Baylee Young was born to play beach volleyball. Quite literally. Her parents Eric and Sunne met on a beach volleyball court.
She had just finished two seasons of junior college at Pensacola State when she was approached with a number of opportunities to continue her career, including by Darin Van Horn, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga assistant volleyball coach who was charged with starting a beach volleyball program at the school.
"Darin was the one I was favoring the most because we shared this similar passion," Young said earlier this week. "I don't know; I think just being able to build a program with him, leading this and in paving the pathway was really important to me, because I think I possess all of the skills that I can do that."
Beach volleyball isn't indoor volleyball. The sand requires a certain leg strength to get off the ground, plus with only two-person pairings as opposed to six in an indoor volleyball match, players have to adjust because they're not just responsible for a small area, but no less than half the playing ground. That's why it's helped to have a player like Young, who has only played beach volleyball in her college career and has served as a leading voice as some players are learning the new sport for the first time.
"In beach, you have to be good at everything," Young said. "You have to be good at the passing, the setting, the attacking, and I think the sand and all of the environmental factors play a really important part in those big differences."
Two months before the Mocs inaugural season was to begin last year, COVID-19 happened and the season was lost.
Fast-forward to this year and as the season got off the ground, with half the roster also playing indoor volleyball - which had its season also pushed to the spring - Van Horn had only six available players for the first three matches.
But an earlier than expected end to the indoor season led to four starters joining the fold. Since then the Mocs are 4-4, gaining their first win as a program on March 24 when they defeated Carson-Newman 5-0 and their first win over a Division I team last weekend when they beat Austin Peay.
Participating in the Ohio Valley Conference, the Mocs are now 5-1 in the league after sweeping Jacksonville State Thursday in the home finale.
"The start of the year was a challenge," Van Horn said. "Last year, I was kind of sad about it, because the indoor team never got a chance to really, truly learn and practice in the sand, so I kind of felt bad about them to lose that year of preparation.
"Then we start this season with three pairs, and you've got to win all three to win it all. I just wanted them to get out there and play, and honestly, I think it's benefitted us even though we didn't win any of those matches with the three pairings. They've learned how to battle late in the matches where it's close and knowing their strengths and weaknesses and kind of what to hold onto and just playing with each other."
After the slow start, the team is now in line for one of the top four spots in the OVC, which would mean an invitation to the conference tournament in Martin. Three wins there would mean a championship in UTC's first season of having a program.
That would be quite the finish.
"The idea all year long is that we just want to be competitive, but right now, the sky's the limit," Van Horn said. "I'm really excited for them, and they believe in each other, too. It's an interesting thing where, in indoor, you have one team playing whatever that match is, but in beach you have five courts going, like tennis. So seeing the team come together and root for each other when other matches end, you can just tell there's a belief in everyone that each one of those pairings can win at any time, so it's just exciting to kind of watch that culture build.
"I give a lot of credit to those girls as well for that because they've put it on the line and done whatever they can with the COVID year and trying to find a real bond to get me through this first year."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.