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Inside unique demands of Harbour Town Golf Links

April 21, 2025 11:08 AM Rex Hoggard and Ryan Lavner discuss the positive conditions of Harbour Town Golf Links for RBC Heritage, and why they enjoy watching players navigate the specific challenges of the course in the week after The Masters. 11

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Inside unique demands of Harbour Town Golf Links

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Millikan vs. Wilson, Baseball – The562.org

Tyler Hendrickson Tyler Hendrickson was born and raised in Long Beach, and started covering sports in his hometown in 2010. After five years as a sportswriter, Tyler joined the athletic department at Long Beach State University in 2015. He spent more than four years in the athletic communications department, working primarily with the Dirtbags baseball […]

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Tyler Hendrickson

Tyler Hendrickson was born and raised in Long Beach, and started covering sports in his hometown in 2010. After five years as a sportswriter, Tyler joined the athletic department at Long Beach State University in 2015. He spent more than four years in the athletic communications department, working primarily with the Dirtbags baseball program. Tyler also co-authored of The History of Long Beach Poly: Scholars & Champions.

http://the562.org



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Dusan Mandic and Beatriz Ortiz overcome setbacks to reach pinnacle of water polo

SINGAPORE – Dusan Mandic and Beatriz Ortiz may be Olympic champions and the world’s best men and women’s water polo player respectively, but the road to success was fraught with bitter failures and disappointments. In a phone interview ahead of the July 11-Aug 3 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, Mandic told The Straits Times: “If […]

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SINGAPORE – Dusan Mandic and Beatriz Ortiz may be Olympic champions and the world’s best men and women’s water polo player respectively, but the road to success was fraught with bitter failures and disappointments.

In a phone interview ahead of the July 11-Aug 3 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, Mandic told The Straits Times: “If you think training is hard, try losing.”

The 2.02-metre Serb, born and raised in Montenegro, has come a long way since he was a “childish rebel” who and experimented with sports like karate, jiujitsu, sailing and tennis before settling on water polo.

His prowess in the pool grew as quickly as his growth spurt – he gained 20cm and 30kg from age 16 to 18 – as he started racking up championships since winning the youth world championship with Serbia in 2011.

After a bronze at the 2012 London Olympics, he led Serbia on a run of nine major titles, including gold at the 2015 world championships and Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympics.

However, while he also has three European crowns, the right-winger and driver has had his fair share of setbacks.

This included a seventh-placed finish after single-goal defeats by Montenegro and Spain at the 2013 world championships and the medal drought between the Tokyo and Paris Games.

But the heartbreaks only served to spur Mandic on to greater things.

“Sport teaches you a lot of things… you learn more through your losses, which I definitely did,” said the 30-year-old, who has earned a reputation for being a clutch player in the biggest occasions.

“I realised hard practice and hard trainings are the best way and the only way to improve yourself.

“During the losses, we were the favourites and had a lot of quality, but we wouldn’t have bounced back if the whole team didn’t admit what was wrong.

“We looked at each other and said, we are not going to let this happen again. It gave us positive energy and with the big quality we had, we managed to achieve some incredible results.”

For his clutch performances, he was named 2024 World Aquatics Male Water Polo Player of the Year. While he said the individual accolade “doesn’t mean a lot” without the team success, he acknowledged it was validation that he was on the right track as a player.

Among his Olympic victories, Paris 2024, when Serbia beat Croatia 13-11 in the final, was the most significant as nobody gave them a chance because they had not made the podium in any major tournament after winning at the delayed Games in Tokyo in 2021.

Mandic said: “We took advantage of that, and even now when I think about it, it’s like how did we do it? It’s unbelievable, really.”

For the upcoming world championships, Serbia were drawn into Group A alongside Italy, Romania and South Africa.

Other than looking forward to visiting “futuristic” Singapore as a tech geek, Mandic hopes his team can build on the Paris success to return to the podium after finishing failing to make the semi-finals at the last four editions.

