Holly McPeak
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| Full name | Holly McPeak | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |
 United States | ||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
May 15, 1969 Manhattan Beach, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hometown | Manhattan Beach, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Beach volleyball information | |||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Holly McPeak (born May 15, 1969 in Manhattan Beach, California) is a retired American beach volleyball player.
A three-time Olympian, McPeak garnered 72 career beach volleyball titles with career earnings of $1.4 million USD. She is third in titles won (behind Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh) and second in career earnings (behind May-Treanor) 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.
College and Olympics
A high school three-time All-Ocean League and All-Southern Section setter at Mira Costa High School, McPeak chose to attend college at the University of California for its academic excellence, attending the university on a volleyball scholarship.[1] Also playing for the Golden Bears was her Mira Costa teammate and future beach partner Lisa Arce. At Cal she was named National Freshman of the Year in 1987, and continued to play for Cal through her junior year before a coaching change prompted her to transfer to UCLA.[1] At UCLA her senior season she helped the 1990 UCLA Bruins to a NCAA collegiate championship, the school's fifth of seven national titles. She was selected as first team All-Tournament, first team All-Pac 10 and set the single season assist record of 2,192. She also set the single match assist mark, with 97 assists. The following year she acted as an assistant coach as the Lady Bruins repeated as national champions.[1] McPeak graduated from UCLA in 1995 with a degree in English.[2]
At the 1996 Summer Olympics, McPeak partnered with Nancy Reno but the team was unable to medal. She returned to the 2000 Olympic Games in, this time partnering with Misty May. The team finished in fifth place.
Four years later at the 2004 Summer Olympics McPeak teamed with Elaine Youngs and made a serious run at the Gold Medal, but met powerhouse team Misty May and Kerri Walsh in the semi's and were defeated. Following this her team defeated Australians Natalie Cook and Nicole Sanderson in the third place match to earn McPeak and Youngs the Bronze Medal.[3]
Professional career
During the 2005 season, McPeak teamed up with Jennifer Kessy and with Nicole Branagh for the 2006 season. After Branagh left to partner with Elaine Youngs, McPeak partnered with indoor volleyball player Logan Tom for the 2007 AVP season. She then partnered with Angie Akers.
McPeak was planning to retire after the 2008 AVP season, but decided to continue for the 2009 season.[4] After three-straight ninth-place finishes in her first three AVP events of the season, she retired for good on May 6, 2009, a week shy of her 40th birthday.
Since retiring from beach volleyball, McPeak works as a color commentator for Pac-10 volleyball shown on Fox Sports West, including most televised games of UCLA. She also does color for SEC coverage on the SEC Network.[5]
In 2014, McPeak served as a sand volleyball game analyst for Pac-12 Network.[6]
Personal
McPeak is married to former AVP commissioner Leonard Armato.[4]
Awards and honors
McPeak was inducted into Volleyball Hall of Fame on October 30, 2009.
At UCLA, she was named to the All-NCAA Tournament Team following the '90 championship run, also earning All-Pacific Region and All-Pacific-10 first-team honors.
References
- 1 2 3 Garcia, Irene (December 27, 1991). "Former Mira Costa High Setter Enjoys a Wave of Success at UCLA". Retrieved March 19, 2016.
- ↑ Holly McPeak ’95
- ↑ Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs Win Bronze on the Beach
- 1 2 Associated Press (March 11, 2008). "Holly McPeak, Olympic beach volleyball star, to retire". San Diego Union-Tribune.
- ↑ "Volleyball Closes Homestand with Georgia, Missouri". University of Kentucky. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
- ↑ "Sand volleyball makes Pac-12 Networks debut Thursday, March 27". Pac-12 Networks PR Staff. Retrieved May 23, 2014.
External links
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