Repetti began attending Miramar College in early 2024 to play beach volleyball for the Jets’ spring season. At the same time, she was finishing her senior year at the University of California, San Diego, where for three years she had played on UC San Diego’s Division 1 women’s indoor volleyball team, the Tritons. When the Tritons’ season wrapped up last fall, Repetti wanted to continue competing and the Miramar College beach volleyball program seemed like the perfect fit.
“I was in the transfer portal for Division 1 volleyball and will play next season at (the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa)," said Repetti. “I wanted to keep in shape.”
It’s relatively rare for college athletes to play two sports for two different institutions in the same year, but Repetti had company. Her fellow UC San Diego teammate Zaria Henderson also played for the Tritons women’s volleyball team in the fall and the Jets beach volleyball team this spring. Henderson is currently in the transfer portal, hoping to find a four-year university where she can continue to play beach volleyball.
Because UC San Diego doesn’t field a beach volleyball program, Repetti and Henderson were eligible to play for a second school in the same year as long as they were enrolled as full-time students at both institutions. Maintaining full-time status means being enrolled in at least 12 units per school.
Juggling that kind of heavy workload is something their Miramar College teammate Mia Fox knows well. Fox just completed her second year playing for the Jets while also taking a full class load at San Diego State University in pursuit of her bachelor’s degree in psychology.
How do they make it all work? Repetti took a total of 32 units in the spring (yes, you read that correctly), including 20 units at UC San Diego: an upper division course in neurosciences, two education courses, a cognitive science elective course, and a theater class. She took her Miramar College classes online, including an economics class, a philosophy class, a fashion class and a volleyball class.
Repetti called the schedule “a little stressful, but nothing too crazy. The UCSD classes (were) harder, but because I was a senior there, I had learned great time management skills,” she said.
On a typical day, she would wake up at the crack of dawn and head to Miramar College for morning practice, followed by a weight-training program required by her soon-to-be new school in Alabama. After lunch, she would head to La Jolla for on-campus classes at UC San Diego and two nights a week she coached volleyball at WAVE Volleyball club.
Henderson was enrolled in 28 units between UC San Diego and Miramar College. Like Repetti, she wrapped up her third season playing for the Tritons in fall 2023. She said her experience competing for the Jets stretched her in new ways. “I am new to beach volleyball. Playing here (helped) me get in the work I need to get better,” Henderson said.
When asked how she managed the grind of 28 units and playing, she quipped, “You get used to it.” But she said she would often look at Repetti during practice and ask, “How did we end up here?”
Fox was enrolled in 27 units this spring between SDSU (15) and Miramar College (12). She said to ease the burden, she took a full load of eight-week courses at Miramar College that began in January and ended in late March.
“It’s tough at first, and asynchronized learning isn’t for everyone, but I find a way to get it done,” said Fox, who also works as a volleyball coach at nearby Westview High School. She plans to graduate in the fall from SDSU.
Not only are these student-athletes achieving their academic goals, but their hard work is paying off on the court, too.
In April, Repetti and her teammate Jaalyn Sotoa won the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference’s women’s pairs championship. In addition, Repetti, Henderson and Fox all qualified for the CCCAA SoCal Regionals Championships, held May 3-4 at El Camino College in Torrance. Henderson and Fox advanced to the state tournament.