Indiana Preps | The Net Effect — IHSAA Volleyball Regional Round
Cathedral has not had trouble winning sectional championships.
Nine straight tell you that.
The problem has been what came next. Year after year, one of Indiana’s most established volleyball programs reached the second weekend of the tournament and stopped there.
Saturday changed that.
Cathedral swept Northview 25-21, 25-21, 25-18 at Cascade to win the Class 3A regional championship, advance to semi-state and end a regional-title drought that stretched back to 2016.
Ten years. Nine consecutive sectional championships. Finally, another regional trophy.
That is what made Saturday bigger than a 3-0 result. Cathedral did not simply move forward in the bracket. The Irish finally moved beyond a place where seasons had repeatedly ended.
And they did it against a team that had already beaten them.
Northview Had Already Shown Cathedral What Could Go Wrong
The first meeting was October 5. Northview won in five.
Cathedral took the first set 25-23, lost the next two, responded to force a fifth and then fell 15-11. Caroline Hanchar was outstanding that night with 27 kills, 20 digs and seven aces. Alaina Sloan finished with 50 assists and 18 digs. It still was not enough.
That loss dropped Cathedral to 17-10 and became part of a difficult stretch in a regular season filled with injuries and lineup adjustments.
Nineteen days later, the same matchup looked considerably different. There was no fifth set. There was no late Northview escape. There was no regional heartbreak. Cathedral finished it in three.
That is the revenge angle, but it is also the development angle. The Irish did not need Northview to become a different team. Cathedral became a better version of itself.
Cathedral Finally Has Its Lineup Back
The regular season was rarely clean.
Senior middle Chloe Moss has been unavailable since a September 24 foot injury. Hayden Mandsager spent time in a walking boot. Freshman Rylee Devine was injured during the same stretch. Hanchar has played through a navicular stress fracture that dates to last season.
Those circumstances forced Cathedral to adjust roles throughout the fall. Mandsager moved from the middle to the outside. Sydney Matthews, primarily a defensive specialist, was asked to contribute in the front row. Devine returned to give the Irish another physical attacking and blocking option.
The result is a team entering late October more complete than it was during some of the most difficult parts of the regular season. Northview did not face exactly the same Cathedral group it beat October 5. The names were familiar. The shape of the team was different.
Hanchar Has Been the Constant
If there has been one steady piece through the movement around her, it has been Hanchar.
The senior entered the regional with 305 reported kills. She is also Cathedral’s only six-rotation player, carrying responsibilities in both the attack and back row. That value was obvious in the first Northview meeting, when she produced the 27-kill, 20-dig double-double and seven aces.
Saturday required something different. Cathedral did not have to lean on one player for overwhelming volume. Hanchar was still involved in closing the regional championship, but the Irish were able to spread responsibility across the floor.
That may be more important for the next round than another 25-kill night would have been. Cathedral does not need Hanchar to rescue every possession. It needs her to connect the pieces.
Mandsager’s Return Has Changed the Attack
Mandsager has become one of Cathedral’s most important postseason hitters.
She produced 15 kills in the City Tournament championship against Heritage Christian. She had another 15 in the sectional championship sweep of Bishop Chatard. Now she has helped push Cathedral through Northview.
Her move from middle to outside gives the Irish another physical pin option and changes what opposing blocks have to account for. That was especially important Saturday when Northview threatened to create momentum. Mandsager and Devine repeatedly gave Cathedral swings capable of ending rallies instead of simply extending them.
For a team that spent portions of the year patching together a healthy lineup, that ability to terminate has changed the offensive ceiling.
Rylee Devine Is Becoming Part of the Postseason Story
Devine is only a freshman. She is already playing a meaningful role in a run that Cathedral seniors have waited years to experience.
The 6-foot-1 middle entered the regional with 41 reported blocks, the most on the Cathedral roster in the available MaxPreps statistics. She also had five blocks in Cathedral’s four-set sectional win over Brebeuf.
Against Northview, her value went beyond blocking. Devine provided some of Cathedral’s most important swings when Northview began pushing back. Postseason teams become harder to solve when younger players stop looking like younger players.
Right now, Devine is giving Cathedral another front-row threat opponents have to prepare for.
Sloan Is Running an Offense With More Answers
Alaina Sloan’s progression may be as important as any player on the roster.
The sophomore setter entered Saturday with 958 assists. In the first Northview meeting, she had 50. In the sectional championship against Chatard, she finished with 41. Those numbers reflect the volume of responsibility she carries, but the bigger development is what Cathedral can now put around her.
Mandsager is healthy. Devine is available. Hanchar remains a six-rotation option. Blaine Adams has produced timely kills. Even Matthews has become another attacking option when needed.
Sloan now gets to distribute instead of simply trying to keep an injured lineup functional. That difference matters in tournament volleyball.
Futa Gives Cathedral Another Reason Rallies Keep Going
Not every player shaping this run is doing it at the net.
Junior libero Reagan Futa entered the regional with 422 digs. She had 15 in the sectional championship against Chatard and again gave Cathedral important defensive possessions against Northview.
One second-set rally Saturday became a snapshot of her value. Futa kept a difficult ball alive, Cathedral survived the exchange and the play helped spark the run that closed the set.
Those are not the numbers that usually lead a headline. They are often the plays that determine who gets one.
The Third Set Showed What Changed
Cathedral controlled most of the first two sets. Northview did not disappear. The Knights had already shown in the first meeting that they could stay connected long enough to turn the match.
Then came the third.
Northview built separate five-point advantages. That was the moment when Cathedral’s recent regional history could have started becoming relevant again. Instead, the Irish erased both. They took control. They finished the sweep.
That response may be the most important part of Saturday. Cathedral did not win because Northview never challenged it. Cathedral won because the challenge did not change the outcome.
Ten Years Between Regional Trophies
The drought requires context.
Cathedral had not disappeared during those ten years. Quite the opposite. The Irish kept winning sectionals. They kept reaching this stage. The 2026 sectional championship was the program’s ninth consecutive.
That made the regional drought more noticeable, not less. There are programs that spend years trying to get into the second weekend. Cathedral had made a habit of getting there. It just could not get through.
Until Saturday.
The Irish are 24-10 now. That record does not look like the résumé of an untouchable favorite. It looks like the résumé of a team that was tested repeatedly, dealt with injuries, changed roles and arrived in late October playing its best volleyball.
Cathedral has won seven straight. The latest was the one the program had been waiting a decade to win.
Batesville Is Next
The reward is not an easy path.
Cathedral will face 28-7 Batesville in the Jasper semi-state semifinal Saturday. Jasper and Tri-West occupy the other side of the bracket, and one of those four teams will advance to Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Cathedral knows Tri-West already. The Irish beat the Bruins during the regular season despite dealing with injuries. It also knows Jasper, another team it beat earlier this fall.
But looking ahead too far would miss what Saturday represented. For a decade, Cathedral could not get beyond the regional round. Now it has.
The next question is no longer when the drought ends.
It is what Cathedral does now that it finally has.
Statistics via MaxPreps. Regional and semi-state pairings via IHSAA.org. Indiana Preps covers high school athletics, recruiting, and athlete development across the state of Indiana.
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