Local volleyballers hit the beach

Wilsons, Holt show their skills in the sand

ralphhardin@gmail.com Volleyball has become somewhat of a sensation in Crittenden County in recent years, and although summer is technically the “off season” for volleyball of the hardcourt variety, there’s still plenty of opportunity to head outside and play in the sand.

Beach volleyball has been an Olympic sport since 1992 when it was a demonstration sport in the Barcelona Games.

Since that time, the sport’s popularity has grown. Unlike traditional six-on-six indoor volleyball, beach volleyball, played on a sand court, is two-on-two.

You might not associate beach volleyball with the Mid-South, but all it takes is a patch of sand and an net and you’ve got yourself a beach volleyball court. There are leagues in Memphis and Marion First United Methodist Church even has a snazzy sand court that sees action in warm-weather months.

Over the weekend, some local girls headed down south to show off their beach volleyball skills, as Kora and Saja Wilson and Samantha Holt took their game to the beach.

Representing Memphis Sand Volleyball, the Wilson sisters placed third in the 16-and-under division in the Panama City Beach USAV tournament last weekend, winning a bid to the USAV Nationals.

The previous weekend, Kora teamed up with Holt and the duo placed third in the High-Performance 14-and-under division of the Gulf Coast Region Grand Beach Championship in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The pair previously placed first out of 39 competitors in the USA division in the 2019 National Qualifier in May, earning a bid to Nationals in California.