Kerri Walsh who goes by her married name Kerri Walsh Jennings is one of the most dominant beach volleyball players of our time. If you’re wondering why the cameras at every beach volleyball event during the Olympics gravitate toward her, it’s for more than just her golden hair and her smile.
Kerri Lee Walsh Jennings is a very successful American professional beach volleyball player. She has competed at the highest levels of the sport for years, and she’s not done yet!
This year as she goes to the Olympics, she’ll be facing down her 42nd birthday and could very well face players half her age. But Kerri is a force on the sand, a 6’2″ blocking machine who will be hunting for her 5th, YES 5th Olympic medal! In 2016 she took the lead in beach volleyball as the most winningest player and the player with the most career winnings.
Kerri Walsh Jennings is married to Casey Jennings, another AVP player, read more about him below.
Kerri Walsh Jennings and Brooke Sweat in Tokyo 2020
Brooke (Youngquist) Sweat is 8 years younger than Kerri, but she’s been on tour since 2007, so don’t think of her as a young inexperienced player. At 5’8″ Brooke specializes as a defender.
She comes from Florida and attended Florida Gulf Coast University. She’s married to Nicholas Sweat who is also an AVP player. They live in California.
Although she’s been on tour and competing at the highest levels for years, so far Sweat hasn’t been able to claim victory on the international scene. Her best finish has been 3rd place back in 2013. Brooke and Kerri will be facing the toughest competition in the world, they will need to be at their best to have a chance to take the podium in Tokyo.
If you would like to learn more about beach volleyball in the Summer Olympic Games in general, check out this post called: Beach Volleyball in the Summer Olympics
Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor
Kerri and Misty have a history unlike any other in sports and is unlikely to ever be surpassed in beach volleyball. Beginning in 2003, they won 3 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in a 5-year span.
During that same streak, Kerri Walsh and Misty May also won 3 straight gold medals, winning in 2004, 2008, and 2012. For a time, she was the most successful female beach volleyball player and was at the top of her game when she retired in 2012 after winning that final gold with Kerri.
During their partnership, Kerri and Misty went on a 112 game winning streak and ran undefeated through the 2004 Olympics without dropping a set. They are generally regarded as the best beach volleyball team to ever play.
In 2016, Misty May-Treanor was inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame. In college, Misty played for Long Beach State and in 1998, she led her team the first-ever undefeated NCAA women’s volleyball season with a perfect 36-0.
Ever wonder what volleyball players are signaling when they hold their fingers behind their back or their butt? Read all about it in this article.
Kerry Walsh Jennings and April Ross
After Misty retired, Kerri teamed up with April Ross for a few years. They took the bronze medal in the 2016 Summer Games. April is married to Brad Keenan who is also a beach volleyball player.
April has been playing for years and has had many teammates. During her career, she’s won 2 Olympic medals and 3 World Championship medals, the most recent being in 2019 in Hamburg.
Keep your eye out for April at Tokyo in 2020, she’s teamed up with Alix Klineman and they’ll actually be one of the top teams to beat.
Kerri Walsh and Casey Jennings
Casey is also a beach volleyball player and partnered mainly with Kevin Wong, Brad Keenan or Matt Fuerbringer during his career. In 2005, he and Kerri were married and they live with their 3 children in California, still very connected and involved in the beach volleyball community.
If you would like to learn more about beach volleyball, check out the other articles we have posted on this category page.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerri_Walsh_Jennings
https://www.fivb.com/en/beachvolleyball
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooke_Sweat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misty_May-Treanor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Ross
Photo credits:
Feature image by Craig Maccubbin on flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/, cropped to zoom.
Thanking volunteers image by Craig Maccubbin on flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Kerri in full-length warm-ups image by louiscrusoe on flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
Kerri and April Ross at St. Petersburg image by CityofStPete on flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/, cropped to zoom.
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