This year, the ILS Athletic Department welcomed a new team into the fold. Beach volleyball is raising in popularity these days. More than 140 university and colleges are offering beach volleyball athletic scholarships.

ILS’s beach volleyball squad consists of five teams with two players on each team. Those five teams are ranked 1-to-5, similar to tennis, and compete against other schools and clubs 1-5 ranked teams. The team practices and plays their games near school at Kennedy Park. Here is how the first couple beach games went:

The No 1 ILS team, junior Adriana Medina and sophomore Kiara Aletti had a competitive games versus the Carrollton beach team a couple Wednesdays ago. Although they lost that game, they came back Thursday to defeat the Phoenix beach club team in two sets.

The No. 2 ILS team consists of  seniors Mikayla Sanchez and Bella Falero. So far, they’re undefeated! They beat Florida Christian school on last Wednesday and Phoenix on Thursday. Both games went to an exciting deciding set and Mikayla and Bella pulled out the victory!

The No. 3 ILS team sports freshman Nicolle Piedra and sophomore Sofia Moreno-Bo. Both young players showed extreme potential playing Phoenix in back-to-back matches. The second match-up was closer than the first and this team continues to get better.

The No. 4 ILS team features sophomores Anna Vitti and Helena Marquina. They are also undefeated, as they beat both Florida Christian and Phoenix. Florida Christian went to three sets, whereas the two girls were able to sweep Phoenix 2-0.

The No. 5 ILS squad is made up by sophomore Sophie Fakhouri and freshman Lucia Terry. The displayed their potential with their ball control and aggressive serves. They played competitively against Phoenix and Florida Christian and have a very bright future ahead of them!

ILS Athletic Director Nick Fernandez is excited about this new team. “I want to give a huge thank you to coach Maria Cuesta and coach Andres Saladrigas who have done a phenomenal job not only helping with track but also making this first ever beach volleyball team possible!”

The idea of a beach volleyball was explored last year, but it came to fruition this year, and putting together this team should help the development of the indoor volleyball program at ILS.

The Lady Royal Lions volleyball team won the district championship this season. Playing beach volleyball will force the players to think faster and understand the game in a completely new way, considering it’s a 2-on-2 matchup instead of 6-on-6 like indoor.

While the team is no longer playing matches at the moment, this new sport has an exciting future at ILS.