Beach volleyball: Undefeated Winter Haven prepares for first-ever district tourney

Winter Haven had already been playing intramural beach volleyball in the spring for the last few years.

So, when there was a Florida Athletic School Activities Association, statewide push for beach volleyball recently and county athletic director Dan Talbot ensured that Polk County would also have the addition, there was excitement permeating from Winter Haven head volleyball coach Dylan Sechrest to all the intramural volleyball players, all of which already play on the volleyball team in the fall.

And why not? This is the first year that beach volleyball is an FHSAA sanctioned sport, though the sport has been growing the past few years due to collegiate beach volleyball developing the last 10 years or so, eventually providing scholarships to those who take the sport seriously.

“I think a couple of girls who’ve been playing in the past were extremely excited that it was made an official sport this year,” Sechrest said. “Me, I was a little surprised by it, but excited for the opportunity it presented for our kids.”

Winter Haven’s student-athletes were so excited that 35 tried out for the team in February. Sixteen are currently on the team. These 16 players helped Winter Haven volleyball in the fall go 18-9, win a district championship and advance to the regional semifinals before going out to eventual state champion Venice.

Now these same players have Winter Haven off to an 11-0 start and the No. 1 seed in Polk County's first-ever Class 1A, District 13 tournament, which is slated for 11 a.m. Wednesday at Polk State.

There are a couple of rule changes when it comes to beach volleyball. For one, groupings of two players are paired up and are called seeds, and they play the other team’s same seeds. There are five seeds on each team. Whatever team wins three out of those five seedings technically wins the match.

And of course, these seeds play on the sand outdoors as opposed to a court. One cannot tip the ball with an open hand. Rather, they must poke it with your knuckles. Also, coaches can’t coach during play; they have to wait until timeouts.

Leading the way for the beach volleyball team is Tori Martin, who is an all-county center for the indoor team and who might be the most passionate about beach volleyball, as she plays on beach volleyball teams over the weekend.

Another all-county indoor player playing on the beach volleyball team is Rylee Tanner, who plays on the No. 1 seed team with Elle Floyd – another all-county player. These two have played the state’s best players — future Division I players ― and have elevated Winter Haven’s play by facing each other in practice every day.

“It’s made the girls step up,” Sechrest said. “…They’ve gotten better at communication. They’ve held each other to a higher standard this year. They really understood that they need eacher.”

The players really need each other on the court because of the challenges the sand itself presents.

“…It’s a totally different game,” Sechrest said. “I would say it’s harder to move, (and) it’s definitely harder to jump. Some of the girls do better at it than others. Some of the girls love indoor and are playing beach volleyball for fun…”

District Format

The district tournament will be comprised 10 teams and will be one-loss elimination. The highest seed earned the least resistance en route to the finals. Once the final eight seeds have advanced, the highest seeds play the lowest seeds. In all, it’s a three-round tournament.

The following other Polk County teams are slated to play: Auburndale (7 seed, 2-6) vs. Ridge Community (10, 0-7) at 11 a.m. and Bartow (4, 4-3) vs. Tohopekaliga (5 seed). Winter Haven will take on the winner of Harmony (8) and Lake Buena Vista (8) in the quarterfinals, Lakeland (2, 6-4) will take on the winner of Auburndale and Ridge and George Jenkins (3, 6-5) will take on the winner of Lakeland and its opponent in the semifinals; the Eagles already defeated Lake Wales (6, 3-6) 3-2 in the quarterfinals on Monday.

“We got high expectations. We’re not really playing around with anybody,” Sechrest said. “We’ve already played these teams already. We’ve taken care of business, so we expect no different."

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Undefeated Winter Haven prepares for first-ever district tourney