San Diego Mesa College's women's beach volleyball team has clinched the conference championship for the fourth year in a row.The Olympians finished the season with a 16-6 overall record (15-2 against 3C2A teams), including an unblemished 12-0 in conference play. 

The success of  the program is built upon a handful of factors, which include the work behind the scenes from the staff that head coach Kim Lester has assembled. Notably, Recruiting Coordinator Bobbie Jo Stall-Vest. Lester says, "it all starts with strong recruitment and Bobbie Jo does an exceptional job of bringing in both talented and quality individuals."

Once the player transitions into a Mesa student-athlete within the program, the work begins. The focus shifts to building a strong team culture and setting high standards.

'We pride ourselves on a 'team first' mentality and the dedication to putting in the hard work," adds Lester. "We understand that success is a process, and we approach our preparation and training with intention. We also emphasize the importance of recovering quickly from setbacks and moving forward. Over the past few years, I've noticed our teams playing with more freedom, confidence, and a true sense of enjoyment, which is incredibly refreshing. When it comes to training, we are intentional about developing both beach skills and strategic understanding. And above all, we have great "buy-in" from everyone involved.

Although the team had somewhat a challenging start due to COVID within the team, there was never any panic. The team was resolute and had laser precision in achieving their first part of their goals. "There was never any panic, I loved that we started playing matches early,' says Lester. " We learned a lot by playing tough teams both in Division II and NAIA programs, including some of the top teams in the state. We learned a lot, were able to mix our pairs to see what worked best. We had great volleyball players, we had to make them good beach players."

As the team prepares for the PCAC Pairs Tournament, scheduled for Wednesday, April 16 - 18th at Mira Costa College, Lester reminds her team to stay focused and stick to the process.