Senior Abby Miller is wrapping up her final season on NDB’s varsity beach volleyball team. She has been a member of the beach volleyball team ever since her freshman year as she has dedicated 4 years of her career at NDB.

The Catalyst (TC): How is your experience at beach volleyball practices different with the new COVID-19 protocols?
Abby Miller (AM): It took a while to get used to wearing masks for indoor [volleyball], but for beach [volleyball] it’s like a whole other level. You have to take climate into consideration and things like that. But, it’s a lot less stress inducing, because it’s just you and one other person on the court instead of a lot of people.

TC: Have you played any games recently, and how was that experience?
AM: We had our first tournament today. We were kind of like the underdogs. We were going in with probably the least amount of practice, compared to a lot of the other schools, because of how strict COVID [rules] has been for us.

TC: How do you feel about wrapping up your final year on the beach volleyball team as a senior?
AM: It’s definitely something that I am sad about, but it’s exciting to see how much progress that the Beach program has made at Notre Dame since my freshman year. I’m definitely bummed, because Notre Dame is where I kind of first started getting into beach [volleyball], but I am happy with the progress we’ve made while I was there.

TC: Will you continue playing beach volleyball in college?
AM: It’s kind of up in the air, because at [University of] Pacific there are still a lot of girls who are on the indoor team that also play beach [volleyball]. I’m hoping that I can play, but that’s a decision that I’m gonna have to officially make when I get there.

TC: What was your favorite part of the season?
AM: I would say seeing how many girls came out and seeing how strong the future could be for beach [volleyball]. Also being able to compete with my other fellow senior classmates that I’ve played with since freshman year.