BERKELEY – Sarah Cole has been playing volleyball almost continuously since she was a young girl and continues to try to perfect the art of serve-receive.
Kory Lamet hadn't touched a volleyball in about seven years and immediately performed the skill beautifully.
That was the first of many signs that Lamet may just be able to pick up this beach volleyball thing.
Lamet, after finishing her career on Cal's women's soccer team, decided she wasn't ready to put away her athletic shoes quite yet and decided to make a run at Cal's beach volleyball team. She's still running, helping the Bears' No. 2 pair to a 17-5 record this season and the team to a No. 14 national ranking.
"It's insane," Cole said. "You could tell right away that her athletic instincts were amazing. She's been able to be successful because she's incredibly smart, and incredibly smart athletically."
Lamet finished her Cal women's soccer career in the fall of 2014. After spending the following spring semester abroad in Florence, she decided to return to Cal to earn a minor in creative writing. While back in Berkeley, she figured she'd try to continue her athletic career as well.
Lamet initially contacted Cal director of volleyball Rich Feller, who told her there was no space on the Bears' indoor roster. He referred Lamet to Cal beach volleyball coach Meagan Schmitt.
Schmitt told Lamet to start playing some pick-up games with the local community at the Clark Kerr Sand Courts. Cole accompanied her to the games, helping her hone her skills that had been untapped since her sophomore year at Carondelet High School in Concord in 2011.
"I was shocked that her serve-received platform was beautiful," Cole said. "I've been working on this for like 12 years and she was just coming out here no big deal after a huge break. I personally think that the serve-receive platform is the toughest thing to teach and to master, so when I saw hers was so good, I knew she would easily be able to pick up other skills."'
It turns out it didn't matter too much that Lamet hadn't been on a volleyball court since high school – or that she had zero beach volleyball experience to speak of. Her natural athletic ability and mental make-up made up for any shortcomings related to the lack of playing time, and by the end of the fall semester had emerged as one of the top players on the team.
"She kind of started with a clean slate. She didn't have any bad habits or anything like that," said Cal sophomore Bryce Bark, who has been Lamet's partner all season on Cal's No. 2 pair. "She was so athletic. I'm not surprised. She's so athletic and she's so quick to learn all the things she needs to do."
Despite being one of the taller players on the team, Schmitt turned Lamet into a "small," meaning she plays off the net and focuses on defense. It's a role better suited for an athlete long on athleticism but short on experience.
"I decided to put her as defender to highlight her strengths," Schmitt said. "She can run around and be a fast athlete, and just dig up a bunch of balls. You see their opponents get so frustrated because they don't know who this kid is digging up all these shots."'
Despite the success Lamet has enjoyed with Bark this season, there are still facets to the game she has far from perfected. Still, she has made immense progress since spending last summer playing pick-up games with Cole.
"It was humbling and frustrating, and it's still that way," Lamet said. "I still come out here and it's kind of the same. I had indoor experience, but my body and mind just weren't on the same page. On top of that, skills from indoor aren't nearly the same as sand. It was frustrating, but it's gotten better."
It was apparent from the outset of the 2016 season that Lamet's presence in Cal's lineup was more than an experiment. She and Bark won their first six matches of the season, including four against pairs from ranked opponents.
Almost as impressive as her transition from soccer to the sand was the impact she had on her new teammates. Just a few weeks after officially being added to the team in the fall, her teammates voted her a co-captain, along with Cole. Lamet served as captain for the women's soccer team as well.
"Kory had amazing coordination, balance and technical excellence, so it makes sense that this innate talent crosses over," Cal women's soccer coach Neil McGuire said. "To be a captain of two varsity teams at Cal speaks volumes for her as an athlete and leader. We are proud of her achievements."
Lamet knew she was joining a team full of student-athletes with much more experience on sand. Once she was added to the roster, she asked her new teammates to trust her. Lamet knew she could transfer some of her years of experience as a Division I student-athlete over to beach volleyball, even if that experience was in a different sport.
"I'm just so impressed with her ability to put herself in uncomfortable positions and just embrace it," Schmitt said. "It's really telling that she is going to be successful in whatever she chooses to do in the future. It's been a really fun experience to watch her go through this whole challenge."
Lamet's brief Cal beach volleyball career will come to a close in a few weeks, and she will play her last set of home matches this Friday and Saturday. Bark laments that the pair can't be together longer, but the No. 2 pair for the 2016 season will go down as a benchmark for the evolution of Cal's beach volleyball program.
"I never expected to really do it," Lamet said. "I surprised myself a lot to do it at the level I am doing it right now, which is really cool. I never expected to be on the 2s team. It's been hard but it's been worth it.
"People dream of playing a sport in college. On top of that, I'm playing a sport at Cal, and then playing two. It's unimaginable when I picture it."
