The School Board of Salem, Missouri has voted in favor of adding volleyball to its school sport offerings.
As part of the decision-making process, the school surveyed all of its female students from 7th through 11th grades, and of the 134 surveys returned, 104, or 78%, expressed interest in adding volleyball.
The girls’ volleyball season will be in the fall, coinciding with football, and the school would be eligible for the conference tournament in the 2018-2019 school year.
Salem is located in the Southeastern part of the state, about 2 hours south of the capital Columbia. The city has seen big population growth over the last 20 years – growing by more than 12% from 1990 through 2010, with an estimated 2015 population of 4,992.
Volleyball is one of the most popular high school sports in the country for girls. Indoor volleyball is the 3rd-most popular for girls by number of teams with 15,534 behind only basketball and outdoor track & field, and 2nd-most popular by number of participants with 432,176 behind track.
Editor’s Note: From NFHS statistics as of 2014-2015 academic year.
Salem is home to 1 high school that has an enrollment of just over 600. In girls’ basketball, that puts them in Class 4 out of 5 classes. In volleyball there are only 4 classes, which would likely map them to either Class 3 or Class 4.
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