Lucy Tellers (10) stood at the back of the court, ball in hand. She selected her target, taking a slow step forward and tossed the ball up. It floated to her opponents who quickly returned the ball back over the net. Tellers received the ball and passed to Gabrielle Ngo (11) who sent the ball colliding into the sand in the opposing front corner. This first point of the game and season propelled beach volleyball to a 5-1 win against Eastlake, Feb. 26.
In their first season playing doubles together, Ngo and Tellers currently hold the first seed at Westview. The duo took down Eastlake in two sets, winning 21-13 in the first and 21-15 in the second.
The second seeded duo, Ella Bergsmedh (12) and Lily Sweidel (11) also won in two sets. After being down 4-0 in the beginning, Bergsmedh said they adjusted their defense based on where Eastlake was consistently hitting.
“We gave up some spots because they weren’t hitting there, so we could cover the spots we knew they were going to [hit],” Bergsmedh said. “We also were able to come back by making more offensive shots, so more cuts and deep line shots.”
According to Bergsmedh, Eastlake was not able to adjust to their refined strategy. This allowed Bergsmedh and Sweidel to pull ahead. They focused more on staying consistent, and letting Eastlake make the mistakes.
“They came back more aggressive, and they started getting more frustrated, so we were able to capitalize on that,” Bergsmedh said. “Soemtimes when you win the first set, it’s easy to come back cocky, but I think we were able to stay on track. Instead of losing a bunch of points, we were able to stay steady the whole time.”
During Tellers and Ngo’s first set; Tellers started off strong with a four point serving streak and the pair maintained a steady lead. Whenever Eastlake would score, they remained optimistic and focused on preventing them from going on a run.
“I think our energy on court is a big thing that helps us work well together,” Ngo said. “And [Tellers] did an amazing job defensively.”
After the first set concluded, Tellers and Ngo continued to apply pressure to Eastlake. Early in the set, the pair jumped out to a 5-2 lead. However, their opponents remained close behind after adjusting their gameplay to an offensive approach that prevented Ngo from getting kills.
“They started to option a lot more,” Ngo said. “This means after the pass, you hit it over. They also started targeting [Tellers] more so that I don’t hit.”
Although Eastlake was able to gain a few points from sending the ball over on two, Tellers said it was too late in the second set for their opponents to come back.
After their first scrimmage against San Marcos, Ngo and Tellers said they worked closely with their coach who advised Ngo to take a side when blocking so that Tellers has less court to cover, strengthening their overall defense. According to Tellers, defense for beach is drastically different from indoor volleyball.
“For beach, you only have two people on the court,” Tellers said. “You have a blocker and you have a defender. The blocker has to make a quick decision about whether she should block or pull off.”
Ngo has adapted a strategy to alter the direction of the ball after an attack. When Ngo steps up to block, she signals Tellers which side to defend. Then, Ngo blocks and angles herself so that the opposing attacker has only one area to hit the ball—towards Tellers.
“I try to funnel the ball with my block so it goes to [Tellers],” Ngo said.
Celebrating their first win as a duo, Ngo said they are both looking forward to the rest of the season.
“Our energy was super high, and we had a lot of smart plays,” Ngo said. “We work really well together. We’re both really happy people and we play with a lot of joy and we celebrate big.”
