Bemidji Boys’ Volleyball Begins 1st Season as MSHSL-Sanctioned Sport

After a successful first season as a club team in the spring of 2024, Bemidji boys’ volleyball is back, but this time as an officially sanctioned MSHSL sport.

It will be the first year the Minnesota State High School League recognizes boys’ volleyball as sport, complete with a single class state tournament at the conclusion of the regular season, and the Lumberjacks are glad to be a part of it.

“I’m really looking forward to it, it’s going to be super fun,” said senior captain Elijah Caron. “The club season wasn’t like a legit sport, but now it’s real. So, I’m really looking forward to the competition at state.”

“It’s great to have that thing to look forward to,” added senior captain Reed Johnson. “Obviously we made it to state last year, but this year it’s going to be like an actual state, like it’s official MSHSL and I think the section tournament’s going to be really fun. It’s probably the top section in the whole state, so it’s eight of the best teams.”

“So we’ll see how goes,” he laughed.

Bemidji was placed in Section 8 as they are in most other sports. The Jacks will play some familiar schools like St. Cloud Tech, St. Michael-Albertville, Rogers, and Elk River, while also competing against some that usually hail from other sections like Maple Grove, Osseo, and Champlin Park.

The boys have already started the season on a high note, winning their first match last Friday against Tech with a three-set sweep.

“I’m so glad we won. I mean, it was, it was a really, really cool experience for everybody that hadn’t played a game yet in real high school volleyball, and really kind of opened our eyes to what we need to work on and all that kind of stuff,” said Caron. “Really looking forward to just like, the competition, seeing what other teams got to offer and how well we’re going to perform.”

Johnson also talked about how having a year of playing together is helping this year’s squad. “Just that one year of experience, but it makes so much more difference. Like, you’re not starting from absolutely nothing, you’re going from, you kind of have a base built, and then you’re building on top of that. And people have done it before and you can tell.”

The Lumberjacks made the Minnesota Boys High School Volleyball Association’s state tournament last year as a club team. The eight-team tournament this Saturday is in St. Cloud with games starting at 9 a.m.