Setting is one of the most beautiful skills in beach volleyball. Hitting the ball hard is really cool and nothing boosts morale like a stuff block, but the beauty of a perfect set going up and down or right and left at the net is nearly unparalleled. Furthermore, the way a team sets the ball oftentimes reflects the essence of its game and differentiates it from their competitors.
Even though they don’t score points with their sets (most of the times, at least), players take a lot of pride in being great setters (just try calling a double on them, ref!), which makes them spend hours and hours refining their craft in the skill.
The Beach Major Series has witnessed the rise of several phenomenal setters over the last years and here are the five, in alphabetical order, who really took the skill to another level.
Adrian Carambula
Adrian Carambula has easily the craftiest game in the entire World Tour. Unsurprisingly, he was awarded as the Most Entertaining Player of the 2018-2019 beach volleyball season. Watching the Italian play is a delight and most of it is due to the unbelievable up tempo offense his teams run on the sand court. That, of course, wouldn’t be possible if the lefty defender wasn’t a fantastic setter, but more than his soft touch on the ball, what make Carambula a special setter are his creativity and his willingness to take risks in order to catch his opponents by surprise. Anytime an opponent serves his partner Enrico Rossi, it gets into a guessing game because he can actually hit the ball anywhere in the court at any given pace. Even though Carambula and Rossi aren’t the tallest or strongest players to compete at the Beach Major Series, they’re often considered among the toughest teams to play against because they’re just unpredictable offensively and have some of the best hands in the sport.
Bartosz Losiak
Bartosz Losiak is another adept of the “play fast” type of offense. He is, truth be said, one of the actual mentors of the style as partner Piotr Kantor and him have successfully been using it since the early stages of their partnership, when they won Under-19, Under-21 and Under-23 world titles a decade ago. The fast-paced and varied offense has become a trademark of the team that has won two silvers and one bronze medal at the Beach Major Series. As Losiak once told us, the idea is to mimic the offensive system of the indoor volleyball game, which they played growing up in Poland. The duo, which has been together at the World Tour since 2009, likes to use the entire extension of the net to run its offense, becoming a true nightmare to blockers and defenders across the net who helpless try to anticipate their moves. Probably both of them could make the list, but we’re going with Losiak, who was awarded as the World Tour Best Setter in 2017.