On their world championships title drought, he said: “Our team have changed a lot, especially after the Tokyo Olympics. There were many new players, and I saw the European and world championships as preparation for the Olympics because we needed time to grow.

“Now, we definitely have the momentum, chemistry and belief to do well in Singapore. We have created something and we have found our game. We played amazingly in the elimination phase in Paris and everybody in the team is looking forward to Singapore.

“Between Tokyo and Paris, we didn’t win any medals. We suffered a lot of frustration and learnt a lot during this time before we bloomed in Paris. And now we want to continue this.”

In the women’s game, Spain’s Ortiz followed a similar trajectory.

She was a gymnast growing up in football-mad Barcelona before switching to water polo after being influenced by her two brothers.

The 29-year-old driver shared that gymnastics helped instil the dedication, effort, and toughness to “endure things I never thought I’d be able to handle”, which included narrowly missing out on the 13 players called up to the national team at the start of her career.

dlpolo08 - (AUS vs ESP) Spain's Beatriz Ortiz scored four goals in the 11-9 Paris 2024 Olympic final win over Australia.

credit: World Aquatics
section: Sports
copyright: For SPH use only

Spain’s Beatriz Ortiz scored four goals in the 11-9 final win over Australia at the Paris 2024 Olympics.PHOTO: World Aquatics

Spain were fifth at the 2016 Olympics and were outplayed by the United States in the final of the Tokyo Games before a heartbreaking shoot-out defeat by the Netherlands in the final of the 2023 world championships.

Against all odds, they rebounded in Paris, where Ortiz scored four goals in the 11-9 final victory over Australia as Spain racked up a perfect seven wins for a historic Olympic gold.

Ortiz said: “The only way to overcome all those setbacks is as a team. We had good and bad years, tough moments and great ones. But we couldn’t have gotten through any of that without our teammates. No matter how hard the previous years had been, we knew we wanted that gold and we weren’t willing to let it slip away again.”

The Spaniards will approach the upcoming world championships with the same mentality as they have not won it since they were hosts in 2013. This year, they will begin their campaign in Group D alongside Britain, South Africa and France.

Ortiz said: “We are a country that doesn’t like to give up, and no matter what it takes, no matter what we have to go through, we’ll keep fighting to make our dreams come true.”

  • David Lee is senior sports correspondent at The Straits Times focusing on aquatics, badminton, basketball, cue sports, football and table tennis.

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Tara Beilsmith Named Volleyball Assistant Coach

Story Links CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri Volleyball has announced its next assistant coach for the 2025 season, the program announced Thursday morning.    Head Coach Julie Yankus has hired former Redhawk standout Tara Beilsmith to join her staff in the Fall. Beilsmith, who played for the Redhawks from 2019-2023, was previously […]

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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri Volleyball has announced its next assistant coach for the 2025 season, the program announced Thursday morning. 
 
Head Coach Julie Yankus has hired former Redhawk standout Tara Beilsmith to join her staff in the Fall. Beilsmith, who played for the Redhawks from 2019-2023, was previously a volunteer assistant coach at Lindenwood during the 2024 season. 
 
Coach Yankus had this to say about the hiring of Beilsmith, “I’m thrilled to bring Tara back to SEMO. Her knowledge of the sport and her passion for SEMO Volleyball make her a perfect fit. Tara will do a great job leading our defense and coaching our passers, as well as continuing to help us recruit in the St. Louis area. Tara’s accomplishments as a player and a coach have already made her highly respected within the program. She already achieved so much during her time as a student-athlete at SEMO and I know we will be adding a lot more to her resume during her time here as a coach.”
 
Beilsmith most recently helped lead the Lions to their first Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title in just her first season with the program. The Lions finished 23-11 with a 14-4 mark in OVC play and captured the tournament title over Morehead State (3-0). 
 
On the club side, Tara spent the last two years coaching for St. Louis-area  ‘High Performance Volleyball Club’. She coached the 13 Royal team during the 23-24 and has spent the 2024-25 season coaching the 15 Royal team. 
 

