Holly McPeak
| Holly McPeak | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Holly McPeak | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |
 United States | ||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
May 15, 1969 Manhattan Beach, California, USA | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hometown | Manhattan Beach, California, USA | ||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Honours
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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 has 72 career beach volleyball titles and $1.4 million USD in career earnings, which places her third (behind Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh) and second (behind May-Treanor) respectively of any woman in the history of professional beach volleyball. She also won a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics with partner Elaine Youngs. McPeak, at 5 feet 7 inches, is considered short for beach volleyball, which makes her success all the more remarkable.
College and Olympics
McPeak signed with the California Golden Bears out of Mira Costa High School, where she was teammates with her Mira Costa classmate and future beach partner Lisa Arce. At Cal, she was named National Freshman of the Year in 1987, before transferring to UCLA in 1990.
In 1990, she helped the UCLA Bruins to a national championship, the school's fifth of six titles.
At the 1996 Summer Olympics, McPeak partnered with Nancy Reno and did not win a medal despite high expectations. Team conflict is often cited as a cause of this, and McPeak's breast enlargement surgery – earning her the nickname of "Twin Peaks"[1] – has been cited as a potential cause of this conflict.[2]
At the 2000 Summer Olympics, McPeak partnered with Misty May-Treanor and finished in fifth place.
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.[3] 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. [4]
In 2014, McPeak served as a sand volleyball game analyst for Pac-12 Network.[5]
Personal
McPeak is married to former AVP commissioner Leonard Armato.[3]
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
- ↑ Hopps, David (September 28, 2000). "The Greeks had a word for it-We call it sex". Guardian.
- ↑ Farber, Michael (August 5, 1996). "Fun in the Sun". Sports Illustrated.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 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 9 November 2014.
- ↑ "Sand volleyball makes Pac-12 Networks debut Thursday, March 27". Pac-12 Networks PR Staff. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
External links
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