Haleigh_Washington

Haleigh Washington

Haleigh Washington

American volleyball player

Haleigh Meridian Washington (born September 22, 1995) is an American volleyball player of the United States women's national volleyball team. Washington was an All-American middle blocker for the Penn State women's volleyball team, where she helped lead the team to the 2014 NCAA national championship. Washington won gold with the national team at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.[1]

Quick Facts Personal information, Full name ...

Personal life

Washington was born in Denver, Colorado to parents Danielle and Alecs. In her early athletic days, she showed talent in basketball, but ended up being more passionate about volleyball while on the seventh-grade team. She would attend Clear Creek High School, where she began being recruited by college volleyball coaches in her freshman year.[2] Her family relocated to Colorado Springs before her junior year, and she finished her high school career at Doherty High School, where she holds a state record after putting down 48 kills in a match with her high school team.

She earned consecutive Colorado Volleyball Player of the Year honors in 2012 and 2013 and led her team to a state championship title in 2012, and was the 2013 Volleyball Magazine National Player of the Year. She was considered to be the nation's top high school recruit in her class, and ultimately decided to play collegiate volleyball at Penn State.[3]

Washington has one brother, Kayden, and one sister, Leilani. In 2020, Washington came out as bisexual.[4]

Penn State

Washington was a three-time first-team All-American and helped lead the team to the 2014 NCAA National Title as a freshman, as well as an appearance in the 2017 Final Four in her senior season. She was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year after hitting .463 for the season.[5][6] In her senior season, she earned the 2017 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, and led the nation with a .503 hitting percentage, while putting down 3.03 kills per set on the season.[7] She earned AVCA All-American honors three times and was selected as a Honda Sports Award nominee after her senior season.[8]

Washington credited Penn State's head coach Russ Rose for acclimating her to the grueling demands and expectations of competing on the international stage.[9]

Professional clubs

Washington has played in multiple Italian Series A1 professional volleyball teams, including Igor Gorgonzola Novara from 2020–2022.[10] In the 2022–2023 season, plays with Savino Del Bene Scandicci.[11]

United States national team

With Team USA, she started all three matches of the 2019 Tokyo Qualification Tournament in which Team USA earned its bid into the 2020 Olympic Games.

She was named to the 18-player roster of the 2021 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League. In her first match as the starting middle, had nine kills and a block against Brazil.[12]

On June 7, 2021, US National Team head coach Karch Kiraly announced she would be part of the 12-player Olympic roster for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.[13] Washington helped lead her team to the USA's first ever gold medal and was named Best Middle Blocker of the tournament.[14]

Awards and honors

International

Professional clubs

College

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "Volleyball WASHINGTON Haleigh". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Archived from the original on July 25, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  2. [2]
    "AVCA Diversity Awards" (PDF).
  3. [3]
    "Tawa's great memories: Re-visiting the USA Olympians when they played in club and HS". 3 August 2021.
  4. [4]
    "Bi Pride Day salute to Olympic volleyball champ Haleigh Washington". 23 September 2021.
  5. [5]
    Smith, Lindsey (2017-11-28). "Former Doherty standout Haleigh Washington named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year". Colorado Springs Gazette. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  6. [6]
    "Haleigh Washington - Women's Volleyball". Penn State Athletics. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  7. [7]
    "Women's volleyball lands six on AVCA All-America teams | Penn State University". Archived from the original on 2021-06-02. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  8. [8]
    "Lee, Washington named 2018 Honda Sport Award Nominees for Volleyball". Penn State Athletics. 2017-12-20. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  9. [9]
    "Penn State paved way to international volleyball success". 17 July 2019.
  10. [10]
    "Haleigh Washington » clubs".
  11. [11]
    "Volleyball – Yvon Belien and Haleigh Washington are the new power plants of Savino Del Bene Scandicci". news.italy-24.com. June 15, 2022. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  12. [12]
    "Recaps and highlights as USA women start VNL with wins over DR, Canada, Brazil". 28 May 2021.
  13. [13]
    "USAV Announces U.S. Olympic Women's Volleyball Team". USA Volleyball. June 7, 2021. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  14. [14]
    "Haleigh Washington". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
More information Awards ...
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Haleigh_Washington, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.