Lady Trojan would rather play at the beach

Like many high school volleyball players across the state, Trinity senior Elli Merchant is ready for the official start of the season this week. Merchant has been preparing all summer by playing on the beach. The beach courts, that is.

Merchant is among a growing number of girls across the country using sand volleyball — officially known as beach volleyball — to pave her way to college. She has committed to play beach volleyball on scholarship for Mercer University in Macon, Ga.

According to the NCAA, beach volleyball is the fastest-growing NCAA sport with 50 colleges and universities sponsoring it as of January 2015. The first-ever NCAA championship was awarded in the sport this past May, with the University of Southern California beating out Florida State in the final.

For Merchant, the timing of beach volleyball’s rise couldn’t have been better.

“It wasn’t on my radar until I was in ninth grade that I could play in college,” she said. “After ninth grade, I realized I had a great chance of getting a scholarship for beach. That made me really excited and I trained more and worked really hard to do that.”

While Merchant loves volleyball and playing for Trinity, if she’s honest about it, she’d prefer to have her toes in the sand.

“The biggest thing is that it’s two people instead of six,” she explained. “In indoor, you have to rely on five other people. But in beach, you’re guaranteed touches on the ball and it’s mostly 50-50 responsibility. I just prefer that.”

Like most players, Merchant started with indoor club volleyball. A teammate encouraged her to give the outdoor game a try. Though lukewarm about it initially, the more she played the more she fell in love with it.

Now, she says at least six months of the year you can find her on a sand volleyball court. This past weekend, for example, she was in Florida competing in the NVL Junior Championships along with teammate Kylie Keeling of Frisco, who is also headed to Mercer on volleyball scholarship.

But with camp kicking off this week for high school programs across Texas, it’s time to put back on the gym shoes. It also means a bit of a mind shift.

“I definitely have to think about things when I shift back,” Merchant explained. “In beach it’s a lot quicker, so I usually do a two-step approach. But in indoor — and Coach Langi gets on me — I need to have a three-step approach to have more power.”

Merchant can fill a number of roles for the Lady Trojans, from setter to right side, back or even middle. She feels the skills developed by playing beach volleyball affords her the opportunity to be a utility player for her high school team, and is part of the reason she was a first-team all-district selection last season.

“Mostly everything in beach and indoor plays off each other,” Merchant said. “The skill set I improve on in beach helps me in indoor, like passing and serve receive stuff. It’s helpful to play beach, but at the same time there are some things I have to adjust.”

Trinity coach Mia Langi is just fine with Merhcant’s love of beach volleyball.

“Sand volleyball conditioning wise and strength wise prepares the girls for the season very well,” Langi said. “I’m all about the girls playing multiple sports. The more sports they play, the better it will be for me next time they come around because they’re working different muscles.”

With college plans squared away, Merchant can focus on making her final high school volleyball season a memorable one.

“I’m trying to enjoy my last year and that includes playing volleyball and doing well,” she said.

This story was originally published August 1, 2016 at 9:08 AM with the headline "Lady Trojan would rather play at the beach."