Roncalli Swept Cathedral 25-14, 25-22, 25-23. Indiana Had Never Crowned a Boys Volleyball Champion.

Indiana spent 31 years running boys volleyball outside the state association. On May 31, 2025, that ended in a public box score. The IHSAA recap says Roncalli, 30-3, swept Indianapolis Cathedral, 31-6, by 25-14, 25-22, and 25-23 at Purdue’s Mackey Arena. It was the first IHSAA boys volleyball state title.

The path to that sweep is in the same writeup. Roncalli opened the season 3-3, then won 27 in a row and dropped only six sets in that stretch. Fishers was the only Indiana team to beat them in the regular season. In the semifinal, Fishers led 14-12 in the fifth set. Roncalli scored the next four points and won 16-14, taking the match 3-2 (22-25, 25-14, 25-21, 17-25, 16-14). The IHSAA bracket lists Roncalli at 29-3 with that semifinal and 30-3 after the championship.

The final had a box score, not a vibe. Eli Berger finished with 13 kills and closed the third set with back-to-back kills after Cathedral had led 23-22. Matthew Dial had 38 assists, a night after 53 in the semifinal. Xavier Lawrie had 12 kills. For Cathedral, Jaden Greenwell had 12 kills and Owen Peterson had 10. Nick Whitley had 33 assists and 12 digs. A Indianapolis volleyball rec night does not need Mackey Arena. It does need a court number that specific.

Who won Indiana’s first IHSAA boys volleyball title?

Roncalli. The Royals swept Cathedral in the inaugural final on May 31, 2025, and finished 30-3.

Boys volleyball had run in Indiana since 1994 under the Indiana Boys Volleyball Coaches Association. The IHSAA sanctioned it for the 2025 season. Roncalli had won the previous three IBVCA titles and had played in six straight championship matches, winning four. Coach Nick Jennings told the IHSAA the talent across the state was better and the pressure was higher, because every program wanted to be the first name in the IHSAA record book. That is a different event from a coaches-association invitational. The bracket, the site, and the set scores are on the association site.

Dial later received the first Mental Attitude Award in the sport. The IHSAA listed a school-record 1,052 assists in a season, 63 in a match, and 19 in a set. The award is a scholarship note. The useful part for a league director is simpler: the championship match had a published setter line, a published hitter line, and a published site. Rec parents can find that final in one search. They should be able to find Tuesday’s court the same way.

What happened in the semifinal before that sweep?

Roncalli beat Fishers in five sets. Fishers was the only Indiana team to beat Roncalli before the tournament.

The IHSAA bracket records the semifinal as 22-25, 25-14, 25-21, 17-25, 16-14, and lists Roncalli at 29-3 and Fishers at 31-5 with that result. Cathedral’s other semifinal was a sweep of Lake Central, 25-11, 25-10, 25-15. Lake Central was 30-7. Two 30-win teams were out before the trophy match. A rec director who thinks a boys night is “a few kids in the gym” is looking at a different sport than the one that filled Mackey Arena.

• Final: Roncalli 3, Cathedral 0 (25-14, 25-22, 25-23). Records: 30-3 and 31-6.
• Semifinal: Roncalli 3, Fishers 2 (22-25, 25-14, 25-21, 17-25, 16-14).
• Semifinal: Cathedral 3, Lake Central 0 (25-11, 25-10, 25-15).
• Site of the final: Mackey Arena, West Lafayette, May 31, 2025.

How many boys play high school volleyball now?

95,972 in 2024-25, according to the NFHS. That is up from 66,487 three years earlier. The sport is No. 11, and 25 state associations run a boys championship.

NFHS chief executive Karissa Niehoff wrote that up on August 22, 2025, in the association’s note on the 2024-25 participation survey. Girls volleyball remains far larger. The same survey cycle, published September 9, 2025, put girls volleyball at 492,799, second among girls sports. Boys volleyball is the sport moving toward the top 10. Girls volleyball is the sport already occupying the gym. A rec calendar that offers one “volleyball” block is describing neither roster.

