Pepperdine alumna Kim Hill will be heading to her first Olympic Games as part of the indoor women’s volleyball team for the coming Rio Olympics.
Hill has been a star player for the U.S. team and earned MVP at the 2014 FIVB World Championships when her team took home the gold medal. At the most recent FIVB World Grand Prix, Hill was named the tournament’s Second-Best Outside Spiker and with her help the U.S. team won the silver medal.
“Kim’s is a great story to inspire every junior — trying out for USA one year, helping lead us to a World Championship the next and playing some of her best volleyball this year,” USA Coach Karch Kiraly said in a USA Volleyball release. “And you can search hard, but you won’t find a better teammate than Kim.”
With the Waves’ indoor team, Hill was a three-time All-American, earning honorable mention status in both 2009 and 2010, and she was the West Coast Conference Player of the Year in 2011. She finished with 1,300 kills, ranking her sixth all-time at Pepperdine.
Pepperdine men’s volleyball coaches Marv Dunphy and David Hunt will join Hill in Brazil and will serve on the U.S. coaching staff. Hill will also play with teammate Kayla Banwarth, a libero for Team USA, who was a player for Nebraska, but just finished her first season as a volunteer assistant at Pepperdine. Dunphy will be coaching at his seventh Olympics and his second with the women’s team. Hunt is an assistant coach.
The U.S. is part of Pool B and begins competition on August 6 against Puerto Rico. The Americans will also face the Netherlands, Serbia, Italy and China before the quarterfinals begin on August 16.