Season Starts Friday For Huskies In Arizona

Friday, February 28

Tucson, AZ

9:00 AM

University of Washington

Stephen F. Austin

Photo by: Red Box Pictures

February 27, 2020 | Beach Volleyball

2020 Beach Recordbook

By: UW Athletic Communications

The NCAA beach volleyball season is already one week old, and Washington jumps into the mix this week with its season-opener in Tucson, Ariz. on Friday. The Huskies will take on Stephen F. Austin on Friday morning at 10 a.m. and then play Pac-12 rival Arizona at 3 p.m. before facing Colorado Mesa on Saturday at 10 a.m.

This week is the first of five consecutive road trips to start the season as the Huskies will go from Arizona, to Los Angeles, to Hawaii, to San Luis Obispo, and then to Stanford before two home dates at Alki Beach on Apr. 10-11. Washington will look to be peaking for the Pac-12 Championships on Apr. 23-25.

Steve Whitaker enters his third season as Head Coach and he has his largest roster yet, with 16 Huskies now training in the sand. The group is evenly split with eight beach-only players and eight indoor players crossing over to the sand. Five beach-only players are new to the team: Scarlett Dahl, Chloe Loreen, Carlyle Nusbaum, Addie Picha, and Cassidy Schilling. Then three indoor players are set to hit the beach for the first time: Shannon Crenshaw, Claire Hoffman, and Sianna Houghton.

They join a group of returners that features Washington's No. 2 pair from a year ago, Kara Bajema and Shayne McPherson. McPherson has 40 career wins and needs five to set the UW dual wins career record.

Junior Emma Calle, senior Avie Niece, and sophomores Kyra Petersen and Callie Weber also combined for 21 wins last year and Natalie Robinson should make an impact after switching to beach-only and redshirting the 2019 season.

Whitaker talked with GoHuskies.com about the 2020 Huskies as they get set for the season-opener.

GoHuskies.com: There are a lot of new faces again on the squad this year. How has it been integrating them along with the new indoor crossovers?
Steve Whitaker: We had eight beach-only players through the fall, and from the middle of September to the end of November there was a huge improvement with all eight of them. Then we added Cassidy from Arizona State and she adds some spunk to the group for sure. It's been really hard on the coaches, which is a really good problem to have, trying to determine the lineups. We have so much talent coming from the indoor side that it's made it a fun month and a half. Because the indoor players know how to compete and they complement the beach-only players quite nicely.

GH: Do you expect to be tinkering with lineups for these first few weeks?
SW: We don't really have to know lineups until the end of the season but we would like to solidify some things well before that. We had to come up with one this weekend of course, and there are still some tweaks that could happen. We have sixteen on the roster and twelve travel, so it makes for a very competitive group, and I'm bummed that we can't bring the whole group but we're excited that we have that problem. We are a lot further along than we were last year at this time.

GH: The most recent additions were Shannon and Claire and Sianna from the indoor team. How quickly have they been able to get up to speed?
SW: Those guys came out and you could tell that even though they're very good at their trade indoors, you could tell they were a little bit lost. And that's okay. We made it known to them to just go do what you do, play volleyball, and we'll start tweaking things. The amount of improvement those three have made is very substantial. You could see the confidence over the last four weeks take off. They definitely will fit into the lineup somewhere. To see them in competition will be a telltale, but they are competing really well. Sianna in the last week has just taken off, unfortunately she's one of the ones staying home, because there's that much competition.

GH: Kara and Shayne are the one team back that has played more than just a couple of matches together. Is it a given that they keep teaming up or could there be some other options for them?
SW: They've proven to be really good together. But saying that I don't think we can just throw them out there and assume that's our best pair, because we have some other parts to the team that are really good that might over time be better splitting up Shayne and Kara, but I don't see it right now. They're really good together and comfortable together and it shows. We're just working on the smoothness of their game.

GH: The four seniors from the indoor season all had their best falls. What have they meant to the beach squad?
SW: There's a big change in all four of them. You see Avie just grinding. She's really putting in an effort to be better. Cailin, we were trying to decide whether or not she should play. I don't think anybody's going to tell you that she hurts any team she's on, just because of the person she is, so I'm really glad that we made the decision to keep her on. She made a huge improvement since we started and she's actually going to travel this weekend. She brings so much more to a team than just athletic ability and you can't put a price on that.

GH: What have you seen from the other returners? Emma Calle, Natalie Robinson, Kyra Petersen and Callie Weber?
SW: They've all made a huge jump. Natalie, Kyra and Callie, they took the offseason really seriously. They got in a ton of games and a ton of training and it showed in the fall. It's awesome to see them compete now along with the indoor players.

GH: Looking at some of the new beach-only players, Chloe Loreen has indoor and beach experience already from Santa Clara.
SW: Chloe is one of our best players. She brings so much to any team and we're really lucky to have her. She came in and got to play the offseason with us and immediately made us better. Recently she's had some achilles issues so we're just trying to do the right thing and hold her when we have to. This weekend will be a test of that, we'll see how she looks and make a game day decision.

GH: You've got another San Diego transfer for the second season in a row. How is Addie Picha taking to the game?
SW: Addie is doing awesome. You never know, being a middle, how an indoor player will morph into a beach player. But it's been really cool to watch her get better. She's got some of the softest hands for setting that I've ever seen a middle have. That brings a lot of worth to a blocker is if they can turn around and set a ball, so I think that's a strength of hers. Her offense keeps on getting better. Her passing was suspect because she never did it the last four years, but she's getting better at that and just her armswing and her shots in general are starting to make more sense to her and she's getting good contact on the ball. It's been fun to watch.

GH: Another senior grad transfer, Carlyle Nusbaum, had quite a great indoor career at Lipscomb. What have you seen from her?
SW: She's ridiculously athletic. A really good outside for a mid-major school back east. The amount of power that comes out of that athlete is amazing. How fast she is. Her vertical is one of the better ones on the team. When she joins us she has an opportunity to be in a number of different places in the lineup because she could be a defender, she could be a blocker. She just gives us a lot of options.

GH: Cassidy Schilling was the most recent addition. What do you like about her game?
SW: Cassidy joined us winter quarter and her transition has been good. She's a hard worker and we've been working on her offense and quieting her movements down, and she's had several really good practices this past week. I see a lot of growth in her since she's been here.

GH: The one true freshman, Scarlett Dahl, is a local product. When did you first get to know her?
SW: I got to know Scarlett when she was a junior in high school at our club. She's another one of those beach players where you could put her as a blocker or a defender. She plays well with whoever she's out there with. So that leaves us a lot of options with her too. I Love having her on the team. It's hard to come in and compete as a freshman but she's done a really good job of it. It's up to us to figure out where she fits.