Beach volleyball is back for its second season on the Bluff. With a team comprised of mostly upperclassmen, the Pilots are looking to redeem themselves after a poor 2016 campaign. And they're off to a good start, winning their first match against the Oregon Ducks Saturday morning at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Ore., three duals to two.
Every player on the University of Portland’s women’s volleyball team played beach volleyball in its first season. Only one of them, Cali Thompson, now a sophomore, had experience playing beach beforehand. So despite having a 16-15 record indoors last school year, the Pilots were unable to translate their success to the sand outdoors, ending the season with an 0-9 overall record.
“I think there were a couple things that led to our record last year, one being the inexperience of our players,” head coach Jeff Baxter said, who is also the assistant coach for the indoor women’s volleyball team. “We had four weeks to turn them into beach volleyball players.”
Senior Brittney Markwith believes that another factor that led to their low record was Portland’s weather.
“Last year there was a lot of rain, so it was hard for us to go play beach volleyball,” Markwith said. “We had to do it indoors sometimes, which is obviously different from playing out in the sand.”
This made it especially difficult for the Pilots as they faced teams such as the Pepperdine Waves (currently ranked fourth in the nation) and the San Francisco Dons, both of which have strong beach volleyball programs and had overall records of 20-5 and 16-5 last season, respectively.
With just one of their 12 players with beach experience last season, the coaching staff placed the largest emphasis on technique and improvement.
“In terms of wins and losses, (the season) didn’t go the way we wanted it to go,” Baxter said. “But in terms of improvement, I don’t know if we could’ve expected more from our players. They grew throughout the entire season and put us on an upward trajectory for this coming season.”
The Pilots will have a tough schedule ahead of them again this year, as they face multiple schools ranked in the top 15 in the AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association) preseason coaches poll, including UCLA and Grand Canyon.
“We have a really tough schedule, and I did that on purpose,” Baxter said. “I think it’s important that we compete against the best teams in the country… It’s very important for our players to compete with the best players in the nation as we aspire to be the best players in the nation.”
Despite the difficult schedule coming up, the women’s team is optimistic about their second season on the sand.
“We’re still building the beach volleyball program,” Markwith said. “(But) this season we’ll probably have more wins just because we’re getting a little bit more comfortable with being on the sand.”
The coaches are also more optimistic about this season, feeling more prepared to face top contending teams than they were a year ago.
“We laid out everything we wanted to get better at, and how we were going to get better at it…and the team has been hitting those check marks,” Baxter said. “I can say this, we’re going to be better than we were last year. I know the level of volleyball on the Portland side of the net is going to be much higher. Whether that equates to wins, we’ll find out.”
