Charles Frederick "Karch" Kiraly is an American volleyball player, coach, and broadcast announcer. He was a central part of the U.S National Team that won gold medals at the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games. He went on to win the gold medal again at the 1996 Olympic Games, the first Olympic competition to feature beach volleyball. He is the only player to have won Olympic medals of any color in both the indoor and beach volleyball categories. He played college volleyball for the UCLA Bruins, where his teams won three national championships under head coach Al Scates. Kiraly is widely regarded as the greatest male volleyball player of all time.
Holly McPeak is an American retired indoor and beach volleyball player. McPeak was three-times an Olympian in beach volleyball. In the professional circuit, she garnered 72 career beach volleyball titles, with career earnings of US$1.4 million. She is ranked third in titles won and second in career earnings for female professional beach volleyball players. She won a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics with partner Elaine Youngs. Though McPeak was considered short for a beach volleyball player at 5 feet 7 inches in height, she was one of the toughest players to beat on the tour.
Logan Maile Lei Tom is an American former indoor volleyball and beach volleyball player, and is the current head coach of the Israel women's national volleyball team. She is a four-time Olympian at the outside hitter position. At age 19, Logan became the youngest woman ever to be selected for an American Olympic volleyball team when she competed at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. She was a skilled all-around player who brought stability to the American serve receive and defense, while also providing the team with a solid attack and block at the net. She was a huge part of the national team from 2000 to 2012. At the 2008 Olympics, Tom helped Team USA win a silver medal and was named Best Scorer, she won another silver medal at the 2012 Olympics with the national team. She was also awarded the Most Valuable Player of the 2004 FIVB World Grand Prix.
Lisa Maria Fernandez is an American former softball player and current associate head coach at UCLA. She played college softball at UCLA as a pitcher and third baseman, and is a three-time medal winning Olympian with Team USA.
Christopher St. John "Sinjin" Smith is an American former professional beach volleyball player. He was the first player to win 100 career tournaments, and won numerous Manhattan Open titles with Karch Kiraly and Randy Stoklos as partners.
The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). For football, they are in the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division I. UCLA is second to only Stanford University as the school with the most NCAA team championships at 123 NCAA team championships. UCLA offers 11 varsity sports programs for men and 14 for women.
Jeff Wayne Nygaard is an American volleyball coach and former volleyball player. He was a member of the United States national indoor team in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He was a middle blocker. He also played beach volleyball at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens with partner Dain Blanton.
Stein Metzger is a former beach volleyball player from the United States. He is the head coach of the beach volleyball team at the University of Texas.
Tayyiba Mumtaz Haneef-Park is an American indoor volleyball head coach and former player. She played at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, where the team finished in 5th place. Haneef-Park also competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where she won a silver medal with team USA. After her pregnancy in 2010, she returned to Team USA to repeat their silver medal performance at the 2012 London Olympics. Both times USA lost to Brazil. She is currently the head coach of the San Diego Mojo of the Pro Volleyball Federation.
Ricci Judson Luyties is an American volleyball coach and former volleyball player. As a member of the United States national volleyball team, he won a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Luyties later became a successful professional beach volleyball player and won seven titles. He was the head women's volleyball coach at the University of California, San Diego.
John Andrew Banachowski is an American volleyball coach. He was the head coach of the women's volleyball team at UCLA. He had more wins than any other Division I coach, with 1,106 total victories and an overall record since the 1970 season of 1,106-301 (.786), until his record was broken on September 6, 2013, by University of Hawaii head coach Dave Shoji. He did not coach the two seasons from 1968-1970 after his graduation from UCLA. Under his coaching, the UCLA team won six national championships. Banachowski was twice an All-American volleyball player at UCLA under Al Scates, and won USVBA national championships in 1965 and 1967 as a player. While at UCLA he joined Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity.
April Elizabeth Ross is an American beach volleyball player and three-time Olympic medalist. She won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics with Jennifer Kessy, a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics with Kerri Walsh Jennings, and a gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics with Alix Klineman. Ross and Kessy were also the 2009 Beach Volleyball World Champions.
The UCLA women's volleyball program began its first year in 1965. Andy Banachowski was the head coach each year since 1965 until his retirement after the 2009 season, with the exception of the two seasons of 1968–69 and 1969–70, after he graduated from UCLA. In those seasons, Mardi Hardy Monroe was the head coach. Michael Sealy took over as head coach in 2010 and led the team to a national championship in 2011.
Liz Masakayan is a Filipino-American former indoor and beach volleyball player, and current coach. She participated in the 1988 Summer Olympics with the United States women's national volleyball team, and as a beach volleyball player won a total of 47 tournaments in her career.
Alexandra Rose "Alix" Klineman is an American beach volleyball player, 2020 Summer Olympics gold medalist, and former indoor volleyball player.
Lauren Fendrick is an American beach volleyball player. She competed in beach volleyball at the 2016 Summer Olympics with teammate Brooke Sweat. In 2017, Fendrick and new teammate April Ross placed second at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships.
Megan Norma McNamara is a Canadian beach volleyball player. Along with her twin sister, Nicole McNamara, Megan has competed in many beach volleyball events around the world. From the fall of 2015 until the spring of 2019, Megan competed collegiately for the UCLA Bruins, leading the team to its first Pac-12 and NCAA titles in the sport during the 2018 season, and a second NCAA championship in the 2019 season.
Nicole Carol McNamara is a Canadian beach volleyball player. Along with her twin sister, Megan McNamara, Nicole has competed in many beach volleyball events around the world. From the fall of 2015 until the spring of 2019, Megan competed collegiately for the UCLA Bruins, leading the team to its first Pac-12 and NCAA titles in the sport during the 2018 season, and a second NCAA championship in the 2019 season.
Kelly Marie Cheng is an American beach volleyball player. She and her partner Sara Hughes won the bronze medal at the 2013 U19 World Championships, the silver medal at the 2014 U21 World Championships, the gold medal at the 2023 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships and back-to-back NCAA Championships in 2016 and 2017.
Sarah Marie Sponcil is an American volleyball player for the Grand Rapids Rise of the Pro Volleyball Federation, best known for her beach volleyball career. Sarah competed for the USA Volleyball Beach National Team in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Sarah and partner Kelly Claes tied for 9th in their debut Olympics. At 24 and 25, Sponcil and Claes, respectively, were the youngest beach volleyball team to represent the USA since its inception as an Olympic sport in 1996.
