Liz Masakayan (born December 31, 1964) is a Filipino-American former indoor and

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

player, and current coach. She participated in the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

with the

United States women's national volleyball team The United States women's national volleyball team participates in international volleyball competitions and friendly games, and is governed by USA Volleyball. Their last head coach was three-time Olympic gold medalist and retired dominant be ...

, and as a beach volleyball player won a total of 47 tournaments in her career.

Early life

Masakayan's Filipino father and US-born mother met each other in New York City. Liz Masakayan was born in

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...

on December 31, 1964. Masakayan, and her mother, moved to

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

when she was four or five years old. Volleyball was the last organized sport Masakayan tried out for in her first year (10th grade) at

Santa Monica High School Santa Monica High School, officially abbreviated to Samohi or SMHS, is a public high school in Santa Monica, California. Founded in 1891, it changed location several times in its early years before settling into its present campus at 601 Pico Bo ...

(a three-year school back in the 1980s). Her first year was spent on the junior varsity squad, and the last two on the varsity counterpart, where the team won the California state championship in 1981. Masakayan played Little League baseball when she was ten, the first year it allowed girls to play due to Title IX. Most of the time she was the only girl on the team. Masakayan heard a lot of comments over four years from playing on a team full of boys but says, "I learned at an early age that if you just worked hard, had fun, and treated people nicely, that everything would fall into place, like winning". She played soccer for seven years and ran track for four years. Masakayan helped form the first girls' soccer team at Santa Monica High School.

Career

College

After winning the 1984 NCAA Championships at UCLA, where she still holds numerous single season and career records, Masakayan was given the Broderick Award for being the nation's premier collegiate volleyball player. Masakayan was a two-time

AVCA The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is an organization of over 9,000 members, incorporated as a private non-profit corporation, non-profit educational corporation in 1981, as the Collegiate Volleyball Coaches Association. It is cur ...

first-team All-American, and was named the 1985–86 UCLA Female Athlete of the Year. She has also been inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame.

National team

As an indoor player, Masakayan was an outside hitter for the United States women's national volleyball team for five years, and competed at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. She won bronze medals at the 1990 World Championships in Beijing,

1987 Pan American Games The 1987 Pan American Games, officially known as the X Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event held in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, on August 7–23, 1987. Over 4,300 athletes from 38 countries in the Americas ...

in Indianapolis, and

1986 Goodwill Games The 1986 Goodwill Games was the inaugural edition of the international multi-sport event created by Ted Turner, which was held from 5 – 20 July 1986. The main stadium was the Luzhniki Stadium, Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Sov ...

in Moscow.

Beach volleyball

The pair of

Karolyn Kirby Karolyn Kirby (born June 30, 1961) is an American female retired beach volleyball player. She won the bronze medal at the 1997 World Championships in Los Angeles, California, partnering with Nancy Reno. The pair also won the 1992 Olympic tourn ...

and Masakayan were the most dominant team in the early 1990s, winning 29 tournaments. They won the inaugural

1994 Goodwill Games The 1994 Goodwill Games was the third edition of the multi-sport event, created by Ted Turner, which was held in Saint Petersburg, Russia between July 23 and August 7, 1994. The event – designed to improve Soviet Union – United States relatio ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. They also won the 1994 World Champions in La Serena. Masakyan was the WPVA's (Women's Professional Volleyball Association) 1992 Most Valuable Player, the 1993 co-Most Valuable Player, and the Best Defensive Player in 1991 and 1992. In addition, she was the 1993 and 1994 Best Hitter, and the 1995 Most Inspirational Player after coming back from several knee surgeries. Masakayan and her partner,

Elaine Youngs Elaine Youngs (born February 14, 1970, in Orange, California) is an American former professional volleyball player who competed both indoors and on the beach. Youngs attended UCLA, where as a freshman she started on a team that went undefeated ...

, narrowly missed qualifying for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. They captured the first tournament of the millennium in February 2000 in Vitória. The pair also won the bronze medal at the 1999 World Championships in Marseille. Throughout Masakayan's beach volleyball career, she won 47 tournaments and reached the final four 61 times. In 2001, she was the Santa Barbara champion, and in December captured the bronze medal at the FIVB (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball) season finale in

Fortaleza Fortaleza ( ; ; ) is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeastern Brazil. It is Brazil's 4th largest city—Fortaleza surpassed Salvador, Bahia, Salvador in 2022 census with a population of slightly over 2.4 mi ...

, where Masakayan announced her retirement from international competition. She retired from domestic competition after playing four tournaments in 2005.

Coaching

Indoor coaching

As an indoor coach, Masakayan was an assistant coach at UCLA when they won the National Championships in 1991 and runner-up in 1992. Masakayan was inducted in the

(American Volleyball Coaches Association) Hall of Fame in December 2011.

Beach volleyball coaching

Masakayan coached the beach volleyball team of Elaine Youngs and

Nicole Branagh Nicole Christine Branagh (born January 31, 1979, in Orinda, California) is an American volleyball player. She has represented the United States in international competition as a member of both the indoor and beach national teams. With partner El ...

, who were ranked second in the AVP in 2007.

References

External links

*
Elizabeth Lee Masakayan at Olympics.com

Olympedia profile: Liz Masakayan

UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame profile

Southern California Indoor Volleyball Hall of Fame profile

UCLA Women's Volleyball Olympians

Volleybox.net profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masakayan, Liz Living people American women's volleyball players 1964 births Filipino emigrants to the United States American sportspeople of Filipino descent American women's beach volleyball players Olympic volleyball players for the United States UCLA Bruins women's volleyball players Volleyball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Competitors at the 1986 Goodwill Games Sportspeople from Quezon City Sportspeople from Santa Monica, California Volleyball players at the 1987 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in volleyball Filipino expatriate volleyball players Filipino women's beach volleyball players Filipino women's volleyball players 20th-century American sportswomen