But nothing comes close to the Golden Coast. (courtesy Yale Atheltics)

Take a look outside your window. It’s early November; the sky is a merciless shade of gray; the wool has finally been lifted from our eyes. After a seemingly endless Indian summer, winter is here. For good. When the sun is out, New Haven is one of the prettiest cities on the Eastern seaboard. On cold, dreary days like today, I’d rather be locked up in Azkaban. Kendall Polan, MC ’14, has a single thought about the frost that’s heading our way: “I’m scared.”

Polan no doubt enjoys volleyball, the sport that brought her to Yale. A setter, she leads the Bulldogs (who are currently sitting atop the Ivy League standings) with 702 assists, and has been named Ivy League Rookie of the Week four times this season. But when push comes to shove, Polan would prefer to be playing the version of the game that features sand instead of hardwood, bikinis instead of bike shorts. Her reasoning is fairly straightforward. “Well, I love the beach,” she said.

Hailing from sun-kissed Cardiff, Calif., a suburb of San Diego, Polan was first introduced to volleyball when her older brother joined his high school team. Like many young athletes, she tried her hand at a number of different sports—soccer, basketball, and softball among them. At the age of 12, however, Polan took her first step towards concentrating on a single discipline: She joined a traveling volleyball squad, the Encinitas Wave. “It was the ‘B’ team, but it was still club,” she said.

Club volleyball turned out to be an integral part of Polan’s advancement as a player. She played with the same girls for six years, from seventh grade through senior year. Four of those girls also went to her high school, La Costa Canyon, so she developed an on-court rapport with them that few of their opponents could match. As she explained, girls’ volleyball players must begin exploring their college options during their freshman and sophomore years of high school. Accordingly, Polan ditched the basketball team after ninth grade and focused her efforts on the sport that held the most promise for her future.

During Polan’s four years at La Costa Canyon, the team earned three California Interscholastic Federation sectional titles, along with a state championship in her junior season. She also dominated the club circuit, as the Encinitas Wave earned a gold medal in the U-16 division at the Junior Olympics. She describes these victories as defining moments of her high school experience. “Because of the success we had, all my friends wanted to come and watch,” she said, “That was really fun.”

In her first season of collegiate competition, Polan has racked up eye-poppingg statistics, and has proved to be one of the Bulldogs’ most indispensable players. It would be easy to assume that her transition from high school to college has been a seamless one, but it’s not quite so simple. “You have to be a lot smarter about your shots [in college] because everyone is taller and more talented,” she said. Yale also watches video of their opponents to prepare for matches, a tactic which was new to her. In terms of adjusting to her new teammates, Polan pinpoints good communication as a linchpin for any successful effort. “You have to talk in order to let people know which balls you’re going to take,” she said, “With a new team, it takes time getting used to what kinds of sets and passes people like.”

Because Yale Volleyball only has 10 members, almost any time the girls spend together is an opportunity for team bonding. Polan, one of four freshmen, has found little difficulty in blending her unique talents and personality with this particularly tight-knit group. “My college experience wouldn’t have been as rewarding if I hadn’t had such welcoming teammates,” she said. She does lament the fact that her busy in-season schedule has prevented her from meeting as many people outside the team as she would have otherwise, but this closeness has certainly contributed to the Bulldogs’ success. With four Ivy League matches left, the 2008 League Champions hope to capture the championship that eluded them last season. Even if they fall short, Kendall Polan looks to be a key cog in the Bulldogs’ future, though she might have to retire her trademark flip-flops till the summertime.