April Ross Winning
A Gold Medal In Tokyo? Famous Volleyball Player

Famous volleyball player April Ross is a two-time Olympian preparing for the Tokyo Olympics with new partner Alix Klineman. Will they win a gold medal?

Famous volleyball player April Ross is a two-time Olympian preparing for the Tokyo Olympics with new partner Alix Klineman. Will they win a gold medal? (Ralph Aversen)

Famous volleyball player: April Ross

April is a two time Olympian and professional beach volleyball player based in California.

This past year April Ross partnered with Alex Klineman with the goal of the duo preparing to qualify as one of the two  beach teams to represent the USA in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

April Ross partnered with Alex Klineman with the goal of the duo preparing to qualify as one of the two beach teams to represent the USA in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. (Ralph Aversen)

Pursuit of Mastery - April Ross from Mizuno USA on Vimeo.

April grew up in Newport Beach where she graduated from Newport Harbor High School. 

April Ross wasn't always a beach volleyball player.

Growing up, she played and participated in many other sports, before picking up a volleyball and playing indoor for a significant amount of time. 

It was during her high school years that April began her journey towards becoming a collegiate superstar and a professional athlete.

Her career began to skyrocket when she became a national top recruit in her graduating senior class which was capped when April won the Gatorade National Player of the Year.

April helped the USC Trojans reach the Division I NCAA Championship finals twice.

While in her senior year, April accumulated an impressive 624 kills and 526 digs.

April graduated from the University of Southern California, holding game statistics that ranked her amongst the top of all time.

She was a record-holder, coming out on top with points, aces, attacks, kills, and digs.

April has a variety of accolades under her belt.

From 2008 to 2012 April joined forces with Jen Kessy creating a partnership that would last until the 2012 London Olympics. 

Team USA produced a volleyball video series of interviews and highlights following Jen Kessy and April Ross for the entire Olympic qualification journey. 

In 2008, April and her teammate Jennifer finished third in the Swatch FIVB World Tour which marked the beginning of a winning tradition placing in the top three positions on a regular basis on the World Tour.

They came in first at the Phuket Thailand Open and second at the Dubai Open.

Most notably, in 2008 the duo was the only team to defeat the world number 1 team at the time of Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May Treanor during an AVP tournament based in Santa Barbara.  

In 2008, April and her teammate Jennifer finished third in the Swatch FIVB World Tour.

They also came first at the Phuket Thailand Open where she won the award for Most Outstanding Player.

They took second at the Dubai Open that year .

April and Jennifer also won the Beach Volleyball World Champions in 2009. 

In 2009, they won the FIVB World Championships  in Stavanger, Norway. 

I played at the Stavanger Open in Norway and that's a huge deal to win there because every year it never fails to snow or rain at that "beach" tournament.

By 2012 April had increased her winning titles, with eight AVP tournaments, nine International Federation World Tour Beach tournaments along with over $900,000 from her winnings under her belt.

In 2012, she won silver at the Summer Olympics alongside Jennifer Kessy.

April joined Kerri Walsh Jennings for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. They won a bronze medal at the Summer Olympics with her teammate Kerri Walsh Jennings.  

In 2019, April married beach volleyball player, Brad Keenan.

At the age of 34, Ross is starting to make other plans besides her professional beach volleyball career.

Currently married to Brad Keenan, she has mentioned that she wouldn’t mind starting a family with her husband, but she still aims to grace the sand for a few more years.

Ross has inspired many people, along with her athletic partners, to take on Olympic Beach Volley, helping the sport gain a much higher public profile.

GoPro profiles Professional Beach Volleyball player and Silver medalist, April Ross, who shows us the importance of teamwork and dedication in order to become one of the top players in the world.

In this AVP volleyball highlights video, Women's AVP $100,000 Huntington Beach Open, May 2-5, 2019 Alix Klineman / April Ross (1) def. Melissa Humana-Paredes / Sarah Pavan (14) 18-21, 21-12, 17-15 

One of her most standout performances occurred during the 2016 Rio Olympic quarterfinals, against one of their biggest rivals China, where in an epic match she was a guiding force in helping Japan beat China in the five sets (3-2) and leading the way to the medal.

One of the biggest things that has made April Ross an FIVB Hero is her amazingly deadly jump serve.  

Professional volleyball player April Ross has one of the fastest and most accurate jump serves in the world.

Watch up close in 360 degrees as the AVP New York City Open runs through this weekend in Manhattan.

By: Bedel Saget, Guglielmo Mattioli, Joshua Thoma

Watch what Kerri Walsh has to say about her partner April Ross.

Follow me on Instagram @coach_apchap to improve your game even faster!

I share alot of individual, partner and easy-to-do volleyball serving drills we do in class with my followers.

Many of these volleyball practice drills you can do at home by yourself or try at your next practice with your teammates.

If you're a B team or JV player trying to make varsity next year...your goal should be to complete 1000 reps a day of at least three of the basic skills on your own...volleyball passing, serving and setting should be at the top of the list. 

No need to guess where you need to go now? Here are three options: 

1. Learn more about Famous Volleyball Players by clicking the related links below. 
2. Follow the suggested reading on our Sitemap page    Learning How To Play (Sitemap)
3. Or visit the pages in the How to Play Volleyball section in the drop down menu at the top of the page to get started. 

1. Improve Your Volleyball Performance with Vegas VB Coach April Chapple
›
2. The Volleyball Professional Plays Overseas in Europe, China and Russia
›
3. April Ross Winning A Gold Medal In Tokyo? Famous Volleyball Player
›

ShareFacebookXPinterestTumblrRedditWhatsApp