By Omar Perez
Success isn’t guaranteed, but hard work and dedication are good building blocks toward it.
SJSU’s beach volleyball team knows all too well about coming up short in recent years, going 0-12 in 2014 and 0-14 in 2015.
The Spartans have started off their season on a good note, winning their first four matches in dominating fashion, only losing a set in each match.
Despite not earning a win in their first two years as a program, the Spartans improved from a bottom team within the conference to a middle-of-the-pack squad, owning a 9-11 record overall in 2016.
This season, in 2017, the Spartans started 4-0 and have since gone 4-8. Although the team is still growing, the competitive atmosphere of the team has shifted.
Several members of the team play indoor as well which gives the young Spartans much-needed practice before they transition to the sand season.
“Beach gives them a second opportunity to get out there,” said head coach Aaron Shepardson. “Even more so because it’s two on two, they gotta touch every ball. They’re under pressure every play pretty much and I just expect them to continue to grow as competitors and use this to their advantage.”
Many players on the beach team don’t have an offseason as they transition from indoor to the sand with no break in between. Despite being a young team, the players have found new motivation to drive them when playing against other schools.
“For our team, we’re just team first like everything,” said senior Lyndi Scholl. “We out-team other teams and I think just our consistent play and just love for each other is just driving each other to play stronger and harder every game.”
The Spartans only have the month of April left to finish their season on a winning note.
The remaining games will pose a challenge as the Spartans will face four teams with a winning record. SJSU will need its young players to step up if the team is to positively close out the season.
“We had a lot of freshmen on the floor in the fall,” Shepardson said. “Especially this last fall we had four or five freshmen on the floor at all times and they just grow through that experience.”
