Four Young Beach Athletes Looking to Make a Big Impact on the Court

<p>In recent years beach volleyball in the Pacific Northwest has exploded and the athletes taking advantage of the unique cross training opportunity have shown up at high school tryouts with a complete skill set that makes it easy for a coach to plug them into a variety of positions as needed.   Here are three beach standouts that will be working to make a big impact on the hard court this fall.  </p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="97146" first="Aris" last="Vetter"], Outside Hitter, Olympia HS Class of 2022</strong><br /> It’s impossible to understate the accomplishments of [player_tooltip player_id="97146" first="Aris" last="Vetter"] and her sister Avi (who will be a senior at Olympia this year) have achieved on the beach.   They are consistently near the top of the AVPAmerica and USA Volleyball national rankings and have a legitimate shot of winning any tournament that they enter on the sand in Washington, California or elsewhere.    Facing pressure situations against top junior and adult athletes in the nation will have prepared Aris for anything that high school volleyball might throw at her.   </p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="97232" first="Claire" last="Brennan"], Outside Hitter/Defensive Specialist, Monroe HS Class of 2023</strong><br /> Brennan was one cut short of making varsity as a freshman in 2019 at Monroe.   She was pulled up to the varsity roster for the district playoffs and provided valuable passing off the bench to help the senior laden lineup.   She has been the top ranked athlete nationally in her age group in the AVPAmerica standings and credits her success to playing with a wide variety of partners in a wide variety of events.   She’ll be expected to use not only her skill set, but also the leadership developed through her experience to make an impact for Monroe in 2020.  </p> <p><strong>Kyleene Filimaua, Outside Hitter, North Creek Class of 2023</strong><br /> Arguably the best all around player in the state of Washington, Filimauau is already verbally committed to play indoor and beach at Florida State University.   She won league MVP in Kingco 4A as a freshman and having her on the roster makes North Creek a contender at every level.   With three more years of having a generational talent like Filimaua on the roster it will surprise no one if the young program collects multiple state championships before she graduates.   </p> <p><strong>Olivia Strandberg, Opposite/Outside Hitter, Chelan Class of 2023</strong><br /> Strandberg came up big in a supporting role for the Mountain Goats in their thrilling five set win over King’s to take the 1A State Championship title in 2019.   Coming into 2020, she will be expected to shoulder more of the offensive load and use her beach experience to provide leadership as the team works to repeat.   Strandberg trains with K Beach out of Chelan and is currently ranked in the top 15 nationally in the AVPAmerica rankings.  </p> <p>These are just a few of the athletes who have benefited from the explosion of beach volleyball in Washington State.  As beach volleyball continues to grow in the Pacific Northwest and 2020 events are finally able to get underway, we will have more features about players crossing over from the sand to the court to make an impact on their high school teams.   </p>