Avery A. Skinner (born April 25, 1999) is an American professional

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player who plays as an outside hitter for 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 Italian Series A1 professional team

Chieri Chieri (; ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont (Italy), located about southeast of Turin, by rail and by road. It borders the following municipalities: Baldissero Torinese, Pavarolo, Montaldo Torinese, Pino ...

Personal life

Skinner is from

Katy, Texas Katy is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in the Greater Katy area, itself forming the western part of the Greater Houston metropolitan area. Homes and businesses may have Katy postal addresses without being in the City of Katy. The city ...

. In addition to playing volleyball, she was tap, ballet, and musical theater dancer before deciding at age 13 to focus solely on volleyball. Skinner played school volleyball for HCYA and she helped the team win state championships in 2015 and 2016. She also played club volleyball for Houston's Skyline. She considered playing volleyball for Baylor,

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State be ...

, and

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

but ultimately settled on

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

as she wanted to see what life was like outside of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. Skinner is the daughter of Rebecca Skinner and Brian Skinner, who was a star

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player at Baylor and played in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

for 14 years. Her sister, Madisen, played volleyball with her at Kentucky.

Career

College

Skinner played college volleyball for a total of five years, as she opted to use the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

pandemic. From 2017 to 2020, she played for the Kentucky Wildcats. As a freshman in 2017, she finished second on the team with 362 kills and was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team. In 2019, plagued by a knee injury, she only played in nine matches. However, she was able to return to full strength in 2020 and credited the extra time off due to the

quarantines that were in place at the time allowing her more time to rehabilitate her injuries. As a result of her strong senior season, she was named an

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 after leading Kentucky to its first ever NCAA championship title in the 2020 NCAA Tournament. She was named on the NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team. She graduated from Kentucky with two degrees in interdisciplinary early childhood education and communication studies and disorders. She opted to play her extra year of eligibility as a graduate transfer for the Baylor Bears. She finished the season as an Honorable Mention All-American and had the second-most kills on the team with 355 in her 101 sets played, averaging 3.51 kills per set, had 255 digs and 49 blocks. She was named a finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year.

Professional clubs

* Béziers Volley (2022–2023) *

(2023–2025) *

Scandicci Scandicci () is a ''comune'' (municipality) of c. 50,000 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region Tuscany, located about southwest of Florence. Scandicci borders the following municipalities: Campi Bisenzio, Floren ...

(2025–) Skinner signed her first professional volleyball contract with Béziers Volley in June 2022 and played for the team in the 2022–2023 season. She has played for the Italian Serie A1 team Chieri since 2023. Savino Del Bene Volley announced the signing of Skinner for the 2025-2026 professional season. https://savinodelbenevolley.it/welcome-avery-skinner-e-una-nuova-giocatrice-della-savino-del-bene-volley/

Awards and honors

College

The following are the awards Skinner won during her collegiate career: *2021 All-Big 12 First Team (unanimous) *2021 AVCA All-America - Honorable Mention *2020 AVCA All-America First Team *2020 All-SEC First Team *2017 All-SEC Freshman Team

International

* 2023 French Volleyball Cup – "Most Valuable Player" * 2022 Pan American Cup – "Best Outside Hitter" * 2022 Pan American Cup – "Best Scorer"

References

External links

*
Avery Skinner
at

USA Volleyball USA Volleyball (USAV) is a non-profit organization which is recognized as the national governing body of volleyball in the United States by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committe ...

Avery Skinner
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

(archived
alternate link
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skinner, Avery 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Katy, Texas Outside hitters American women's volleyball players Baylor Bears women's volleyball players Kentucky Wildcats women's volleyball players University of Kentucky alumni American expatriate volleyball players in France American expatriate volleyball players in Italy Serie A1 (women's volleyball) players Volleyball players at the 2024 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in volleyball 21st-century American sportswomen