Moeller and Loveland picked up the top seeds in Region 4 and Region 8 in the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s boys volleyball tournament brackets released on May 5.
Unsurprisingly, the Greater Catholic League-South took the top three seeds Division I, Region 4 with St. Xavier at No. 2 and Elder at No. 3. Greater Miami Conference champion Lakota East is the No. 4 seed.
After Loveland in Region 8 is a trio of GCL-Coed programs with Fenwick as the No. 2 seed, two-time defending Division II champion McNicholas at No. 3 and Badin at No. 4.
Here is a breakdown of the boys volleyball regional brackets.
Moeller, St. Xavier and Elder go 1-2-3 in Region 4 bracket
In the top portion of the Region 4 bracket, Moeller sits atop and has a possible regional semifinal meeting with Elder brewing.
The Crusaders and the Panthers met three times in the regular season with Moeller taking two games. Moeller had a reverse-sweep in the first meeting and a four-set win at Elder, but Elder swept the Crusaders in the Centerville Elite tournament.
No. 6 Milford, No. 7 Sycamore, No. 11 Princeton, No. 12 Oak Hills, No. 13 Lakota West, No. 15 West Clermont and No. 17 Hamilton are also in the top portion of the bracket.
The lower half of the bracket features St. Xavier and Lakota East as the No. 2 and No. 4 seeds.
The Bombers open against No. 16 Fairfield and with the winner playing either No. 9 Lebanon or No. 10 Middletown to get to the regional semifinals. Lakota East sees No. 14 Kings in round one with either No. 5 Mason or No. 8 Walnut Hills to follow.
Lakota East enters the postseason with a 19-3 record, with the losses coming in five sets to Moeller, in four sets to Elder and a sweep by St. Xavier.
The semifinal round is set for May 20 with the finals on May 23 at Mason.
This would be the second straight season of Elder-Moeller and St. Xavier-Lakota East in the regional semifinals, should those teams avoid any upsets.
ECC champs Loveland are No. 1 in Division II, Region 8
A season ago, the idea was clear for the teams in Division II, Region 8: let McNicholas pick a part of the bracket and get out of its way. That left the Rockets on one side and the No. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 seeds on the other.
No. 3 Loveland won that battle and met the Rockets in the regional final, getting swept as the Rockets went on to win their second-straight OHSAA state title.
In 2026, the Loveland Tigers are 19-2, having only lost to Lakota East and Elder, with the top seed in Region 8. Sitting on their side of the bracket? No. 3 McNicholas.
Loveland, McNicholas and No. 8 Chaminade Julienne (which split the season series with the Rockets) are the only single-digit seeds in the top portion of the bracket.
No. 12 Mount Healthy, No. 13 Taylor, No. 14 Indian Hill, No. 15 Summit Country Day, No. 16 Stivers School for the Arts, No. 19 Meadowdale, No. 20 Ponitz, No. 21 Trotwood-Madison and No. 23 Dunbar are also in the top bracket.
Loveland beat McNicholas in their March 20 meeting in four sets. The Tigers also swept No. 2 Fenwick and No. 4 Badin, the top seeds in the bottom half of the bracket, in the regular season.
No. 5 Edgewood, No. 6 Alter, No. 7 La Salle, No. 9 Wyoming, No. 10 Turpin, No. 11 Roger Bacon, No. 17 Finneytown, No. 18 Anderson, No. 22 Madeira and No. 24 Thurgood Marshall round out the bottom half of the bracket.
The Region 8 final is also on May 23 at Mason with times to be announced.
When is the 2026 OHSAA boys volleyball state tournament?
The OHSAA state tournament will be on May 29 and May 30 at Wittenberg University.
All four semifinal games will be on May 29, beginning at noon with the Division I games. The championships will be the following day, again starting at noon with Division I.
The state tournament draw put the Region 4 winner against the Region 3 winner in the semifinal and the Region 8 winner against Region 5’s representative.
Thomas Worthington took the top seed in Region 3. The Cardinals are 19-3, including a four-set win against St. Xavier and a three-set loss to Elder in the Centerville Elite. Region 5’s top seed is St. Charles. Those Cardinals are 17-4, having split a pair of games with McNicholas while beating La Salle and Fenwick.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Moeller, Loveland get top seeds in boys volleyball tournament brackets
Reporting by Alex Harrison, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