She is a three-time OVC champion, winning twice as a player (2019 & 2021) and once as a coach (2024). She finished with one regular season title as a player during the 2021 campaign. 
 

As a player, Beilsmith played all five seasons at Southeast Missouri where she was a two-time OVC Defensive Player of the Year selection (2022 & 23). She was a two-time All-OVC First Team Selection and a three-time Second Team selection in her career. 
 
Over her time at Southeast Missouri, Beilsmith compiled 3,034 digs over 548 sets which marks her as the Ohio Valley Conference’s all-time leader in career digs.  In addition, she ranks third all-time in NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball history for career digs. 
 
During the 2023 campaign, Beilsmith added her name to the NCAA record books with 797 digs in a single season. The number marked her fourth all-time in single-season history for NCAA Volleyball. She averaged 6.38 digs-per-set in 2023, ranking her 13th all-time in NCAA history. 
 
In addition to the 2023 campaign, Beilsmith recorded 773 digs over 131 sets during the 2022 season which ranks her 10th all-time in the NCAA record book for a single season. 
 
The daughter of Dan and Patty Beilsmith, Tara is a native of Weldon Spring, Missouri and graduated from Southeast Missouri with a degree in Cybersecurity. She most recently completed her Master’s Degree of Business Administration in General Management at Southeast as well. 
 
 
 





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Empowered Mozambique pursues place among beach volleyball’s best – FIVB

Mozambique’s beach volleyball teams are pushing toward the sport’s highest stage, building on continental triumphs and back-to-back World Championship appearances. Podium finishes at the CAVB Zone VI Beach Volleyball Tour and the chance to test themselves against the world’s best have changed the outlook for the programme. With FIVB Empowerment propelling their progress, they are […]

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Mozambique’s beach volleyball teams are pushing toward the sport’s highest stage, building on continental triumphs and back-to-back World Championship appearances. Podium finishes at the CAVB Zone VI Beach Volleyball Tour and the chance to test themselves against the world’s best have changed the outlook for the programme. With FIVB Empowerment propelling their progress, they are preparing for another shot at the World Championship, and a place among the elite.

For a programme built on raw talent and ambition, the journey to this point has not been easy. Mahomed Afzal Vala, President of the Mozambique Volleyball Federation, knows what it takes to compete in Africa and the challenges that come with staying at the top.

“Mozambique is fortunate to have athletes with great potential, and most of them with dreams,” Vala said. “We have won several regional and continental trophies since 2013, when the federation was led by the former president Khalid Cassam and I was his Vice President, and together we started revolutionising volleyball in Mozambique, across the U19, U21 and senior categories. We need to maintain the African podium, which was not, and continues not to be, an easy task.”

However, dreams alone are not enough to win matches. Limited resources and the everyday realities faced by the athletes, including balancing studies, work and training, have shaped their path.

“The first challenge is the country’s financial situation, which has not allowed us to play with the best in the world by taking part in Beach Pro Tour events to improve the performance of our athletes,” he said. “The second is that our athletes are not yet professionals, and many of them make a huge effort to play and be at the highest level while they study and work.”

In 2021, Mozambique’s beach volleyball journey gained new direction with FIVB Empowerment stepping in. The arrival of Brazilian coach Alexandre Pontel, a product of a country that lives and breathes beach volleyball, brought the experience and perspective Mozambique needed.

“Brazil lives for beach volleyball, and this experience helped us realise that we must make more of an effort to achieve macro objectives,” Vala said. “Without regular training, it will be difficult to achieve the objectives set. Our athletes have improved in several aspects, but they must dedicate themselves more because they have potential.”

FIVB Empowerment support totals CHF 390,500 and has funded training camps, international tournaments, and equipment. The support has allowed Mozambique’s teams to compete in events and environments they had limited access to before.

Jose Alberto Mondlane at Beach Pro Tour Futures Messina, gaining key international experience for Mozambique.

