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As rain poured outside his office earlier this week, coach J.J. Van Niel crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair. He was wearing flip-flops.

"It's a beach day," he explained.

Every day is a beach day this spring, as Utah volleyball prepares to wrap up its first season on the sand with Pac-12 Championships this weekend.

Predictably, the season has been a struggle — any new sport typically is. But for the players, having a second season in the spring following their fall indoor season has been an adventure.

"I'm so glad they added it," said junior Adora Anae, who was an All-American in the fall. "It makes your indoor game 10 times better. It's just fun."

If it seems a little far-fetched to make beach volleyball an official sport at Utah, the primary reason it has been added might just be the ease of it: The indoor volleyball team, with players already on scholarship, comprises the five pairs of women who play on the beach. The university had sand courts on campus, and added indoor courts in the Nielsen Fieldhouse this past year. The team has been to only two tournaments so far this season and played 11 duals, winning only one.

Anae, who hails from Hawaii, was excited to get the chance to play on the sand again. After the first practice earlier this year, however, some realities set in.

"It's tough," she said. "The first day we started, it was just exhaustion. At first, it was an Achilles thing. You're cutting everywhere, and your ankles are sinking in the sand. Just the whole foot area is working. It really takes a lot more in your legs."

It's also an entirely different game. With two players on the court instead of six, players are more likely to touch the ball on every point, and that means a lot more moving. There has to be rock-solid communication between partners, and they have to cover a lot of ground on defense. Utah uses bump sets instead of traditional sets in beach, because rules are more strict in setting.

There's also the matter of how offense works: In the indoor game, the emphasis is on big hits. Utah got plenty of that from Anae and others last year, ranking among the nation's highest-scoring teams. But the beach game is more about placement than force. Craftiness is the key, because a well-placed shot to space can be more effective than a hard shot at an opponent.

"It really forces you to use all the tools," said Van Niel, who directs the beach program with the assistance of indoor head coach Beth Launiere. "You have to do a lot to keep up."

One of the best surprises of the early season has been early enrollee Dani Barton, who started on the two-squad before being paired with Anae as the top pair for the last eight matches.

The daughter of former two-sport Ute star Mikki Kane-Barton and a standout for Brighton High, Dani Barton has already won five of her 11 matches this season — what the coaching staff hopes is a prelude to a promising fall.

But until Anae and Barton can play on opposing wings of the indoor court, they've got one more weekend at the beach.

"It's not that we get sick of indoor, but it gets to a point where you want to switch up," Anae said. "Then you have beach volleyball. It's fun, it's competitive. It's a different kind of stress."

kgoon@sltrib.com Twitter: @kylegoon —

Pac-12 Beach Volleyball championships

Utah (1-10) plays this weekend in Tucson, Ariz., for the Pac-12 title. The Utes will likely play in the play-in game on Thursday, April 27 at 10 a.m. MDT. The games will be televised on Pac-12 Network. The team champion will be crowned on Friday, and the pairs tournament will be played decided on Saturday.