The BIC is the official AVCA newsletter for men and boys volleyball. If there is a specific topic or news you would like shared in a future issue, please contact Brad Wilson at bradley.wilson@avca.org.
AVCA Boys Volleyball Award Nominations
AVCA Boys High School All-American Nominations
Nominations for the 2024 AVCA Boys High School All-American, AVCA Best & Brightest Awards are now OPEN! Completed nominations are due by Tuesday, June 4. CLICK HERE to nominate.
AVCA Boys High School Coach of the Year Nominations
AVCA Boys High School Coach of the Year nominations are accepted now until Monday, June 10. CLICK HERE to nominate.
New College Volleyball Programs
Southern Baptist University (DII) Adds Men’s Volleyball
Southwest Baptist University will be adding three new NCAA Division II sports – men’s and women’s swimming and men’s volleyball – to its athletics department, beginning competition in the 2025-2026 academic year. Read the full press release.
Defiance College (NAIA) Adding Men’s Volleyball
Men’s volleyball will be introduced as the 18th varsity sport at Defiance College beginning in the 2025-26 academic year, the College’s athletic department announced on last week. Jeremy Thornburg, DC’s newly-minted women’s volleyball head coach, will lead the new men’s program as his role expands to Director of Volleyball. Read the full press release.
AVCA Coaches Polls
2024 USA Today/AVCA Super 25 and Regional Polls
The latest USA Today/AVCA Boys High School Super 25 and Regional Rankings are updated weekly and determined by AVCA member coaches. Regions are determined by the AVCA.
Steve Shondell Award (Best Passer) – Mason Briggs, Long Beach State
Erik Shoji Award (Best Libero) – Mason Briggs, Long Beach State
Lloy Ball Award (Best Setter) – Nic Slight, Grand Canyon
Karch Kiraly Award (Best Outside) – Hilir Henno, UC Irvine
Division II National Player of the Year – Raje Alleyne, Quincy
Nicolas Szerszen (Best Non-US Born) – Hilir Henno, UC Irvine
National Blocker of the Year – Simon Torwie, Long Beach State
The Lantern: A Look Into Jacob Pasteur’s Unorthodox Journey to the Pros
Many collegiate athletes learn their sport at a young age.
For Jacob Pasteur, however, the path to playing volleyball was unorthodox yet fruitful.
An open gym in eighth grade led the multitalented athlete to become one of Ohio State’s top men’s volleyball players. Now, Pasteur has the chance to qualify as a United States Olympic athlete. Read more at The Lantern.
Did we miss one? Contact bradley.wilson@avca.org and let us know. Programs are also visible on the AVCA’s map:
Boys Volleyball News
MHSAA Approves Boys Volleyball as Fully Recognized Sport
The Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association took several actions during its Spring Meeting, May 5-6 in Gaylord, including approving the addition of boys volleyball and girls field hockey to the lineup of MHSAA-sponsored tournament sports beginning in 2025-26. Read the full press release.
Loyola Defeats Mira Costa to Win 13th Southern Section Title
Moments after watching the ball bounce wide of the sideline on match point, Loyola senior Sean Kelly embraced his teammates pouring off the bench and pointed to the faithful fans who made the journey to Cerritos College on Saturday night to watch the Cubs make history.
Kelly showed why he is the top high school volleyball recruit in America with a breathtaking display of hitting and serving that powered Loyola to a 25-21, 25-22, 25-21 victory over Mira Costa in the Southern Section Division 1 final. Read the full article from the LA Times.
2024 CIF Boys Volleyball Championships
California boys volleyball teams competed in the 2024 Regional Volleyball Championships May 14-18. Congratulations to the Regional Champions!
NorCal Champions:
DI – Valley Christian
DII – Rio Americano
DIII – Leigh
DIV – Bellarmine College Prep
SoCal Champions:
DI – Loyola
DII – Redondo Union
DIII – La Costa Canyon
DIV – Arroyo Grande
Brophy College Prep Wins Arizona 6A State Championship
The Brophy volleyball team won the 2024 AIA 6A Conference State Championship with a 3-1 win over top seed and MaxPreps No. 22 Sandra Day O’Connor at Skyline High School. The match scores were 25-22, 24-26, 25-22 and 25-23. Read more here.
AZ College Prep Defeated NW Christian for First 4A Title
Arizona College Prep, playing in its first-ever boys volleyball championship match and having beaten Northwest Christian in the Defend the Kingdom Invitational earlier this season, showed off its talent in a 3-2 (25-20, 26-24, 15-25, 20-25, 15-13) win Saturday afternoon at Skyline High School for the 4A title. Read the full article from AZPreps365.com.
