BEACH VOLLEYBALL—two-versus-two, fast-paced volleyball action played under the scorching sun.

With the indoor volleyball tournament scheduled for the second half of the school year, this semester’s battle on the sand is expected to keep the excitement flowing for all volleyball enthusiasts.

This year, the team representing the Blue and White is the rookie duo of Jeriel Apelar and Karl Baysa with Joshua Villanueva as their reserve. Apelar and Baysa both hail from American high schools: Apelar is a product of Lakewood High School while Baysa came from Palau High School. Having served their required residency year in Season 75, the two are now ready to make their UAAP debut.

Out in the sands

Unlike indoor volleyball, beach volleyball has a different approach to the game. Indoor volleyball has six people per team and blockers and attackers are ready to cover each other all throughout the match. Given that there are only two players on a beach volleyball team, the game-play is more cerebral; it relies mostly on the chemistry between both players.

However, with indoor volleyball being the more popular version, finding beach volleyball players is a tough task. Apelar also points out that there’s an obvious difference between the games of indoor volleyball and beach volleyball players. “You can tell [by their playing style] who’s a beach player and who’s not a beach player,” he adds.

Apelar, a sophomore communication major, grew up in the state of California and was exposed to a variety of sports since the age of nine. He eventually matured as an athlete, opting to develop his volleyball skills through competitive club volleyball. With all of those playing years under his belt, he has learned how to analyze the game, which has earned him a definite upper hand.

Standing at 5’9”, Apelar is at a height disadvantage. However, he makes up for it with his high on-court I.Q. and excellent conditioning.  He emphasizes the importance of knowing the tendencies of his adversaries, saying, “I believe no matter how tall you are, there’s a weak spot. You can’t be the perfect player. It’s impossible. So whatever your opponent’s weakness is, you exploit it.”

With this wise approach to the game, Apelar stresses the value of every point and every little margin on the court. “It’s just those little points. Every point matters and I just try to outsmart [the other players] as much as possible.”

Accompanying Apelar on court is the taller Baysa. Although he has the upper hand with his muscular frame and a considerable height advantage, the 5’11” spiker also makes it a point to play strategically. “In the beach, you can also use the environment to your advantage; if you know how to use your resources like the wind, the sun, it would probably be easier for you to get a point,” Baysa points out.

Having played competitive volleyball in Palau, he too has gained the sufficient experience to know how to compete wisely and thrive on the field of the beach. Baysa continues, “It’s also on how you save your energy because we’re only two players and it can get tiring at times. So if you know how to conserve your energy in beach volleyball, it could be an advantage for you—you can think properly, you can move better throughout the game.”

Breadth of exposure

Given the tandem’s collective experience from their years of playing abroad, the duo will enter the season with a unique kind of game. Apelar shares that there are certain advantages and disadvantages to this, as the positioning of the offense and defense is different here. “You have to run a lot of plays here because a lot of people here are shorter. In the States, if you run plays it doesn’t make a difference.”

He adds, “In the States, you position yourself inside more because people are taller and they can hit straight down. Compared to here, a lot of people would get a touch on the block so it would go farther out.”

Baysa also points out the differences in the communication between players. He says, “Playing here has different signals so sometimes you get confused with what they say [as compared] to what you’re used to.”

Communication is key

Last year’s men’s beach volleyball line up consisted of Ricci Gonzales and Ysay Marasigan. Despite both players being all-around explosive athletes, on-court chemistry became an issue because of their language barrier. A graduate of Brent International High School who was not very fluent in Filipino, Gonzales found it difficult to communicate with Marasigan.

Fortunately for this season’s Blue Spikers, Apelar and Baysa have a solid connection with each other. “I know I can rely on my partner because I know he’s been playing for a long time. It was easy to connect to Jeriel with all the very similar concepts that we had,” Basya says. “I guess we’re comfortable with each other.”

Given the chemistry between these two, watch out for a killer combination of wise on-court skills and explosiveness for team Ateneo.