On the first official day of UCLA sand volleyball practice, then-sophomore Zoë Nightingale felt out of place, her feet buried in sand, the number of teammates by her side reduced from five to one.
She ran this way and that way, shifting left and right all over the court, but exerting far too much effort.
“Personally, I had no idea what I was doing … (the) first day was pretty tragic,” Nightingale said.
It was an understandable, if not even foreseen, feeling.
That was the first practice of last year’s inaugural season for the then-newly formed sport. All the players had been pulled from the UCLA women’s volleyball indoor team and had little experience playing on the sand. The players had to learn the basics of the game, or “Beach Volleyball 101” as Nightingale described it.
This season, which begins Thursday, however, appears to be spattered with a much different storyline.
Experience, familiarity and “building on last year” are the prevailing themes surrounding the Bruins now, Nightingale said.
In the first official practice this year, Nightingale said it felt like the end of last year, as the team seemed to pick up right where it left off to finish last season. No learning of the basics, and much less confusion.
No. 6 UCLA will begin to build on last year starting Thursday, playing first-year program Cal State Northridge in its season opener.
Second-year coach Stein Metzger has been one of the key driving forces behind the team’s rapid improvement, bringing a wisdom and knowledge of the game to the indoor-accustomed players.
While his teachings last year were centered more so on the basics of the game, such as “where to stand … and the inner workings of how sand games run,” Metzger will have the opportunity to expand on the details of the game this year.
“There was this pretty massive learning curve last year,” he said. “This year, I feel like our starting point is a lot further along. So it’s pretty neat to see the development of the program (and) the development of the athletes.”
And as can be expected, as the program continues to grow, so do the expectations.
“I think last year our expectations were just to learn and have fun out there,” Nightingale said. “I think this year we’re going to try to do something, and try to win good games against good teams.”