Girls Volleyball

Nazareth senior Katie Hurta, who led the Roadrunners to their first state championship in November, has been named the Gatorade Illinois Volleyball Player of the Year.

Several local former athletes and current coaches were elected to the hall of fame in their various sports recently.

It’s that time of the year again (the end, of course) where we look back at the last 12 months before the calendar runs out and a new year starts. But instead of talking about the best 10 moments of the year like usual, I figured I’d go a different direction: I’m going to write about the things that stuck out to me most in 2021.

Dana Rettke, a Riverside-Brookfield graduate and the AVCA National Player of the Year, capped off her final collegiate season by leading Wisconsin's volleyball program to its first-ever national title Dec. 18 in Columbus, Ohio.

Sterling native Lexi Rodriguez earned National Freshman of the Year honors and was a first-team All-American this fall for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, and she capped a sensational freshman season with a special honor from her hometown: the Sterling City Council declared this past Tuesday as Lexi Rodriguez Day to celebrate her individual accomplishments for the national runner-up Cornhuskers.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers volleyball team, with Sterling native Lexi Rodriguez playing libero, finished second in the country Saturday night, falling to Big Ten rival Wisconsin 3-2 in the NCAA Tournament National Championship game in Columbus, Ohio. The Dixon girls basketball team won twice at the Ottawa tournament, while Rock Falls split two games at the Sterling Shootout, where the host Golden Warriors dropped a pair of games. The Sterling boys won their game at the Genesis Shootout at Augustana College.

Woodland senior middle Ella Sibert is The Times Fall 2021 Volleyball Player of the Year.

Here is The Times Fall 2021 Volleyball All-Area Team, 25 of the area's best on the volleyball court this past season.

Meet the 2021 The Herald-News All-Area volleyball team.

Plainfield North's Ella Wrobel has made the game of volleyball the centerpiece of her life and that dedication in part led to her selection as Herald-News Volleyball Player of the Year.