Dons' Beach Volleyball Duo Ranked First in State

Santa Ana sophomores Viridiana Serrano and Mikelle Taylor (8-0) are ranked as the No. 1 beach volleyball duo in the state of California.“Hard work pays off. Last year we were really disappointed with our ending,” Serrano said. “This year we told ourselves we were going to play harder, train harder and get to where we should have been and redeem ourselves from last year.”

Based on last year’s performance, Serrano says the duo is more aggressive this season, and they are focusing on being more consistent with their shots and hits.

Despite their success, the tandem faces some challenges. Since SAC doesn’t have its own beach court, Serrano and Taylor spend time practicing on grass even though they compete on the sand. When not on the sand, they focus on conditioning.

“Whenever given the opportunity to be in the sand, we’ll push each other harder than we ever did,” Serrano said.

“It’s not just one of us holding the team down, we are both working together to be in the position that we are in today.”

The women are proud to be part of an emerging powerhouse, with multiple Dons beach volleyball pairs also ranking at the state level.

“The program has been awesome. We’ve been doing pretty well this season, and hopefully when I leave this will keep up,” Taylor said.

“It’s literally like family, everyone supports each other our teammates are so amazing without them we wouldn’t be where we are right now,” the duo said in unison.