Kristen Pickett, Rachel Harper Interview

The setter – outside hitter combination has set its sights on being a formidable tandem on the volleyball court for their senior years this coming fall. 

However, they've already connected on Tennessee's sand volleyball courts this summer to win a qualifier in Nashville and earn a spot in the National Sand Collegiate Volleyball Association's tournament at the World Series of Beach Volleyball July 24 in Long Beach, Calif.

"Coach (Dan) Ahiers sent us a note seeing if we'd like to compete since we'd be in the area," Pickett said. "We went down there thinking that we'd get absolutely demolished.  I don't know how we didn't, but we managed to get it done.  That's the way."

The duo qualified by winning a regional qualifying tournament in Nashville in late May. Pickett and Harper rattled off seven straight victories to lay claim to the tournament crown. 

"It has been helpful that we've played volleyball for seven to eight years now," Harper said. "We can easily encourage or pick the other up if we need it.  We had to rely more on our knowledge of the game more than on how high we can jump or how hard we can hit."

Sand volleyball is played best two out of three sets with each set to 21, victors must win by two. 

Pickett and Harper defeated sand teams with players representing Middle Tennessee State University, the University of Alabama-Birmingham, Belmont, Lincoln Memorial, Austin Peay and Trevecca Nazarene. 

"The understanding that this is giving us of how to contact a ball will be really helpful in the fall," Pickett said. "And it'll help with communication.  Surprisingly, it's even more important and more difficult to communicate on the court than if there were six of us out there."

Pickett and Harper have six weeks to train before they head across country to compete at the national level. 

-CN-