Krista Vansant (born March 31, 1993) is a volleyball player and coach who played collegiately for

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. In 2022, she was the assistant coach for the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

volleyball team after spending 3 seasons as an assistant coach at

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Early life

Vansant was born in

Whittier, California Whittier () is a city in Los Angeles County, California, and is part of the Gateway Cities. The city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census, an increase of 1,975 from the 2010 United States census, 2010 census figure. Whittier ...

, east of Los Angeles, to Tricia and Robert Vansant and grew up in

Redlands, California Redlands ( ) is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 73,168, up from 68,747 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The city is located a ...

. She played volleyball all four years at Redlands East Valley High School where she helped lead her team to three CIF championship titles. She recorded 1913 kills during her four years on the high school team. Her high school accomplishments resulted in being awarded the

Gatorade Player of the Year The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys baseball, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls cross country, boys football, boys and girl ...

award in volleyball. She was the consensus top pick in the nation as a senior, and chose to go to the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

College career

In her junior year at Washington, Vasant was named the National Player of the Year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, as well as Pac-12 Player of the Year. She helped lead her team to the semifinals of the 2013 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament. In 2014 and 2015, she was the winner of the

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in t ...

, given to the nation's top female collegiate volleyball player.

Club career

Vansant had played professional club level volleyball for only 2015/16 season with the Swiss side Voléro Zürich. She won the Swiss Championship as well as the Swiss Cup with her team and contributed to club's eleventh double in twelve years. At the Champions League; Voléro topped their respective group with six wins from six matches, and eliminated Lokomotiv Baku in the first knock-out round to reach the playoff 6 stage of the competition, in which they were defeated by the eventual finalist VakıfBank S.K.

National team

Vansant represented

United States national team The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

on an international competition for the first time at the 2015 Pan American Cup. She led the team to gold medal with a tournament-leading 50.4% kill percentage to go with 81 total points, and earned "most valuable player" and "best outside hitter" honors for the tournament. At the

2015 Pan American Games The 2015 Pan American Games (), officially the XVII Pan American Games () and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games (Toronto 2015), were a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Pan American Games, ...

, she was the top scorer for the Team USA in five of their six matches and selected as the "best outside hitter", while the Americans winning the title. She also helped Team USA to capture the gold medal at the 2015 NORCECA Championship and was on the preliminary round squad at the

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

2016 FIVB World Grand Prix The 2016 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix was the 24th edition of the annual women's international volleyball tournament played by 28 teams from 3 June to 10 July 2016. The Group 1 final round was held in Bangkok, Thailand. Brazil captured their ...

, where Team USA won the gold and silver medal, respectively. Vansant was named as an alternate for the 2016 Rio Olympic Team, but did not take part at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Awards and honors

College

* Gatorade National Volleyball Player of the Year (2011) *

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 ...

National Player of the Year (2013) *Honda Sports Award for volleyball (2014, 2015) * ESPNW National Volleyball Player of the Year (2014) *Pac-12 Player of the Year (2014) *Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year (2014) *

All-America First Team (2013, 2014) *

All-America Second Team (2012) *All-Pac-12 Team (2012, 2013, 2014) *Pac-12 Freshman of the Year (2011)

Individuals

*'' 2015 Pan American Cup "Most Valuable Player"'' *'' 2015 Pan American Cup "Best Outside Hitter"'' *'' 2015 Pan American Games "Best Outside Hitter"''

Clubs

*2015-16 National League A - Simple cup icon

Champion, with Voléro Zürich *2015-16 Swiss Cup - Simple cup icon

Champion, with Voléro Zürich

National team

* 2015 Pan American Cup - Gold Medal *

- Gold Medal *

2015 FIVB World Grand Prix The 2015 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix was the 23rd edition of the annual women's international volleyball tournament played by 28 countries from 26 June to 2 August 2015. This was the first time that the Group 1 final round was held in Omaha ...

- Gold Medal * 2015 NORCECA Championship - Gold Medal *

- Silver Medal

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vansant, Krista 1993 births Living people Sportspeople from Whittier, California Sportspeople from Redlands, California Outside hitters American women's volleyball players Washington Huskies women's volleyball players Illinois Fighting Illini women's volleyball coaches Indiana Hoosiers women's volleyball coaches American expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Volleyball players at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in volleyball American volleyball coaches Expatriate volleyball players in Switzerland Redlands East Valley High School alumni 21st-century American sportswomen