NIC-10 Newswire: Guilford close to first volleyball title since 2016

The Guilford Vikings are one win away from the school's first girls volleyball NIC-10 title since 2016.

The Vikings knocked off Hononegah Tuesday night, 27-25, 15-25, 25-19, in Rockton to improve to 16-1 in the conference and 22-9 overall. The Vikings still have to beat Harlem on Thursday night, but they've already at least clinched a share of the conference title.

It's a rare title for Guilford in general and for Rockford Public Schools in particular. Hononegah has dominated the conference for much of the past 30 years and Belvidere North over the past 15 years has risen to be the other major contender. Before 2016, the last time a Rockford Public Schools team had won the NIC-10 volleyball title was Guilford in 1996.

In fact, in 2016, Guilford shared the conference title with Belvidere North, which was that school's first NIC-10 title. Since then, either North or Hononegah has won every conference title from 2017 to 2024.

Hononegah dropped to 15-2 in the NIC-10 and 21-13 overall. Belvidere North is 13-4.

Going back to 1977, here are the conference girls volleyball champions

1977 - Freeport (1)
1978 - Belvidere (1)
1979 - Rockford East (1), Harlem (1)
1980 - Rockford East (2)
1981 - Belvidere (2)
1982 - Rockford East (3)
1983 - Hononegah (1)
1984 - Belvidere (3), Harlem (2)
1985 - Rockford East (4), Hononegah (2)
1986 - Belvidere (4), Hononegah (3)
1987 - Belvidere (5)
1988 - Hononegah (4)
1989 - Hononegah (5)
1990 - Hononegah (6)
1991 - Hononegah (7)
1992 - Belvidere (6), Hononegah (8)
1993 - Hononegah (9)
1994 - Hononegah (10)
1995 - Belvidere (7), Hononegah (11)
1996 - Rockford Guilford (1)
1997 - Hononegah (12)
1998 - Belvidere (8), Harlem (3)
1999 - Harlem (4)
2000 - Hononegah (13)
2001 - Hononegah (14)
2002 - Hononegah (15)
2003 - Belvidere (9)
2004 - Belvidere (10)
2005 - Hononegah (16)
2006 - Hononegah (17)
2007 - Hononegah (18)
2008 - Freeport (2)
2009 - Hononegah (19)
2010 - Rockford Boylan (1), Hononegah (20)
2011 - Rockford Boylan (2)
2012 - Rockford Boylan (3)
2013 - Rockford Boylan (4)
2014 - Hononegah (21)
2015 - Hononegah (22)
2016 - Belvidere North (1), Rockford Guilford (2)
2017 - Belvidere North (2)
2018 - Belvidere North (3)
2019 - Belvidere North (4)
2020 - Belvidere North (5)
2021 - Belvidere North (6)
2022 - Hononegah (23)
2023 - Belvidere North (7)
2024 - Hononegah (24)