Why high school boys volleyball is ‘here to stay’ across Indiana

By ANDREW CHERNOFF

WISH-TV | wishtv.com

It’s a new era for boys volleyball in the state of Indiana.

“When I was younger, it had to be the coaches going out in the cafeteria, asking kids, ‘You want to play volleyball?’ Roncalli senior defensive specialist Aiden Hill said.

That has now changed.

“Boys want to play now,” Hill said.

High school boys volleyball may have been around for a while, but this is the first year it has been recognized as an official IHSAA sport.

“I got started really young,” Roncalli senior setter Matthew Dial said. “So it was really like one or two club teams from your state. Really wasn’t that big. And now it’s everybody wants to play. Everybody wants to get involved. So it’s just really cool to see.”

The IHSAA added boys volleyball to its emerging sports process back in 2022. It was approved in April 2024 for full recognition as an official IHSAA sport beginning in the 2024-25 season.

“Looking back on people that have played in the past, getting to talk to them again, it’s just cool to see where this sport has come,” Fishers senior libero Ian Pifer said.

Some of the changes with being an IHSAA emerging sport and an IHSAA official sport is that the sport is subject to IHSAA rules.

“There’s definitely added bonuses with us being a (IHSAA) sport now,” Pifer said.

As of mid-April, over 130 teams are scheduled to take part in this year’s IHSAA State Volleyball Tournament.

“Hopefully we’ll get to a level of basketball where every high school has a team,” Fishers boys volleyball head coach Carlos Capo said. “You already have girls volleyball. We use the same equipment. It’s the same court. All you need is a little uniform and off you go.”

Communities are showing up to support their local high school boys volleyball teams as well.

If your community does not have a team yet, it may get one sooner rather than later.

“Every day it seems like we have a call from a new team or a new school that’s interested in getting into boys volleyball,” IHSAA Commissioner Paul Neidig said. “It’s going to be a sport that’s here to stay and we’re going to continue to see growth on an annual basis.”

With the numbers in boys volleyball teams continuing to increase, Roncalli head coach Nick Jennings believes classes could very well be one of the next steps for the sport in the future.

“Hopefully we can eventually get to some classes,” Jennings said. “So that way you want those new programs that are still kind of starting out to have a chance to go far in the postseason and experience some of that.”

Of course, with this being the first year that boys volleyball is an official IHSAA sport, there is extra motivation for teams to win the first-ever IHSAA boys volleyball championship.

“I think for sure that’s a big thing,” Fishers junior middle blocker Ethan Luenemann said. “A lot of it is bragging rights.”

The IHSAA Boys Volleyball State Tournament will begin in mid-May. The state championship is scheduled for May 31 at a site to be announced.

This story originally appeared on WISH-TV at wishtv.com/sports/high-school-the-zone/indiana-boys-volleyball-new-era/