By competing in Italy and other events, our athletes were able to see the best and play against them, which made them believe that with hard work, it is possible,” he said. “But we need more of this type of support and partnerships with stronger National Federations that host events regularly. Only by playing with the strongest can we grow more.

Among the international tournaments Mozambique has attended, one stands out for its impact. The team’s participation at the Beach Pro Tour Futures Messina offered a valuable chance to compete against higher-ranked opponents and gain experience at the international level. It was the kind of exposure that reshaped expectations within the programme.

“Our presence at the Messina Futures of the Beach Pro Tour in Italy showed that with this type of strategy, we can improve a lot,” Vala said.

However, the changes have not been limited to the senior teams. After focusing heavily on Olympic qualification in 2021, the national federation has renewed its efforts at the grassroots level.

Team Mozambique guided by Brazilian coach Alexandre Pontel.

“We managed to maintain the level, but we had enormous difficulties since Alexandre, in 2021, focused more on Olympic qualification and we did not have coaches working on training as it should be,” Vala said. “But now things have changed. We have support for national coaches, backed by the international coach, and we are reorganising and working more effectively with a view to guaranteeing a future in the sport.”

This effort spans age groups and regional centres, offering young players a path forward. “This year we are better organised and working from U19s, U21s and seniors. We have regional centres prepared to expand the sport and feed the senior teams. At the moment we have young athletes with room to go until 2032 or 2036, so the future is guaranteed,” Vala said.

Continental competitions play a key role in Mozambique’s approach. Events like the CAVB Zone VI Beach Volleyball Tour provide ranking points and regular match experience at a time when travel beyond Africa remains limited.

“The events in Zone VI were the icing on the cake, since without the resources to travel around the world, we managed to get points and be in a position that allows us to go to the World Championship,” Vala said. “In Africa, we have few events, but enough since the teams pay all the expenses. There is no regular support, and the cost of transportation in Africa is very expensive. We are privileged to host several stages in the zone because this allows us to have many athletes participating in the event.”

Vala continues to set goals for the programme.

“Being on the podium in the African U19 and U21 events, qualifying for the Youth Olympic Games and fighting for the third time and having our athletes at the LA28 Olympic Games,” he said.

FIVB Empowerment remains central to Mozambique’s progress.

“Without this support, it would be much more difficult to maintain this work and continue to build on this small success,” Vala said. “But we still hope that with the good relationship the FIVB has with the federation, we will have support to participate in world events, since it may be easier to cover air tickets and have logistical support on site. That would be the green over the blue.”

Jose Alberto Mondlane dives for the ball during competition at the Beach Pro Tour, showcasing Mozambique’s growing presence in international events.

The results of FIVB Empowerment are not only seen in competitions but felt by the players themselves. Jose Alberto Mondlane, who reached the final of the continental qualifying phase for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, described how the programme shaped his journey.

“The support given by the FIVB through the Empowerment Programme was very good for us during the last Olympic cycle. I really enjoyed working with coach Alexandre Pontel. He brought a new vision to beach volleyball in Mozambique. Being his athlete helped me see volleyball in a different (better) way than I had seen it before, with the training he gave, the tips, the knowledge, etc. It made me believe even more in my potential as a player,” Mondlane said.

“We had many moments of overcoming because we had already worked on almost everything, so it was just a matter of remembering and executing, which most of the time worked out very well. This allowed us to achieve excellent results, good performance, more respect, etc. I believe we had more happy moments than sad ones. I hope that Mozambique continues to have support from the FIVB because it needs it, and we need it to continue to evolve.”

Mozambique’s beach volleyball teams continue to grow their programme, narrowing the gap with every tournament and keeping their pursuit of a place among the sport’s best firmly in sight.



