TORRANCE — The Comets ended their first day of matches on Feb. 6 with mixed success, falling to El Camino 3-2, before securing a 4-1 win against Santa Ana.
The squad was competitive in both its narrow defeat and decisive victory, despite the lack of seasoned players. The beach volleyball team has two returning players, the other 11 members are freshmen.
Although most of the freshmen played indoor volleyball at Palomar, most have little to no experience on a sand court.
“It’s much different on the beach than it is on the indoor, and there’s different strategies,” Head Coach Seiler said. “It’s difficult to run in the sand. You have the wind. You have all these other elements, plus the dynamic of the structure of the game. So it’s just a little bit more difficult for the girls to kind of grab that.”
Although the team is largely inexperienced at the collegiate beach level, they have an experienced coach to get them up to speed. Seiler has been coaching collegiate volleyball teams to victory for decades, and has been named Conference Coach of the Year five times.
Apart from the challenge of adjusting to a new game, the team is working hard to make continuous improvements after its matches. Rather than dwell on their loss, the players are focusing their efforts on improving the skills they lacked in prior games.
Sophomore and Co-captain Kiana Merrill shared how the games allowed them to identify individual weaker areas.
“I think we kind of clock the stuff that we need to work on and we immediately brought it into practice this week, which is good,” Merrill said.
With rain on the horizon, the beach volleyball rookies will be tested in their ability to deal with the “other elements” their coach spoke about.
Unlike most outdoor sports, rain doesn’t keep the beach volleyball team from practice. Sophomore Emma Bambe spoke on the aspect of weather and how it would take extreme conditions to keep them from the sand.
“We don’t play if it lightnings and that’s it. So it can be hailing, it can be just downpouring,” Bambe said.
With only two completed matches, the beach volleyball season is still in its infancy, leaving plenty of room for growth as the players continue to refine their skills on the sand.
Looking ahead, the Comets will compete against Santiago Canyon at 10 a.m. on Feb. 20 at College of the Desert.