Articles filed under Welge, Joshua

• Forty years later, girls playing on a much different field May 24, 2012 12:00 AM
  Peg Kopec has sent 78 girls to collegiate volleyball programs and won eight state championships at St. Francis.
  

   

• Only a broken leg could slow Marshall May 10, 2012 12:00 AM
  Who is the only person who can slow down Sammy Marshall? The answer, it seems, is Sammy Marshall. This spring pitchers and catchers around the NCAA found out what those in DuPage County already knew: that you better keep Marshall off the bases if you know whats good for you.
  

   

• All the Valleys onboard to Strike Out Cancer Apr 26, 2012 12:00 AM
  District 204s softball teams are about to put a new, nice spin on rivalry week. The three Valley schools Waubonsie Valley, Neuqua Valley and Metea Valley are joining together for a three-day Strike Out Cancer event this coming Monday through Wednesday. To show their support of cancer awareness, the schools jersey color each day will match their cancer awareness color. Waubonsie is wearing pink for breast cancer awareness, Neuqua red supporting the American Cancer Society and Metea teal for ovarian cancer awareness.
  

   

• Hitters getting upper hand in softball more than ever Apr 12, 2012 12:00 AM
  Melissa Wilson must feel like shes living in a parallel softball universe these days. Neuqua Valleys young second-year coach is only nine years removed from toeing the rubber at Lake Park. As a senior Wilson went 17-3 with a 0.68 ERA and was part of a pitching staff that threw 10 straight shutouts at one point. Earlier this spring Wilson watched her Wildcats jump ahead 7-0 after two innings on Benet, then surrender a surreal 13 runs in one inning and lose 17-10. The pitcher in Wilson is still coming to grips with a game she doesnt recognize.
  

   
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  Holloway in another Final Four, but on a grander scale Mar 29, 2012 12:00 AM
  Whitney Holloway could only watch from her living room Notre Dames loss to Texas A&M in last years womens national championship game. She wasnt wearing the Irish colors yet, but didnt need to. It still stung. It definitely hurt a little bit, said Holloway, who was then a senior at Montini. Not as much, but it hurt a little. I followed the team throughout the whole season and I committed when I was a sophomore, so I kind of felt like part of the team. This weekend Notre Dame, with Holloway now aboard, is back to finish the deal. The Irish return to the Final Four with fellow No. 1 seeds Baylor, Stanford and Connecticut only the second time ever and first time thats happened since 1989 in arguably the strongest field ever. Notre Dame (34-3) will play Big East rival UConn (33-4) in a 5:30 p.m. national semifinal Sunday in Denver, Stanford (35-1) meeting No. 1 and prohibitive favorite Baylor (38-0) in the second game.
  

   
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  Glenbard South seniors thinking about state titleMar 15, 2012 12:00 AM
  Glenbard South softball's slogan this spring is simple, but oh so appropriate. No regrets. The Raiders were the first softball team in DuPage County to take the field this week. But what they desperately want, more than anything, is to be the last one standing in Class 3A come June 9.
  

   
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  Montini turned a ‘down year' up Mar 4, 2012 12:00 AM
  Jasmine Lumpkin heard the whispers. Or at least she sensed the perception in the water about this Montini girls basketball team. They thought this year was going to be our downfall, said the Montini sophomore, wearing the chip on her shoulder as well as she would any state championship medal. I was motivated to come back and prove them wrong.
  

   
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  Baby Broncos grow up, withstand Hillcrest's fury Mar 2, 2012 12:00 AM
  It's just one game, and technically Montini's young kids only aged 90 minutes Friday afternoon. But, boy, did they ever grow up. A year ago sophomores Kateri Stone, Sara Ross, Jasmine Lumpkin and Kelly Karlis were cheering Montini's seniors on the sidelines at Redbird Arena. Freshman Kelsey Bogdan? She was somewhere doing what eighth-graders do weekend afternoons.
  

   
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  Montini’s sophs have been super Mar 1, 2012 12:00 AM
  The sophomore class has played a central role in Montini's return to the state semifinals round of the Class 3A girls basketball postseason.
  