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Former Husker Sarah Pavan on John Cook’s Retirement, Dani Busboom Kelly, and Podcasti

On this week’s Volleyball State, Jeff Sheldon and Lincoln Arneal welcomed former Husker Sarah Pavan to the podcast to discuss the newsy offseason for Nebraska volleyball, when she knew it was time to retire, and what it’s like covering volleyball now. Below is a lightly edited transcript of selected discussions. “We need to be honest […]

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On this week’s Volleyball State, Jeff Sheldon and Lincoln Arneal welcomed former Husker Sarah Pavan to the podcast to discuss the newsy offseason for Nebraska volleyball, when she knew it was time to retire, and what it’s like covering volleyball now.

Below is a lightly edited transcript of selected discussions.

“We need to be honest at the same time”

Jeff: For our listeners who maybe haven’t been able to listen to your show yet, give us a little bit of a flavor of what it’s like. Are you talking about mostly college? You talking about pros? How’s it sort of set up? 

Sarah: So, in looking at the volleyball podcasting landscape, we realized that the majority of shows do a lot of interviews and things like that with athletes and coaches. And they are a teaching platform sometimes and we found that a gap in the volleyball podcast like market was kind of like an analysis type of show. I love watching ESPN and the debriefs after games and seeing how they break them down and thoughts like that. So, I was like, “there’s nobody doing this. I think it would be cool to do it for volleyball.”

And so, we kind of do breakdowns and analysis and what is going on in the sport from college to professionally, both domestically and overseas. And once VNL starts up, the international side.

Lincoln: You cover a wide gamut too. You talk European professional leagues. You’re talking the men collegiate game. You’re talking about the United States professional game too. And you also talk a lot about the women’s college game as well. How much more volleyball are you watching because of the podcast? Or were you already this immersed into the volleyball world in just in your regular day-to-day life?

Penn State's Camryn Hannah, bottom left, serves to Nebraska during a Big Ten volleyball match at Rec Hall on Friday, Nov. 29.

Penn State’s Camryn Hannah, bottom left, serves to Nebraska during a Big Ten volleyball match at Rec Hall on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in State College, Pa. / Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Sarah: I would say we’re watching significantly more now. We have always been really into the NCAA women’s side of things and we’ve been really into VNL. We would follow NCAA men. We’d follow the leagues, just cause of former teammates and things like that. But I would say since we started, we have become much more invested and a lot of our time is spent watching volleyball now.

Jeff: You know, we sort of noticed the same thing when we were kicking around the idea of starting a podcast about volleyball. There’s some educational aspects to it. We know there’s a lot of fans, you know, particularly of Nebraska, who really liked the sport, but maybe don’t know that much about it. And we are certainly not at a coaching or a playing level of expertise, but we’re able to explain a few things.

I think one of the other parts of this space that was kind of missing, and you and your show fill that very nicely, is the ability to be critical of play and point out some ways where people are falling short. And I think that there is maybe a little bit of a tendency to go lighter on women’s volleyball players than there would say to football or men’s basketball players. But you’re able to point out areas that need to be improved. Have you caught any kind of negative feedback about that?

Sarah: Yeah. Simple answer is yes. It is a pattern that I have seen in volleyball as a sport in general, but particularly on the women’s side is it’s very positive, which is great. You know, we want to highlight what athletes are doing well. We want to promote the teams and the athletes that have good followings. But I think we need to be honest at the same time.

And so it has rubbed some people the wrong way. Getting feedback, “you’re supposed to be growing the sport. Why are you talking like this?” And it’s like, you need some education. Not everything is perfect. And I’m not saying the athletes aren’t trying; they’re working hard. They’re trying. But I think from like a strategy perspective, people need to understand, because volleyball is not well understood from a strategic or tactical perspective by the general population. So, yes, it may be critical, but I think it’s a learning experience for the listeners to understand what is actually happening.

“My body had kind of betrayed me”

Lincoln: How did you know it was time for [retirement] and how difficult the decision was that for you to make saying, “playing days are finally done?”

