University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Kylie Grandy and Abbey Wilson Discuss Time Away, Transitions from Indoor to Beach
11/6/2020 2:29:00 PM | Beach Volleyball
Note: Saturday's 9 a.m. closed match against Central Arkansas was canceled Friday afternoon.
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss beach volleyball team was 5-2 this past spring, including a five-match win streak, to get halfway to its win total from its inaugural 2019 season.
Then, the COVID-19 pandemic forced an early departure. Kylie Grandy and Abbey Wilson, who went 5-2 at the No. 1 spot, shared their thoughts and journeys to this point.
Wilson at least had the opportunity to make the most of the premature break.
"I spent quarantine at the lake and learned how to wakeboard," she said. "It took me a few more tries than it should have, but I also played in a few spikeball tournaments which was the closest I got to competing. It's not the same at all. In volleyball, you want to reach really high, whereas there it's supposed to be hit close to the net. That was my biggest mistake."
Wilson had a rather unique journey to Southern Miss, going from Division II indoor to Division I beach. She competed for Carson-Newman in Fall 2017 and made her Golden Eagle debut in Spring 2019.
"I had always wanted to play D1 volleyball," she said. "After my freshman year, I re-evaluated things and decided indoor wasn't the path I wanted to go. Never in a million years did I expect to play D1 beach volleyball because I had never really played it competitively, so that summer I went to these two guys who lead a beach club in Nashville and told them to tell me if I was good enough to do this in college. They said 'alright, let's go and see what you got.' It felt like the right move for me.
"Indoors, I was very much a utility player and decent at a lot, but never great at one. That's the kind of player that's good at beach. So here, it was a lot better suited for me."
Therein lies the uniqueness between the two sports, especially as beach continues to grow nationwide. Grandy, who finished her indoor career with 1,572 kills, the second-most in Southern Miss history, is now in her third run in the sand.
"Mentally, it's a challenge," she said. "You're touching the ball every single time and volleyball is a game of mistakes. Bouncing back is a tough thing. I think it goes to show it's more than just a physical game. You know that your body can do so much, and that's a pretty hard thing. I think it's a pretty cool concept too, just having another partner with you to build that chemistry. Indoors has five other people to trust, and it's not so much one-on-one, including conversations."
Wilson highlighted the training method differences as well.
"For me, when I first got here, the strength and conditioning were a lot different," she said. "Playing with only one other person, and in the sand, makes it a lot more different. You use different muscles in the sand too, and in those first few weeks of training, your body will really hurt. Physically, that's a big change."
Staying on the training front, Grandy, who has aspirations to play professionally, spent the start of the school-shutdown in Arizona to witness another setting and get a new look on things.
"It was cool to see how everyone has a different style of play, from there to Mississippi to North Carolina [her home state]," she said. "It was a lot of fun to learn more and see different competition. I got to go home and visit my family a little bit."
This is Grandy's final year of eligibility, which dates back to Fall 2015 when she led C-USA in service aces and made the All-Freshman team. Wilson, who is majoring in international studies with a minor in Spanish, will graduate in May. Her post-playing aspirations include working in the non-profit sector and international communities, primarily in Latin America, working on sustainability from access to clean water, toilets, stoves, gardening and other aspects.
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss beach volleyball team was 5-2 this past spring, including a five-match win streak, to get halfway to its win total from its inaugural 2019 season.
Then, the COVID-19 pandemic forced an early departure. Kylie Grandy and Abbey Wilson, who went 5-2 at the No. 1 spot, shared their thoughts and journeys to this point.
Wilson at least had the opportunity to make the most of the premature break.
"I spent quarantine at the lake and learned how to wakeboard," she said. "It took me a few more tries than it should have, but I also played in a few spikeball tournaments which was the closest I got to competing. It's not the same at all. In volleyball, you want to reach really high, whereas there it's supposed to be hit close to the net. That was my biggest mistake."
Wilson had a rather unique journey to Southern Miss, going from Division II indoor to Division I beach. She competed for Carson-Newman in Fall 2017 and made her Golden Eagle debut in Spring 2019.
"I had always wanted to play D1 volleyball," she said. "After my freshman year, I re-evaluated things and decided indoor wasn't the path I wanted to go. Never in a million years did I expect to play D1 beach volleyball because I had never really played it competitively, so that summer I went to these two guys who lead a beach club in Nashville and told them to tell me if I was good enough to do this in college. They said 'alright, let's go and see what you got.' It felt like the right move for me.
"Indoors, I was very much a utility player and decent at a lot, but never great at one. That's the kind of player that's good at beach. So here, it was a lot better suited for me."
Therein lies the uniqueness between the two sports, especially as beach continues to grow nationwide. Grandy, who finished her indoor career with 1,572 kills, the second-most in Southern Miss history, is now in her third run in the sand.
"Mentally, it's a challenge," she said. "You're touching the ball every single time and volleyball is a game of mistakes. Bouncing back is a tough thing. I think it goes to show it's more than just a physical game. You know that your body can do so much, and that's a pretty hard thing. I think it's a pretty cool concept too, just having another partner with you to build that chemistry. Indoors has five other people to trust, and it's not so much one-on-one, including conversations."
Wilson highlighted the training method differences as well.
"For me, when I first got here, the strength and conditioning were a lot different," she said. "Playing with only one other person, and in the sand, makes it a lot more different. You use different muscles in the sand too, and in those first few weeks of training, your body will really hurt. Physically, that's a big change."
Staying on the training front, Grandy, who has aspirations to play professionally, spent the start of the school-shutdown in Arizona to witness another setting and get a new look on things.
"It was cool to see how everyone has a different style of play, from there to Mississippi to North Carolina [her home state]," she said. "It was a lot of fun to learn more and see different competition. I got to go home and visit my family a little bit."
This is Grandy's final year of eligibility, which dates back to Fall 2015 when she led C-USA in service aces and made the All-Freshman team. Wilson, who is majoring in international studies with a minor in Spanish, will graduate in May. Her post-playing aspirations include working in the non-profit sector and international communities, primarily in Latin America, working on sustainability from access to clean water, toilets, stoves, gardening and other aspects.
Players Mentioned
/ Beach Volleyball
/ Beach Volleyball
Game Highlights: Southern Miss vs. James Madison
Saturday, January 31
Women's Basketball Postgame Press Conference - Jan. 22 vs. Marshall
Friday, January 23
Christian Ostrander Preseason Press Conference
Monday, January 19
Full Highlights - Southern Miss vs ULM
Saturday, January 10