The Piedmont High School beach volleyball team is off to a strong start, winning its first four matches. First-year coach Jason Mongue said his team is very young — mostly composed of freshmen and sophomores — but several have been playing club indoor volleyball for years.
“I’m in the real fortunate position of having inherited a lot of players who have spent years getting into the sport,” Mongue said. “These girls have been playing club. They have invested hundreds of training hours into the sport. It’s really wonderful to get to work with them. They have so many skills coming in that our coaches have been able to work on the strategy of the beach game. They’re like sponges absorbing it… [and] having success with it in practice. The dream of every coach is seeing that translate into competition, and we’re seeing that,” he said.
Mongue was hired in December and addressed two key improvements to the program, which is in its fifth year. The team found a home court on Alameda beach, and he was able to beef up the schedule to 12 matches.
“(Playing at the beach) has actually played out to be wonderful,” Mongue said. “The location is stunning. It has panoramic views of the Bay. I love that we’re playing beach volleyball on an actual beach. It’s windy out there. I think that it’s better to be challenged.
“We host our home games there. It has been an advantage for our players using the elements.”
The beach season, which is still growing in the area, does conflict with club season, so planning practices involves checking the availability of Mongue’s players.
“There are 13 players on the roster and I think nine of them are on club teams,” he said.
“They’ve got demanding club coaches asking for a lot of their time and energy. Figuring out when we can practice, figuring out who can come to which practice, it has been fun figuring out that puzzle.”
Mongue said he has several players at the top of the ladder.
“We’re still playing around with pairings,” he said. “At any given competition, our ones and our twos pairings are pretty indistinguishable.”
He said he also switches pairings around.
Sophomore Olivia Stevens has been one of the top players. “She’s actually probably the most experienced beach player,” Mongue said. “She has been doing Red Rocks Alameda’s beach program for a number of years. Played in five beach tournaments last summer, second in one, third in two others.”
Junior Fiona Olsen is another top player on the team. “She plays for Bodhi Beach volleyball club,” Mongue said. “She also does tournaments in the summertime. She’s also a team captain.” Freshman Carina Vora is a huge up-and-coming player according to Mongue.
“She has been playing beach volleyball for three years in addition to club volleyball,” he said. Sophomore Mia Bechtel is another who has played with Red Rock. So has sophomore Izara Dando. Stevens, Olsen, Bechtel, and Dando are all returning players from last year’s Piedmont team. Stevens, Carly Kemp-Malone, Daisy Tran, and Savannah Sears have played in all four matches and are undefeated.
There are no seniors on the roster, only two juniors and the rest are sophomores and freshmen.
The team opened the season March 3 with a 5-0 win at Las Lomas. The next day, the Highlanders beat Acalanes on the road, 5-0. Vora and Stevens defeated Brynah McCall and Belle Zhang in the No. 1 match, 21-7, 21-5. Olsen and Bechtel beat Grace Hayes and Stella Larkin at No. 2, 15-21, 21-16, 15-9.
On March 10, Piedmont defeated visiting San Domenico, 3-1. On March 18, the Highlanders beat visiting Livermore, 4-2.
Mongue grew up in the East Bay, attending Acalanes. He is 53 years old, and has beach coaching volleyball for four years. He coached the junior varsity for two years at College Prep and has been a grass doubles player for many years.
“It has been really nice coaching beach,” he said. “Doubles is the heart of volleyball for me personally. Doubles is so much more strategy and thinking and ball control. You can be a shorter player and still become proficient and successful at the top levels of the sport. I like the doubles game and get to share that with the kids. I like to call doubles ‘chess for the volleyball.’”