Mountain Vista Wins First State Championship in School History
On the final day of the 2024 Colorado High School Activities Association Boys Volleyball State Championships, Mountain Vista High School and Fountain-Fort Carson High School saw each other twice, with Mountain Vista winning each time. In the second match – the state title match – the Golden Eagles won 3-1 (25-21, 25-23, 26-28, 30-28), weathering the comeback efforts after taking a 2-0 lead to begin the final match of the season. Read more from the CHSAA.
Kamehameha Dethrone 10-Time Hawaii State Champ Punahou
A few days after Kamehameha’s gut-wrenching reverse sweep loss to Punahou in the state’s 2023 boys volleyball championship match, Warriors players held a team meeting
“I said, ‘We will be back in this game and we will win this game,'” Kainoa Wade recalled.
The star opposite was true to his word as the Warriors powered through at every instance they before faltered to defeat their ILH rival, the 10-time defending champion Buffanblu, 25-27, 25-23, 25-17, 25-21 at the Blaisdell Arena on Saturday night. Read more from Spectrum Local News.
Roncalli Wins Final IBVCAVB Championship
Roncalli High School won the Indiana Boys Volleyball Coaches Association State Championship held Saturday, May 25, at Hinkle Fieldhouse. It took 32 years, but boys volleyball will become an official IHSAA sanctioned sport next spring.
Winter Park Wins FHSAA Title and Completes 31-0 Perfect Record
In one of the greatest finals in state history, Winter Park dramatically held off defending state champions Miami Southwest in five sets to win the FHSAA boys volleyball state championship on Saturday at Polk State College. Read more here.
St. Xavier Wins OHSAA Division I Title
St. Xavier’s volleyball team clinched the Division I state championship Sunday. The Bombers defeated Cleveland St. Ignatius in three sets (25-10, 25-21, 25-22) at Wittenburg University. This is the Bombers fourth state title in program history, having previously won in 2003, 2006 and 2019. Read more here.
McNicholas is the OHSAA Division II Champions
The McNicholas High School boys volleyball team is a state champion. The Rockets defeated Columbus St. Charles 21-25, 25-16, 23-25, 25-15, 15-11 in the Division II state final Sunday afternoon at Wittenberg University. This is the Rockets’ first state championship in program history, according to McNicholas athletic director Drew Schmidt. Read more here.
Utah: Pleasant Grove Gets First 6A Crown Over Lone Peak
Heading into the 6A boys’ volleyball state tournament, the Pleasant Grove Vikings had an unfortunate reputation of their defense.
They spent their tournament proving that reputation wrong. The Vikings got win after win and ended their season with a 25-22, 23-25, 25-18, 25-15 win over Lone Peak to take the first-ever 6A state championship. Read more from Desert News.
Salesianum Wins 1st Delaware Boys State Title
The Salesianum Sals boys volleyball defeated Wilmington Charter in three straight sets to win their first ever DIAA boys volleyball state championship. The Sals lost last season to Cape Henlopen in the inaugural season for the boys volleyball, but would not be denied this season. Read more here.
Palo Verde Sweeps Coronado for 5A Title in Nevada
Palo Verde boys volleyball Phil Clarke admitted he was biased in his belief that the Panthers deserved to win the Class 5A state championship.
Congratulations to St. Xavier High School on winning the 2024 KVCA Boys State Tournament! The Tigers took down the Bulldogs from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in a 3-0 sweep. It is the 3rd KVCA Title in-a-row for St. Xavier and the final one before the KHSAA hosts the championship beginning next year.
The 1st ever Missouri State High School Athletic Association (MSHSAA) Boys Volleyball Championships were held at Maryville University. Congratulations to LafayetteHigh School coached by Whitney Ralph on winning the State Finals held May 22.
Georgia Boys Volleyball State Champions
Congratulations to the below 2024 Georgia Boys Volleyball High School State Champions!!
Allatoona (A Division) – Coach Amy Roper
South Gwinnett (B Division) – Coach Morgan Billinger
Boys volleyball is a sanctioned high-school sport in 36 states, but not Georgia. There are 38 club high school teams across Georgia, and while the number is growing, some don’t think it’s growing quickly enough. Read more.
IHSA Hosting State Tournament this Weekend
The Illinois Volleyball State Tournament is underway with the State Finals this weekend, May 31 – June 1, at Hoffman Estates. Check out the full tournament results.
Star Tribune: Meet Jenny Kilkelly and Krista Flemming, the Women Behind Minnesota Boys High School Volleyball
The Minneapolis Star Tribune recently profiled Jenny Kilkelly and Krista Flemming and the growth of boys high school volleyball in the state.
Kilkelly and Flemming are both businesswomen, Kilkelly a vice president at a real estate brokerage firm, Flemming an entrepreneur and property owner in the southwest metro. Kilkelly’s business acumen provided foresight and technical know-how while Flemming brought coaching insight and a can-do attitude.