Sarah: I’m somebody who takes a long time to come to decisions, but once I make them, I don’t look back. I think evaluating the landscape; finishing my career on the beach side and evaluating the landscape of beach volleyball in Canada and the future. It was a grind and you know, I actually tore my meniscus in January of last year. Had to have surgery and then like fighting back from that while trying to qualify for the Olympics; it was not ideal. And you know, a lot of life stuff had been happening on the side. Pretty serious stuff. And I think my life experience, my life perspective, had kind of evolved and while at my healthiest, I was still very capable of playing at a very high level. There’s more to life. And the sport had given me so, so much in such a long career that I just felt like it was time.

And like the injury was the first time in my life that my body had kind of betrayed me. And I think it was kind of a wakeup call of like, “I’ve used my body as a tool for so long and I’ve done so much and put it through so much. I think it’s giving me a sign that like it’s time.”

What would you do if you were commissioner of all of volleyball?

Lincoln: There’s two currently professional leagues. There could be a third professional league with athletes unlimited in there as well, too. If you were named commissioner of all professional volleyball in North America, what would that look like? What would you change and how would you set it up?

Outside hitter Megan Courtney-Lush, spikes the ball during the Columbus Fury home game against the Omaha Supernovas.

Feb 21, 2024; Columbus, OH, USA; Outside hitter Megan Courtney-Lush, spikes the ball during the Columbus Fury home game against the Omaha Supernovas at Nationwide Arena. / Courtney Hergesheimer/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Sarah: Oh dear. Wow.

Jeff: We’ve just given you an incredible amount of power!

Sarah: Honestly? We’ve had discussions with it, because people submit a ton of questions on our podcast. So, we’ve had to think about things like this. In an ideal world, because there’s so many leagues in this country, I would probably structure the North American leagues, like they do the European ones. Where you have your A level, B level, C level. Basically, the way overseas works is if you come last in your division, you get demoted.

Jeff: Yeah, promotion relegation; I’m all about it.

Sarah: Yeah, I love that. The styles and the formats of the leagues would obviously have to be similar. Like the way that they operate now is just so different that it would be tricky. But I think having the promotion and relegation would just really keep it interesting. And then you would see so much more excitement and investment for every single match. 

So, you’ve kind of seen the leagues differentiate themselves as far as level goes like already. If that were to remain the case, it would be really cool if the winner of the PVF moves up to LOVB and then the like last place team in LOVB goes down and then it would just be so entertaining, I think.

“I don’t think that that expectation intimidates her”

Lincoln: John Cook retired this year. Were you surprised by the timing of the retirement? Were you caught off guard when that news broke?

Nebraska Cornhuskers volleyball head coach Dani Busboom Kelly and former coach John Cook embrace.

Jan 30, 2025; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers volleyball head coach Dani Busboom Kelly and former coach John Cook embrace while being recognized during a break in the first half against the Illinois Fighting Illini at Pinnacle Bank Arena. / Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Sarah: Okay. Yes, I was surprised at the timing. But let me tell you, I was watching LOVB Omaha. I was watching one of the Omaha pro teams playing. And Dani was in the crowd. And I was like, “there’s a reason she’s here.” And I had thought for years, when Coach Cook retires, he will give the program to Dani. 100%.

So when I saw her there in like a random January match, I was like, something is up. But I didn’t expect the announcement to come so soon. I figured that he would want to win one more. But then in thinking about it more, I think he really thought, and everybody thought, that he would win one with Lexi Rodriguez. And then when that didn’t happen, it was like, OK, kind of time to move on. But Rachel Holloway actually was the one who messaged me because she saw the news before I did. And she messaged me. She’s like, “look at this!” And we were both just shocked.

Jeff: You had mentioned Dani earlier – that she seemed kind of like the long-time natural choice – What do you remember about her? What do you know about her that makes you think that, “obviously this is the person to take over the program?”

Louisville head coach Dani Busboom Kelly instructed her players against Penn State.

