FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WFFT) – When high school boys volleyball first arrived in Indiana around 30 years ago, Fort Wayne area schools enjoyed a few early years of success. Huntington North defeated Concordia Lutheran for the inaugural state championship in the 1994 Indiana Boys Volleyball Coaches Association (I.B.V.C.A.) tournament. Snider and Carroll both claimed state titles in the years that followed.

But by the turn of the 21st century, other parts of the state had caught up and even surpassed the programs from Northeast Indiana. The Indianapolis metropolitan area emerged as the state’s dominant volleyball region, with the area’s success continuing to this day. Northwest Indiana has also seen a few state champions over the years, but Northeast Indiana largely faded into obscurity and many local programs discontinued boys volleyball by the end of the 2000’s.

By 2010, the IBVCA had 25 members with Columbia City as the sole representative from Northeast Indiana. The association grew slowly over the next decade, boasting 35 members by 2021. Despite the growth, very few Northeast Indiana schools had a team in competition.

Then, the sport saw a great boom.

THE REBIRTH OF FORT WAYNE BOYS VOLLEYBALL

From 2021 to 2023, IBVCA membership doubled to 70 teams. The IHSAA identified boys volleyball as an emerging sport, and many local schools saw this as an opportunity to create or re-establish a program.

One of those schools was Homestead. The Spartans had interest from a few dozen students right from the start, but few of those athletes brought much volleyball experience. Homestead head coach Jacob Allred explains that the Spartans “had to teach from ground one. We had really athletic guys, but they didn’t know any of the volleyball stuff in the beginning.”

As a result, Homestead found themselves recruiting athletes who were veterans in other sports. The Carroll Chargers had a similar experience, with head coach Dawn Potter noting the majority of her senior class were originally soccer players. One of those players, senior libero Isaiah Trulock, says that soccer is “the ultimate team sport,” and his experience has allowed him to excel in another sport that also involves plenty of teamwork and communication. Coach Potter says that her squad has done a great job of supporting each other, pushing each other, and “build(ing) people up when they’re struggling.”

Homestead and Carroll are two examples of local schools who have taken inexperienced athletes and quickly developed them into skilled players. Not only are these players able to compete on the state level, but they are also recruiting new members and coaching younger players. Allred says that “it’s almost like I have 8 different coaches” on his Homestead squad, doting on his senior’s effort to grow the program.

NOT JUST A GIRLS SPORT

From 2023 to 2025, boys volleyball participation doubled yet again.

The state of Indiana now has 137 boys volleyball teams in competition, and the vast majority of these schools participated in this season’s inaugural IHSAA boys volleyball state championship tournament.

The recent growth of the sport both locally and statewide is helping battle the stigma of volleyball being a sport primarily for girls. Huntington University men’s volleyball head coach Scott Vanover says the sport is “not as easy as it looks,” and says that his guys often get hooked after they first get their feet wet.

Vanover says that “once people get out there – once they are brave enough – they’re just like, “yes! Absolutely, yes.” and then, they want to get good!”

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

For schools like Carroll and Homestead, next year’s senior class will come in with four years of competition under their belt.

This will make them the most experienced class yet, but some programs are concerned that they may hit a plateau without the development of younger players. “We need to get more with the middle school, and try to get them involved too,” Carroll’s Coach Potter explains.

Some local schools are already eyeing this, including Maple Creek Middle School assistant principal Scott Bushong. After holding a middle school camp last year, Bushong says he hopes to offer a similar opportunity this year. “The population that is most ripe for being volleyball players are guys who, maybe basketball has been their sport all up through and then they reach a point where they’re like, ‘I’m kind of done playing basketball’,” Bushong explains.“I know there’s a couple kids walking the halls, a couple 8th grade boys who have been to some of the high school games, and I’ll talk to them about it like, ‘hey, you ever thought about that?’ Just planting that seed.”

Early Saturday, Lyons Township girls water polo coach Megan Jacobs promised her players she would take a celebratory postgame jump into the pool if the Lions simply reached the state championship match. That night, Jacobs and her assistants took the plunge after the Lions nearly pulled off their greatest upset in program history.

As huge underdogs, the Lions lost to undefeated, No. 1-ranked and two-time defending champion Stevenson 6-5 for the title at the Patriots’ home pool in Lincolnshire after leading 4-2 entering the fourth quarter.

It’s the second-highest finish for the Lions (24-5-1), the 2010 state champions who also finished third last season and in 2022 and fourth in 2015.

Two York-Adams League teams will hit the road Thursday in search of District 3 boys’ volleyball championships.

Langley swimmers Joshua Coxford, Nash Porter and Pavle Aleksandar Mladenovic made history as part of Water Polo Canada’s first gold-medal-winning men’s U17 national team at the PanAm Aquatics Championships held May 13-25 in Medellin, Colombia.

In the final, Canada defeated Brazil 11-10, led  by Coxford  and Ivan Khramtsov from Mississauga, who both scored three goals each, while Langley’s Porter was named Most Valuable Player for this game. 

It wass the first ever championship title at this event for Canadian men of that age group. Previous best performances were third place finishes at the 2013, 2015 and 2017 editions. 

Canada started their round robin tournament with a 32-4 win against Venezuela, followed by a loss against Brazil (11-6). They then won their five following games, ending the round robin with victories of 20-7 against Chile and 22-3 against Costa Rica. In quarterfinals, Canada won 23-4 against Argentina and then, in semifinals, they beat USA by a score of 17-11.  

Water Polo Canada’s Men’s U17 National Team Head Coach Andras Szeri said the team “went through a very positive transformation from the first day of the Sao Paulo camp to the last day of the competition in Columbia.”

“In the two weeks leading up to the gold medal game, we played three times against Brazil, and we lost every single game by three to five goals. Winning the gold medal game against Brazil took everything we had, and the team rose to the occasion. We had both excellent individual performances and some very inspiring teamwork. Although we were not the favourites going into the tournament, we proved that we deserved this trophy.”

Water Polo Canada’s women’s U17 national team took silver, making it the Canadian delegation’s best-ever overall finish at the event in those age groups.