Indiana volleyball doesn’t rebuild in the offseason. It reloads, and this year’s crop of contenders proves it. Four different classifications produced a defending state champion capable of cracking a statewide top 15, and three of them are moving up a class to do it. That alone should tell you what kind of season is coming.
This is Indiana Preps’ first cross-classification power ranking of the fall, built off returning production, last season’s finish, and how much of each roster actually walked back into the gym this preseason. It is not a prediction of who wins in November. It’s a marker for Week 0 — and if the opening weekend slate in Class 4A is any indication, this list won’t survive September intact.
Here’s how the state shakes out, from 15 to 1.
15. Chesterton (4A) — 30-4, sectional champion. Losing a standout attacker usually costs a program a season. Chesterton just plugged in Luca Bombacino, who matched her predecessor’s production stride for stride. Add a 6-1 middle already producing triple-digit blocks and a schedule that includes two dates with Crown Point and a late-September trip to Fort Wayne Carroll’s building, and this is a team that will be tested and ready by the time sectionals arrive.
14. Rossville (1A) — 31-4, semistate runner-up. The number that jumps off this roster isn’t a kill total. It’s Tori Fadness more than doubling her assist output from the year before. Setters who make that kind of leap tend to keep climbing, and a libero who racked up 362 digs as a freshman gives Rossville a defensive floor most 1A programs would kill for.
13. Castle (4A) — 31-4, regional champion. Young, but not unproven. Paige Furbee hit .303 as a senior pin, and a setter already sitting on 957 assists doesn’t need to relearn the offense. The defense is reloading, but the pieces to replace it are already on the roster.
12. West Noble (3A) — 29-3, one of the best records in the state and one of the least talked-about. Elyse Mead’s sophomore season — 530 kills at a .314 clip — puts her in the conversation with any outside hitter in 3A, and both setters who fed her are back.
11. Crown Point (4A) — 31-4, regional champion. New coach, and the most graduation turnover of anyone in this top 15 — 571 kills walked out the door. But six players with real varsity production return, including a pair of blockers at 6-2 and 6-4 who give Crown Point size most 4A programs can’t match at the net.
10. Benton Central (2A) — 27-6, state runner-up. Losing an outside hitter and a libero off a runner-up team should sting more than this. It doesn’t, because the returning attack still hit north of .320 as a group, and Madison Minniear sliding back to cover libero duties keeps the back row from missing a beat.
9. Southwood (2A) — 30-4, regional champion. Kentucky commit Shania Rhamy is the best individual player in this classification, full stop — 436 kills at a .385 clip as a junior. What makes Southwood dangerous isn’t just Rhamy. It’s that Adi Deaton, Presley Kroft and Hali Pershing all return around her, so this isn’t a one-player show.
8. Faith Christian (playing up to 2A) — 31-5, 1A state runner-up. Taylor Hill’s stat line — kills, aces, digs and blocks all in double figures or better — makes her one of the most complete players at any level in this ranking. A full supporting cast around her means Faith Christian isn’t just moving up a class. It’s built to win it.
7. Yorktown (4A) — 26-8, semistate runner-up. Louisville commit Chloe Ritchie is the engine of a defense-first group that is scrappy enough to be the best team in the state at some point this season, regardless of class. Don’t be surprised if this is the team people are talking about in October.
6. Trinity Lutheran (playing up to 2A) — 23-11, back-to-back 1A state champion. A four-player core — Bonde, Price, Wehmiller, Meyer — that would be dangerous in any classification, paired with a schedule that already includes Center Grove, Franklin, Providence and Floyd Central. This program isn’t playing up to survive. It’s playing up because it’s ready.
5. Barr-Reeve (playing up to 3A) — 33-5, defending 2A state champion. Losing two outsides who each cleared 1,000 digs would break most programs. Barr-Reeve replaces that production with a senior setter carrying 2,000-plus career assists and a do-everything junior in Joslyn Knepp who filled up the stat sheet at four different positions last season. Playing up a class isn’t a concern here. It’s the next step.
4. Roncalli (moving up to 4A) — 33-5, two-time defending 3A state champion. The jump to 4A is the only reason this program isn’t higher. Norah Bell and Ella Stone are the kind of foundational pieces most programs spend years trying to develop, and Roncalli’s coaching staff has already proven it can build a champion around less.
3. Plainfield (4A) — 29-6, state runner-up. The Quakers lost exactly one meaningful player — their libero — off a team that reached Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Everyone else is back, and the season opens with a statement match against the defending state champion. If Plainfield wins that one, this ranking gets rewritten fast.
2. Westfield (4A) — 26-2, regional champion. The Rocks lose their leading attacker and barely blink. A Louisville-bound middle, both setters and the libero are all back, which means the two positions that decide close matches — setter and defense — are set before the first serve of the season.
1. Fort Wayne Carroll (4A) — 37-0, defending state champion. An undefeated season doesn’t survive the calendar, but the roster mostly does. Carroll graduated four key starters and still returns five Division I commits, headlined by Texas-bound Cala Haffner. The margin between Carroll and everyone else in this state isn’t close, and until someone proves otherwise, this remains their class to lose.
Five programs sitting just outside the top 15 that deserve a real look before the season starts:
Tri-West (3A) — 24-13, semistate runner-up. Losing a setter usually knocks a team down a tier, but Caroline Ward is one of the best attackers in the state at any level, and libero Finley Dakin gives this roster a defensive anchor most 3A programs don’t have. If the new setter finds a rhythm early, Tri-West pushes into the 15.
Brownstown Central (3A) — 29-6, regional champion. Three key seniors are gone, but Claire Brock (a Hanover College commit) and Aylah Belding, the team’s leading returning kills producer and its ace leader, give coach Jennifer Shade enough to maintain the standard she’s built. This is a program that’s earned the benefit of the doubt.
South Newton (1A) — 22-11, regional champion. Jada Cripe is an all-state honoree who hit .292 as a sophomore, and Lindsay Lowe enters her senior year on pace to clear 3,000 career assists. A libero closing in on 1,000 career digs rounds out a roster with three separate milestone chases running through the fall — that’s a built-in storyline as much as a ranking case.
Mishawaka Marian (3A) — 24-12, regional champion. First regional title since 2017, and the engine behind it, Elle Boser, is back after a 450-kill, .367-hitting junior season. A new setter is the only real question mark here.
Triton Central (2A) — 25-9, semistate runner-up. Needing a new setter kept this team out of the 15, but four of five returning attackers — led by senior Lucy May — is a rare amount of continuity on the pins. Whoever wins the setter job inherits a loaded offense already in place.
This ranking reflects preseason data only — returning production, last season’s finish and roster continuity. It does not account for head-to-head results once matches begin.