs. Kenwood at 2 p.m.; and C. Miller vs. Joliet Catholic and Christ the King vs. Hyde Park at 3:30 p.m.

Fremd plays Marian Catholic at 5 p.m.; St. Thomas More plays Whitney Young at 6:30 p.m.; and Rolling Meadows plays Milwaukee Riverside at 8 p.m.

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Joliet Catholic (5-0), led by Michigan State recruit Jasmine Lumpkin and sophomore guard Nicole Ekhomu, is the No. 1 seed at the Hillcrest Holiday Classic December 26-28.

Bolingbrook is the No. 2 seed, followed by Hillcrest and Marist. Each team plays twice on Thursday.

Joliet Catholic opens play at Hillcrest against Thornton at 1:30 p.m. on December 26. Bolingbrook will play Queen of Peace at 10:30 a.m., Hillcrest meets Seton at 9:00 a.m. and Marist plays Oak Forest at 12 p.m.

Other first round games are TF North vs. Sandburg at 9 a.m., Lockport vs. Rich Central at 10:30 a.m., Erich South vs. Tinley Park at 12 p.m. and Bloom vs. Stagg at 1:30 p.m.

The Joliet Catholic/Thornton winner plays the Bloom/Stagg winner at 7:30 p.m., the Bolingbrook/Queen of Peace winner plays the Lockport/Rich Central winner at 4:30 p.m., the Hillcrest/Seton winners plays the TF North/ Sandburg winner at 3 p.m., and the Marist/Oak Forest winner plays the Rich South/Tinley Park winner at 6 p.m.

The semifinals are at 6 and 7:30 p.m. on December 27, and the championship is at 6 p.m, on December 28.

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Sports Performance 18 Mizuno travelled to Minas Tenis Clube in Belo Horizonte, Brazil November 22-December 1 for the Minas Tenis Clube U19 International Tournament. SPVB 18 Mizuno finished with a 3-1 record.

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Sports Performance Volleyball will host a Coaches School at the Great Lakes Center April 25-27 presented by Rick and Cheryl Butler. Check-in is at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 26 with the school running from 9-6 p.m. Lunch will be provided. Sunday’s session begins at 8 a.m. and concludes at 2 p.m.

Topics covered include movement training, training individual skills, setter development, statistics, scouting, physical training, serving, youth development and feeder systems, attacking, blocking, offensive systems development, defensive systems development and component play.

The cost is $200 which includes an extensive coaching manual and $150 for each additional coach from the same school or club. Register at www.greatlakescenter.com.

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The American Volleyball Coaches Association announced its Division I Regional Awards this week, and the All-Region Teams featured a number of players from the Chicago area.

Natalia Skiba (Hinsdale Central), a junior libero at Northeastern University , was named to the East Region All-Region Team.

Named to the North Region All-Region team were Meghan Haggerty (Benet), a sophomore middle blocker at Nebraska; Stephanie Holthus (Burlington Central), a senior outside hitter from Northwestern; Kelsey Robinson (St. Francis), a senior outside hitter from Nebraska, and Lauren Wicinski (Geneva), a senior outside hitter from Michigan State.

Caleigh Ryan (Glenbard West), a freshman setter from Northwestern, was named honorable mention.

Named to the Northeast Region All-Region team were Jocelynn Birks (Lyons), a sophomore outside hitter from Illinois; Lauren Carlini (West Aurora), a freshman setter at Wisconsin; Ellen Chapman (Glenbrook South), a junior outside hitter from Wisconsin; Abby Gilleland (Marian Central), a sophomore setter at Ohio University; and Kelly Lamberti (Cary-Grove), a junior outside hitter at Ohio University.

Carlini was named the Freshman of the Year in the Northeast Region.

Named to the All-Region team in the Southeast Region was Taylor Brauneis (Prairie Ridge), a senior setter at the University of Florida.

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Sources report that East Suburban Catholic Conference athletics directors are considering a two-division setup in girls volleyball to accommodate the addition of Marian Central, which had been scheduled to joined the Catholic League until a few weeks ago.

The move would split the ESCC into North and South divisions for volleyball only.

The North would have five teams and include Marian Central, St. Viator, Carmel, Fenwick and

Nazareth. The South would include six teams, including Marist, Marian Catholic, Joliet Catholic, Benet, Bishop McNamara and Providence.

Teams would only play teams within their own division in conference play. Teams within the division would play each other twice.

The ESCC is generally regarded as the best girls volleyball conference in the state.

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