It’s the first year for boys high school volleyball in Missouri. How are local teams doing?

By Brad Ziegler

After several decades of campaigning by high schools around the state, the Missouri State High School Activities Association has approved the addition of boys volleyball to the list of high school sports that are part of the MSHSAA.  The sport had been organized as a club sport under the auspices of Missouri High School Volleyball Coaches Association and was offered by more than 40 schools in the state, mostly in and around St. Louis.  With the addition of 19 Kansas City area schools in 2023, the sport met the 50-school threshold to be brought under the MSHSAA umbrella and was approved to begin play this Spring.

Belton, Ruskin and Rockhurst are part of the initial group of area schools to field a boys team in 2024 and will compete in District 7, along with Paseo, St. Michael the Archangel, Grain Valley and the three Lee’s Summit high schools.  Ten other area schools will participate in District 8, with Districts 1-6 comprised almost entirely of St. Louis area schools.

Several of the schools participating in the new MSHSAA boys volleyball organization had competed through their school club teams under the KC High School Volleyball Coaches Association in the past.  That organization, whose stated long term goal was to get boys volleyball recognized and included as a sanctioned sport by the MSHSAA and its Kansas counterpart, the Kansas State High School Activities Association, still operates and now includes mostly Kansas schools that do not yet have the opportunity to play under the KSHSA umbrella.

The 2024 season kicked off in early April and Rockhurst hosted an invitational tournament that included eight area teams.  Rockhurst won five straight matches on their way to the tournament title and have a 7-0 record for the season.  They began the season with 33 players.

Belton opened their first season with 30 volleyball team members and is currently 0-2 after matches against North Kansas City and Lee’s Summit.  Ruskin also stands 0-2 after its first week of the season, falling to Lee’s Summit North and Oak Park. They started their first season with eleven players on their roster.

District playoffs begin in early May and will be hosted locally by Lee’s Summit West and Staley high schools.