Passion for Volleyball Even on the Sand

By Ellie Gilbert and Brooke Hacker

Photo courtesy of Devyn Castañeda

The Redwood varsity volleyball team has had a phenomenal season so far, with no sign of that changing any time soon.

Five of the players, Kennedy Cutler ‘24, Ashlyn Guenter ‘24, Audrey Hyde ‘24, Devyn Castañeda ‘24, and Morgan Castañeda ‘23, all have one thing in common. They all contribute their time in training and competing through Elite Beach Volleyball, located in Clovis.

Beach volleyball is similar to indoor volleyball, but it comes with its own set of rules and challenges. For instance, instead of having 6 players on a court, you can only have 2 on the sand. Devyn Castañeda and Morgan Castañeda are sisters who often play with one another.

Win or lose, Morgan Castañeda has a lot of fun playing beach volleyball. She says, “It feels pretty cool because sometimes it’ll either be me or my sister that I’ve been playing together, but we won, or to be playing each other in the finals with different partners, so we have a lot to talk about after, whether it’s a win or a loss.”

Devyn feels the same way towards her sister, saying that, “It feels great. We’ve been on a team ever since we were little, and I’m sad she’s leaving me in club, so that’s disappointing.”

Guenter enjoys beach volleyball but finds a special feeling when playing for Redwood.
Guenter says, “I think for my school I feel more pride in it, and I want to do better to represent Redwood. With club, it’s a lot of fun because I do it with friends, and it’s a fun extracurricular activity to do, but when I play for school I feel more pride and take it a lot more seriously.”

She also mentions the environment that surrounds Redwood volleyball. She says, “Beach volleyball is fun and improved my skills a lot, but I just like the environment of the Redwood volleyball team, and we make it fun, and coach Alana is great at coaching us and making practices fun.”

However, beach volleyball is not just all fun and games. A lot of effort and strength goes into playing this sport. Cutler says that “Treading sand is way harder than just being on flat ground.” When playing indoor volleyball, that’s not a concern. The court is always flat and is easy to run on.

Despite the challenges that come with beach volleyball, the girls seem to love it nonetheless. When asked which was better, Redwood or Elite Beach, most couldn’t decide. Hyde says, “I love them both, so I can’t choose.”

Tags: beach, beach volleyball, brooke hacker, elitebeach, ellie gilbert, Redwood, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism, Redwood volleyball