Arizona boys high school volleyball teams, players gain national attention
Finn Kearney first smacked a volleyball across a net when he was 12. Three years later, as a sophomore, he would be part of a 44-0 national high school championship team at Phoenix Sandra Day O'Connor.
Now, the 6-foot-5 senior outside hitter is among the leaders of a growing trend, as the sport has been skyrocketing in Arizona. Grand Canyon University's men's team reached the NCAA Tournament two years in a row, and with guys like Kearney, who has committed to Hawaii for college, taking the game to a new level in high school.
Phoenix Brophy Prep and Gilbert Perry, along with O'Connor and Gilbert Highland, are among teams well-respected in California, the boys volleyball mecca in the country.
Earlier this season, O'Connor hung their national championship banner inside the gym. The top-seeded Eagles are going after another 6A state title, as they move into Thursday's semifinal round against No. 5 Gilbert Highland at 6 p.m. Brophy Prep, the No. 2 seed, plays host to No. 3 Perry on Thursday at 6 in the other semifinal. The state championship match is Saturday at Mesa Skyline High School at 6 p.m.
Earlier this season, Kearney, along with Mesa Desert Ridge 6-foot-10 middle blocker Trevell Jordan (Grand Canyon signee) and Jake Schroder of Vail Cienega were part of a Fab 50 list of top high school boys volleyball players in the nation in the 2024 class by VolleyballMag. Kearney was ranked third nationally.
Layton Bluth, a libero from Queen Creek Casteel, is among the top 25 underclassmen in the nation listed by VolleyballMag, along with O'Connor outside hitter Carter King.
Both Kearney and Jordan played in the AZ Fear club program that is directed by O'Connor coach Troy Dueling, who has been another big reason for the surge in competitive boys' volleyball in Arizona getting on the national radar.
"Arizona volleyball has been slowly growing year by year gaining many talented players coming up every year," Kearney said. "The sport has just kept on growing.
"It's been amazing to see it grow like this and I'm very excited to see where it goes in the future. With the club scene growing in Arizona, many more of these talented players are being recruited to go and play at a higher level in college. It's putting a bigger name on men's volleyball here in Arizona."
It helps locally with GCU's rise in men's volleyball under coach Matt Werle. Dueling was a former assistant to Werle and the two have a strong relationship.
A year after taking GCU to its first NCAA Tournament quarterfinals, Werle led the Lopes to their first NCAA Tournament win, before falling to host Long Beach State last week in the national semifinals.
In late February, GCU rose to No. 1 in the national ranking for the first time in its history.
"It's one of the fastest-growing sports in the state," Werle said earlier this season. "We're trying to get Arizona to grow. There are good connections."
Dueling, a local guy who graduated from Phoenix Barry Goldwater in 2003 and led Anthem Boulder Creek to a couple of state titles, said he's seen some growth in Arizona over the last five years. He said the state's national impact has been most noticeable.
Sandra Day O'Connor is ranked ninth and Brophy Prep 14th nationally in the latest USA Today rankings.
"We do have top-tier guys and top-tier teams in high school," Dueling said. "I think club success has helped that.
"Just to be still on the list, and seeing teams from Arizona and guys," Dueling said.
Dueling has two of his former players at a top college level: Jaxon Herr is at GCU and Zach Rama at UCLA.
GCU beat UCLA for the conference championship but the Bruins captured the national championship with a four-set win over Long Beach State.
"I think what Matt's done is unbelievable," Dueling said. "There's a parallel. As Arizona has grown, GCU has grown. Me and him talk about it all the time, being hand-in-hand trying to grow volleyball in all the ways."
It's been a battle in Arizona to get all of the school districts on board for boys' volleyball. But in recent years, the Arizona Interscholastic Association has expanded the state tournaments into three conferences — 6A, 5A and 4A.
California still is the king of boys' volleyball in the nation.
"It's really cool," Dueling said. "You see what GCU is doing, you see what we're doing at the high school level. The NAIA is picking up a lot of steam. Ottawa (Surprise) got a bid to their national tournament. There's been a lot of good things.
"It's hard to compare yourself to Southern California, because what they're doing there is generational. You've got kids whose grandfathers played at UCLA. That's always going to be a hard catch.
"But hopefully in a hundred years, people will say, 'Oh, wow, Troy and Werle did a cool thing.' Probably won't be in my lifetime. As far as it's come, young boys who are 10 or 11 are still not choosing volleyball unless their sister does it or their parents did it,'' he said. "We're still fighting that uphill battle but we're getting there."
To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert atrichard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@azc_obert
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Finn Kearney among players leading boys volleyball in Arizona