The Aspen Institute’s State of Play 2025, using that NFHS count, put boys volleyball at 95,972 roster spots in 4,303 schools, a 51 percent rise over six years and a 13 percent rise in 2024-25. Nine states added varsity boys volleyball in that six-year window: Oregon, Kentucky, Indiana, Utah, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, South Carolina, and Missouri. Indiana’s first IHSAA final is one line in that list. It is also a finished match with a score.

What did Ohio’s championship weekend look like the same spring?

Two titles on the same Saturday. St. Ignatius won Division I in five sets. Archbishop McNicholas swept Division II.

The OHSAA tournament page lists both finals for May 31, 2025, at Pam Evans Smith Arena at Wittenberg University in Springfield. Cleveland St. Ignatius (25-3) defeated Thomas Worthington (22-5), 25-17, 25-23, 17-25, 20-25, 16-14. Cincinnati Archbishop McNicholas (27-1) defeated Mount Vernon (17-11), 25-21, 25-4, 25-17. Worthington was in its first OHSAA tournament. Mount Vernon was in its first. Indiana and Ohio both put a first-time finalist on the floor the same day.

That is the local pattern a Columbus volleyball or Cincinnati volleyball director can show a parent. The state already publishes division, record, site, and set scores. A rec match can publish age group, court, and start. Cleveland volleyball families who watched St. Ignatius go five sets will notice if the rec schedule only says “gym.”

Why does a first state title matter to a rec gym?

Sanctioning puts the sport on a public bracket. Families will ask the rec league for a court and a start time that match that clarity.

Before 2025, Indiana’s title lived with a coaches association. After May 31, it lives where football and basketball titles live. Club and rec programs feed that pipeline. If Indianapolis volleyball still posts one door for every team in the building, the family that just watched a state final will treat the rec night as the disorganized one. The shared-gym problem is the same problem with a score attached. Name the court. Name which group has it from 6:00 to 7:15. Put it in the league dashboard before the coach texts a correction from the parking lot.

How should a shared gym publish boys and girls volleyball?

As two assignments. Each one gets a court, a start, an end, and a roster. A building name is the address, not the schedule.

Girls volleyball at 492,799 participants is why the prime courts are already taken. Boys volleyball at 95,972 is why a second night, or a second court, is showing up on permits. Chicago volleyball and Houston volleyball gyms already run this overlap. Los Angeles volleyball does too. If the boys team inherits “court 2 after the girls match,” write that as a time. “After” is how a 7:00 start becomes 7:40 and the custodian hits the lights. Coaches Pick keeps both lines on one schedule. Pricing stays free for league owners.

Which cities should treat this as a scheduling problem?

Any city adding a boys night inside a gym that already hosts girls. Indianapolis is the finished example. The others are the same floor plan.

Project Play’s list of new varsity states is a map of upcoming rec demand: Kentucky, Utah, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, South Carolina, and Missouri, plus Indiana and Oregon. A Louisville volleyball program, a Denver volleyball program, and a Minneapolis volleyball program are in that set. So are Atlanta volleyball families who travel to play, and Phoenix volleyball clubs that already share a rec center with adult open gym. The state final does not reserve your Tuesday. Your permit does. Publish the permit.

The Florida flag count was a different sport with the same lesson: a public bracket is more specific than a rec flyer. Roncalli’s flyer, if it were only a flyer, would have said “state finals, West Lafayette.” The result people remember is 25-14, 25-22, 25-23. Specificity is the product.

What should a director check before adding a boys volleyball night?

A court, a clock, and a roster that are separate from the girls match already in the building.

• The boys night has its own start and end, not “after the girls game.”
• The court number is the one a first-time family can find from the lobby.
• The roster is the players who registered, not a head count borrowed from a state-final article.
• Girls and boys assignments are both visible on the same schedule.
• A family with one child in each gym can tell the two doors apart.
• If you cite demand, cite the source: IHSAA for the Indiana final, NFHS for the 95,972.

Roncalli did not win the first IHSAA trophy on a gym name and a group text. The association posted the sets. A rec league can be smaller than Mackey Arena and still post the court. Brands that want to be on that night can sponsor a game. Directors can request a demo. Coaches Pick stays free for league owners.