Net Posts With Tia Scambray
In her first fall as a college athlete, Tia Scambray played an integral role in powering the Huskies to one of the best seasons in school history. The Dana Point, Calif. product barely ever left the court after earning a starting spot, as she and Honda Award winner Krista Vansant were the only six-rotation players. Scambray was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team, ranked third on the team in points, and handled more opponent serves than any other Husky. Scambray now looks to be a quick study once again in her first season of sand volleyball.
GoHuskies: First off, how are your classes going this quarter?
Tia Scambray: Great, I’m taking an art class, an English class, and a music class about pop and indie music.
GH: Last year, playing sand volleyball was a relatively new experience for a lot of the players, so how much experience did you have with the sand version before college?
TS: When I was younger, I started actually playing club and sand about the same time, when I was in 12s, and we would go down to the beach mainly during the summer when they had the CVBA tournaments. We’d go down and have a partner from our club team and we’d just go down and play. It was more just for fun. Then when I got a little older I started doing it more competitively. I actually played Crissy and another girl in one of my first competitive tournaments, which was fun. I stopped playing much sand during the summer when I started playing USA (juniors indoor), but we would still find some time to go down with friends and play around on the beach so it’s something I’ve always just done for fun.
GH: So you are very familiar with the sport but maybe haven’t been coached much in it?
TS: Exactly. There’s a lot of stuff that I know already, but I have a lot to learn, too. Now playing here, it’s more competitive, and we are learning more techniques that I didn’t know when I was just playing for fun.
GH: What do you enjoy most about it?
TS: There’s a lot more shots you can hit. I really enjoy being able to dive in it and not have it hurt at all. You can throw your body around and get everything up. The digs and plays you can make, there’s a wider range than there is indoor.
GH: Crissy obviously has had a lot of experience on the sand. Did she try to get you out playing with her?
TS: Yeah, we actually played this last summer, we would go down to Huntington and play on the courts. Just me and her would go and find some people to play with us. It was super fun.
GH: With a couple months having gone by since the end of the indoor season, what are your thoughts on how your season went? What were you happiest with and where could you see areas that you want to work on?
TS: I really enjoyed my freshman season. I loved getting to know everybody. The girls, I feel like we’re just one big giant family now. I can definitely improve on my hitting and I think I started to get a lot better with passing, but blocking is probably the number one area I think I can improve and I’m working on it every day.
GH: You guys will play your first sand matches in just a couple weeks. What are you most excited for with the season?
TS: I’m really looking forward to finally figuring out who our partners are, so I can start playing with them and getting to know them and figuring out what works best for us. Communication is very important because you have a lot more ground to cover, so it’s very important that you always talk to the person about what you’re going to do before the play happens, talk about who you’re serving, and what you’re blocking, so it will be fun to strategize like that.