Louisville head coach Dani Busboom Kelly instructed her players against Penn State during the NCAA Championship Volleyball match at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky. on Dec. 22, 2024. / Sam Upshaw Jr./Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Sarah: Well, a lot of reasons. Just to see how she built Louisville into what it is. At such a young age, she has clearly proven herself to be capable of growing and maintaining a perennial powerhouse program. Secondly, just she’s no [BS]. I think, you know, which is perfectly suited for a program of Nebraska’s stature and prowess.

Nebraska expects to win. And I think that that can be intimidating for a lot of people, but she experienced it as a player, which the expectation was always to win. And to walk into that, she’s already familiar. And so I don’t think that that expectation intimidates her. Being from Nebraska, just the connection with the community and the university and volleyball fans; aside from the on-court stuff, which she has proven herself more than capable of just who she is as a person in her leadership and her communication style is just like winner.

Lincoln: You played with her. Did you, did you sense that as a player that she kind of had the right approach to make a successful coach? Is that something she developed and kind of grew into?

Sarah: My freshman year. I was just like eyes wide open. “Let’s survive.” But I think the thing that really highlighted her character for me was when she was told she would be a libero of the team. She had started as a setter for three years and then all of a sudden it was just like, “Thank you so much, but you’re going to be a libero now.” And to see her response, it was both very human, but very mature. And to see how she was able to put her ego aside for the good of the team and how much of a factor she was able to be in that season in a new position. She gained so much respect for me in how she handled that.

Watch the rest of the interview below and also get Jeff and Lincoln’s thoughts on Nebraska’s spring season, transfer portal talk, and more!

Want even more from Volleyball State, including access to postgame shows in-season, newsletters, and bonus podcasts? Become a subscriber of the Volleyball State tier of the I-80 Club today!

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FHSAA high school beach volleyball: Fletcher, Episcopal previews

Two-Minute Drill: NFL Rookie minicamps, spring high school championships All three of Florida’s NFL teams will hold Rookie minicamps from May 9-11; Lacrosse, flag football, track, softball and baseball championships. Call it a breakthrough on the beach. Fletcher and Episcopal are set for the next step in their postseason adventures, traveling to the sands of […]

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Call it a breakthrough on the beach.

Fletcher and Episcopal are set for the next step in their postseason adventures, traveling to the sands of Tallahassee for the Florida High School Athletic Association state final four in girls beach volleyball.

Episcopal tips off the Class 1A semifinals against Westminster Christian from Miami at 8 a.m. May 9, followed by Fletcher’s Class 3A semifinal against Winter Haven at 6 p.m. Both matches take place at Florida State University’s beach volleyball complex.

Before this week, Bishop Kenny was the only team to qualify for a state final four since the FHSAA began the sport in the 2021-22 school year. Now, the Crusaders have some company.

Class 3A No. 2 seed Fletcher is no stranger to volleyball on the actual beach, playing numerous matches in the regular season within a few spikes’ distance of the Atlantic Ocean.

The first-ever regional champions to come from the Gateway Conference, they enter the final four with pairs of Ashton Kirton and Elina Adhikari at No. 1, Leila Brummel and Emilia Thorpe at No. 2, Karsyn Smith and Lila Waite at No. 3, Sofia Ventimiglia and Ramsey Langton at No. 4 and Amelia Richter and Addison Hilton at No. 5.

Episcopal, meanwhile, reached the final four with a pair of next-level players as its No. 1 pair: Caelan Chesser has signed with the University of North Florida and Elle Steiger is set for Stetson.

The Eagles’ lineup includes Quinn Edwards and Alexis Galani at No. 2, Fenley Almond and Kailyn Ryals at No. 3, Wren Tiedeberg and Claire Caserta at No. 4 and P.G. Chupp and Amelia Walthour at No. 5.

How does FHSAA beach volleyball work?

Five pairs from each school contest the semifinals in a best-of-3-sets format. The winning pair in each match scores one point, so the possible final team scores are 3-2, 4-1 or 5-0.

The first two sets are played on a first-to-21 basis, while the deciding third set (if necessary) is first to 15. As in indoor volleyball, a two-point margin is needed to win a set.

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