   
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  Valentine, Prasse sisters make coaching easy for Paul Feb 16, 2012 12:00 AM
  Benet basketball coach Peter Paul doesn’t need to think hard scribbling out his starting lineup every night. Just remember the names Prasse and Valentine. Two sisters on one team isn’t that uncommon. Neuqua Valley and York, to name two other schools, both feature twin sisters. But what makes Benet unique is just how much the Redwings rely on the sisters. Together twin seniors Nicole and Taylor Valentine, senior Sidney Prasse and junior Christen Prasse make up almost 80 percent of Benet’s scoring, and 70 percent of its rebounding. It’s added up to one big year. Benet’s 18-game win streak spanned over two months, and these 24-6 regional champs are arguably the school’s best team since the 2004 group that beat Bolingbrook to win a sectional.
  

   
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  Five U-46 wrestlers headed to state Feb 11, 2012 12:00 AM
  Jorge Zavala was in eighth grade the last time Elgin produced an individual state wrestling qualifier. But the Maroons’ senior abruptly ended the four-year program drought by advancing to the championship match at 195 pounds Saturday at the Glenbard North sectional.
  

   

• With playoffs coming up, questions finding some answers Feb 2, 2012 12:00 AM
  It’s that time of year again. It is around this time of the basketball season when we prep writers begin sifting through our candidates for All-Area Captain, awarded to the best player.
  

   

• In Dominican Republic, Warriors appreciate what they have Jan 19, 2012 12:00 AM
  The Wheaton Academy girls recently traveled to the Dominican Republic during their extended Winterim break from school. In their eight days there the girls gave 250 much-needed water filters to people in Palo Blanco. Wheaton Academy also conducted basketball, soccer and volleyball clinics.
  

   
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  Ten years later, what has changed? Jan 5, 2012 12:00 AM
  It’s a moment that is indelibly etched in Andy Nussbaum’s memory It may be what Candace Parker is most remembered for at Naperville Central, and that’s saying something. The dunk. Ten years ago last week, Dec. 27, 2001 at the Dundee-Crown Charger Classic, Parker made girls basketball history. With 1:04 left in the first quarter against Hononegah she picked up a loose ball near halfcourt, and with no opponent near her went in and threw down a one-handed dunk.
  

   

• With the holidays come basketball tournaments Dec 8, 2011 12:00 AM
  It’s that time of year again. For most of you out there, two weeks from Christmas and Hanukkah means last-minute shopping, putting up that tree and planning the holiday dinner. Me too. If you have any gift ideas for mom and wife, pass them along.
  

   
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  There’s more to Nussbaum than numbers Nov 24, 2011 12:00 AM
  Naperville Central's Andy Nussbaum recently earned his 500th victory as a girls basketball coach, to go along with the 500-plus he has as a softball coach. But despite his amazing recall of numbers, there's more to Nussbaum than stats.
  

   
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  Now Benet can call itself elite Nov 12, 2011 12:00 AM
  It doesn't take that first college-level trig class for Benet's kids to do the math. There is a triangle of excellence, expectations and high standards surrounding its 112-year-old doors. And oh yeah, this Benet volleyball team felt it.
  

   

• Memories of 2008 upset still driving Benet Nov 10, 2011 12:00 AM
  Jenna Jendryk's memories of three years ago have not faded. She comes face-to-face with them every day in practice. Every time the Benet senior walks into the gym she sees the enormous team photo of the 2008 volleyball state runners-up and her older sister Jessica hanging from the wall. It's a reminder of the fine line between champion and second place, the hurt of coming oh so close. “We are playing for that team,” Jendryk said. “Everybody you see in that poster, they worked so hard and came up short. Now we have a chance to be the team that gets it done.”
  

   

• Haggerty sisters big reason Benet intimidates foes Oct 27, 2011 12:00 AM
  Here's a couple concepts you probably don't see linked together in the same sentence: teenage high school girls, and intimidating. The description seems pretty appropriate when describing sisters Meghan and Maddie Haggerty of Benet's volleyball team, though.
  

   

• Luhrsen, Ward glad they came back home to Illinois Oct 13, 2011 12:00 AM
  The Luhrsen family legacy at the University of Illinois goes back two generations, when Paul wore No. 50 for the football Illini before a fella named Butkus. Now Paul's grand-daughter Annie is setting for Illinois' No. 1-ranked women's volleyball team.