Liz Masakayan (born December 31, 1964 in Quezon City, Philippines[1]) is a championship athlete in both outdoor and indoor volleyball. She has 47 all-time wins and 181 all-time tournaments played. Her partner is Karolyn Kirby and they are the Number 2 women's volleyball team in the world.[2]
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Liz Masakayan hasn't always played volleyball. When she was ten she played baseball, most of the time she was the only girl on the team. Liz recalls making a pitcher cry one time because she hit a home run. Masakayan heard a lot of comments from playing on a team full of boys but says "I learned at an early age that if you just worked hard, had fun, and treated people nicely, that everything would fall into place, like winning."[3] When Masakayan was 14 she stopped playing baseball and picked up soccer. She played Soccer for seven years and ran track four years. She says she helped to form the first girl's soccer team at Santa Monica High School.[4]
Overall Masakayan has won $677,945 in winnings.[5] Masakayan and her partner, Karolyn Kirby, have won 26 events here in the United States as well as 3 events elsewhere. She has won numerous awards in her career, WPVA Best Defensive Player 1991 and 1992, WPVA Best Hitter 1993 and 1994, WPVA Most Inspirational Player 1995 (because of her numerous knee injures), WPVA Most Valuable Player 1992 and 1993,[6] WVPA World Champion 1991, WPVA winner of 5 tournaments 1992, FIVB Winner of the World Beach Series 1993, FIVB World's Most Outstanding Player of the Year 1994, FIVB World Champion 1994, Goodwill Games Gold Medal Winner 1994, WPVA U.S. Shootout Champion 1995, WPVA U.S. Open Champion 1995, WPVA Best of the Beach Champion 1997, FIVB World Championships Bronze Medal Winner 1999, FIVB Brazil, Portugal, and China Open Champions 2000, and AVP Santa Barbara Champion 2001.[7] Liz has had six knee surgeries and with the help of her practitioner, Sharon Moyano, she was able to play for seven more years after those surgeries eventually making it to the point where she didn't need anti-inflammatory medication.[8]
In 1988 Masakayan played on the U.S. team in Seoul, Korea. In 2004 she began coaching at the Olympics, first coaching Elaine Youngs and Holly McPeak at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.[9] Masakayan says coaching Youngs and McPeak "was a very rewarding first year of coaching on the beach as they brought home the bronze medal from the 2004 Athens Olympics."[10] She currently coaches Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh. In 2008 she went with these women to the Beijing Summer Olympics to Coach them.[11]
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| Preceded by Nancy Reno and Karolyn Kirby (USA) |
Men's FIVB Beach Volley World Tour Winner alongside Karolyn Kirby 1993 |
Succeeded by Adriana Samuel and Mônica Rodrigues (BRA) |