JACKSONVILLE - Sun, sand and volleyball; what is the hard part of which sport to photograph on an 85 degree day in Florida?

Simple.

Drive to Bishop Kenny High School to watch Middleburg High’s beach volleyball team take on Bishop Kenny and Creekside in the first official week of district matchups for the latest new sport in the FHSAA.

“It’s an FHSAA sanctioned sport now after being at club level last year,” said Middleburg High coach Carrie Prewitt. “We did okay last year against teams that had their own beach volleyball facility. We drive to Camp Blanding to practice now.”

In the district lineup for the area; district 5-1A in region 2, Middleburg is linked up against Creekside, Oakleaf and Ponte Vedra.

“This is great for the fall volleyball conditioning and training,” said Prewitt, who has a beach volleyball court at her home in Middleburg courtesy of her experience with TV’s Extreme Makeover show that rebuilt Prewitt’s house in 2016. “We use that court in the summer for training.”

Thus far, the Lady Broncos have wins over Bishop Snyder (5-0) and Creekside (5-0) with a Wednesday match against Ponte Vedra and a Mon., March 8 match at Oakleaf where athletic director Marcus Miller has already built a beach volleyball facility.

“We had a lot of interest in the sport and I wanted to set up the team with a top-rate court and volleyball area,” said Miller, who was at the Lady Knights matchup with Bishop Snyder. “We have some athletes from other sports competing icluding Tamira Briley, the two time state weightlifting champ.”

In other districts; in district 3-1A, are Bishop Kenny, Bishop Snyder and Episcopal; in district 4-1A are Fletcher and Mandarin, and in district 6-1A are Matanzas, Atlantic High, New Smyrna Beach, Daytona Beach Seabreeze and Spruce Creek.

“We play a best two of three games to 21 points with breaks and court switches at each seven points break for the sun position,” said Prewitt. “Out there today are Connor Rahn, Brooke Forkum and Taylor Mills from our fall team today with Allie Cox, Becca Staefe and Tamin Trott also on the team.”

Prewitt noted that coaches are not allowed to coach during the match, but only at game breaks.

“We can talk at breaks, but we can’t coach during competition,” said Prewitt. “Keeps it quiet during the matches, I guess. This is a good sport to get the girls out of the gym and learning how to play on the sand which is tough on the endurance.”