They tapped those attributes in developing the club league, doing everything from assisting schools in forming teams and scheduling officials to creating a schedule that assured teams of 12 to 14 regular-season games. Read the full article here.
High School Contacts for Each State
First Point Volleyball Foundation recently published an extremely helpful database that shows the most important leadership members in that state’s high school sports legislature and the person(s) most involved with growing boys volleyball. The list proudly features contacts from all 50 states.
Andy Benesh, Miles Partain Climp Atop US Men’s Beach Rankings
This week, Andy Benesh and Miles Partain mathematically clinched the first U.S. men’s volleyball spot in the Paris Olympics. They’re ranked fourth in the world.
Benesh, 29, and Partain, 22, will be the youngest U.S. men’s beach team in Olympic history (the sport debuted in 1996).
Partain will be the single youngest U.S. beach player in Olympic history, supplanting three-time gold medalist Misty May-Treanor, according to the OlyMADMen. Read more here.
Chase Budinger, Miles Evans Nearly Lock Up Paris Berth
Budinger and Evans now lead Crabb and Brunner by 540 points with just two tournaments remaining: A Challenge in Stare Jablonki, Poland, and an Elite16 in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Even if Budinger and Evans don’t add a single point to their total, Crabb and Brunner still need to win gold in Poland, and then come out of the qualifier in Ostrava and finish fifth or better. Read more here.
AVCA Men’s Volleyball Alliance
To join the Men’s Collegiate Beach Volleyball Alliance an active member coach of the AVCA must complete the registration information. The nominating coach serves as the official representative for all men’s collegiate beach activities at the college.
If you are interested in starting men’s collegiate beach volleyball at your college and need support please email Becca Just. We are happy to help!
USA Volleyball
US Mens Olympic Roster Announced
USA Volleyball announced the athletes and staff who will comprise the U.S. Men’s Volleyball Team for the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The athlete roster includes nine players with Olympic experience and three newcomers who will compete at the Paris Games, which run July 26-August 11. See the full roster here.
US Men Win First Win of 2024 VNL
he U.S. Men’s National Team’s first win of the tournament came against Türkiye 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 27-25, 25-21) in the week one finale of Volleyball Nations League preliminary play on Sunday in Antalya, Türkiye. The U.S. Men finish week one with a 1-3 record. Week two of VNL will begin June 4 in Ottawa, Canada. Read more here.
US Boys U 19 Take Gold at 2024 NORCECA Championship
The U.S. Boys U19 National Team defeated Cuba 3-1 (25-19, 25-19, 20-25, 25-18) to capture the gold medal at the 2024 NORCECA Continental Championship on Sunday in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The victory gives the U.S. squad a berth in the 2025 FIVB World Championship.
The U.S. finished the championship 5-0 with a 15-1 record in sets. The win over Cuba was its second in three matches after a 3-0 win in the final match of pool play. Read more here.
AVCA Updates
AVCA Team Academic Nominations Now Accepted
Nominations for the 2024 AVCA Team Academic Award open now being accepted! High school and collegiate teams will qualify if they were able to average a 3.30 GPA on 4.0 scale or better for the entire 2023-2024 academic year. Girls/Women, Boys/Men, and Beach teams are all eligible! The link to nominate is featured here.
Professional Volleyball
River City Flow Wins 2024 VLA Cup
The River City Flow won the 2024 VLA Cup in Madison, Wisconsin on May 19. They took down the Chicago Icemen 3-2 in the final. See the full results here.
2024 VLA Championships: June 8-9 in Hamilton, Ohio
In planning to start a Men’s Volleyball program in 2024-25, Oakland City University already has hired its first Men’s Volleyball Head Coach. He is Ben Twigger, former playing standout and then a successful head coach at his alma mater, St. Andrews University in Laurinburg, North Carolina.
The Rockford University athletic department is excited to announce the hiring of Noah Salazar as its next head men’s volleyball coach. Coach Salazar joins the Regents after having both played at coached volleyball at the NCAA Division III level. He becomes the third head men’s volleyball coach in program history.
Joshua Nehls, the new head coach of the Long Beach City College men’s volleyball team, carries a wealth of experience and a proven track record of success both as a player and a coach.
OUAZ Director of Athletics Kevin Steele is proud to announce Wellington Afusia as the Head Coach for the Men’s Volleyball team. This appointment will be effective immediately.
The Geneva College Athletic Department announced the hiring of Alexis Ritson as the new head men’s volleyball coach on Friday. Ritson is a very familiar person to the athletic department and the men’s program, after serving as the interim associate head men’s volleyball coach this past season.
