The Bakersfield College beach volleyball team has enjoyed plenty of success as all 11 members of the team have qualified for the Western State Conference Individual Pairs Championships being held at El Camino College in Los Angeles on May 3-6.

Additionally, BC finished third in conference after wrapping up its inaugural regular season with a 6-3 overall record and 3-3 in Western State Conference play which qualifies them for the state’s regional playoffs at Grossmont College on May 3. BC will face Irvine Valley College and Mira Costa College in the first round.

Individually, the team of Sarah Aurin, CSUB-bound sophomore, and Hannah Pope, sophomore, also qualified for the State Individual Pairs Championships to be also held at Grossmont College on May 7-8.

Although the team will be going to the playoffs in its first year of eligibility, it doesn’t mean the road to the playoffs was an easy one according to head coach Carl Ferreira. “For our first year on sand the girls did great,” Ferreira said. “ A lot was blind to us at first and we didn’t really know what to expect, but anytime you’re taking on a new venture you’re never quite sure how it works out.”

Ferreira believes however that the season was a huge success overall and cites an unlikely source for help in getting through his rookie season as a beach volleyball coach. “I needed Sandi Taylor’s support all year; it was huge. Trust me, without her we wouldn’t be here talking about this today,” he said in regards to BC athletic director Sandi Taylor.

According to Ferreira, the successes the girls are experiencing now stem from Taylor’s belief that beach volleyball would be beneficial to women’s volleyball at the school overall.

With the success of the team this year, Ferreira believes that beach volleyball at BC will be a powerhouse in no time.

He believes his girls now have the added advantage of playing the sport year-round, which will help with the regular volleyball season next year.

And with the team having so many members going to the playoffs Ferreira is expecting more and more girls to transition from the courts to the beaches sometime in the near future.

“These girls made adjustments all year and man did it show,” said Ferreira, “It was like night and day watching them from then to now.” A focus on teaching solid problem skills is what Ferreira attributes to his teams’ growth this year.

As a coach he feels as though he is not only just teaching them about the sport of volleyball, but about life itself.

Saying that on the court both players have to think for themselves unlike regular volleyball which allows for coaches to coach up their players more. Because of this he feels as though his girls have learned much more than just volleyball skills this season saying, “I can’t coach in action that’s the problem, so the girls have to learn and mature with the matches and learn more on their own.”