There are 63 boys volleyball set to compete in the first year of the sport being sanctioned by the OSAA, 32 of those in 4A/3A/2A/1A and 31 in 6A/5A.
Of the 32 in 4A/3A/2A/1A, only seven are 1A schools, one of which is 4-0 Central Christian out of Redmond.
The Tigers have been involved in the sport the past few years though, and they are looking to make plenty of noise in 2026 despite being one of the smallest schools playing the sport.
Three years ago, Central Christian took second in the silver division of the growing club sport, followed by a fifth place finish in 2024 at the same level.
“We started out having great success,” Tigers fourth-year head coach Mike Polk said. “And as some of the boys say now, we’re a volleyball school with our success of our girls and boys.”
Back in the fall, the girls made the 1A state semifinals and finished in fifth place with an overall record of 25-7 and won the Mountain Valley League title.
Now in the spring, the Tigers are 4-0 with a couple wins over 5A-sized teams in Bend (3-0 on March 17) and Crook County (3-2 on March 31).
“Season is going great, we got off to a great start, playing Bend High was a good test for us,” Polk said. “We had a pretty good test with Western Christian over there and beat them in four. Then a rematch of last year’s (state play-in game) which we lost in five to Faith Bible, we beat them in three.”
Part of the success for the Tigers is senior Jase Johnson, who is listed as a setter but plays all over the court and is getting plenty of run at middle blocker this season.
Johnson didn’t play his freshman and sophomore years, but came to the sport last year and has been a natural on the hardwood.
“(Johnson) does a little of everything, he’s picked up the game really quickly and is currently playing middle,” Central Christian assistant coach Megan Terpstra said. “He is a pretty humble guy so he won’t brag about himself, but he was actually a representative for First Point Volleyball this past summer.”
Central Christian went 10-8 overall last season and did miss the state tournament, but Johnson said his focus has been on flushing the little mistakes and also watching the team improve on offense after a 2025 season spent focused on defense.
“It’s a mental game for sure, last year I kind of struggled with that. One small mistake I’d get in my head, but now I’ve learned how to overcome that and gotten way better at every aspect of the game,” Johnson said. “Last year we were solely focused on defense, and that has carried into this year so now we’re focusing on offense this year.”
Johnson, who played basketball all four years for the Tigers, is joined by one more senior on the 2026 squad in Jacon Contreras, listed as an outside hitter.
Three juniors are on the roster that include Ben Teixeira, Gavin Sharp and James Frame. Then the rest is filled with sophomores in Connor Zimmerman, Colby McCaw, Carter Edmonds and Rawley Tritto.
But the booming sport at Central Christian doesn’t end there as it also sponsors a JV team this year.
“We’re kind of an anomaly, we have 19 boys playing for us, which is amazing,” Polk said. “Next year, we’re already looking at seven or eight new freshmen coming in, we only lose two seniors. We could be at 25 guys and it’ll be amazing. … We only have a student body of 76 kids, it’s pretty cool to see, and the enthusiasm for it is just amazing.”
Terpstra also noted that last summer the school held a middle school boys volleyball camp with around 15 players, further proving how big of a hit the sport has been for the Central Oregon school.
And now that it’s booming, it’s about getting better for the Tigers where Polk has seen the crew talking better this year compared to last.
“Most of our improvements are coming in moving, communication,” Polk said of the biggest changes in 2026. “We struggle with that always, but we’re getting better at it, we worked on it all day. Just their overall team presence, we really want them to know their role on the team and that makes a huge difference.”
The Tigers play in the 4A/3A/2A/1A Special District 1 league which includes Molalla (4A), Portland Adventist (3A), Damascus Christian (1A), De La Salle North Catholic (3A), Estacada (4A) and The Dalles/Dufur (4A).
Polk said the team isn’t worried about the travel as the league is actually a little bit closer than the southern Oregon league they’ve been playing in the past few years.
And that first big league road trip comes at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 2 when the Tigers hit the road to play at Damascus Christian, who opened the season with a 3-0 win over The Dalles/Dufur on Tuesday.
With the self proclaimed title of being a volleyball school, the Tigers are ready to go prove it in 2026 and find their way back to the state tournament, which is slated for May 29-30 at West Salem High School this year.
“We lost the playoff game last year, so now it’s actually make it to state,” Johnson said of the team goals. “I think we’ll get there this year. We just really want to win and we want to win a lot.”
Defending champions represent in Texas
Two Oregon teams spent their spring break down in Austin, Texas to compete in the First Point Volleyball High School Invitational in Central Catholic and Summit.
First Point is a branch of the USA Volleyball Federation that is focused on growing boys and men’s volleyball in the U.S.
The Rams, who went 18-0 last year en route to the 6A state title last season, started with two pool-play losses to Sanger (CA) and Lindbergh (MO), placing them in the silver bracket.
From there, the Rams rattled off three consecutive wins over Regis Groff (CO), Carlmont (CA) and Arizona College Prep (AZ) to win the bracket and head home with a title.
Central Catholic followed the trip up with a 3-0 win over Parkrose, the runnerups in 5A last year, which was the league opener for 6A/5A Special District 1. The Rams hit the road to play 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Hood River Valley, another league opponent.
The rest of SD1 includes Reynolds, Gresham, La Salle Prep, Barlow and David Douglas.
As for Summit, it went 17-1 last season and finished it by hoisting the 5A state title. In Austin, the Storm were also placed into the silver bracket after pool play.
Summit won its first bracket match over Orem (UT) before falling in three sets to Arizona College Prep. It dropped the third place match to Carlmont in three sets as well.
Up next for the Storm is the South Salem Boys Volleyball Invite, taking place on April 11 at South Salem High School. After that the Storm will begin 6A/5A Special District 4 play against Crook County on April 14, a league that also includes North Medford, South Medford, Bend, Ashland and Grants Pass.
austinw@osaa.org
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