Morgan Irene Hentz (born July 27, 1998) 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 a libero 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 the Atlanta Vibe of the

Pro Volleyball Federation The Pro Volleyball Federation (PVF) is a women's professional indoor volleyball league in the United States. The league was announced on November 17, 2022, and began play in 2024. History Development The Pro Volleyball Federation was ann ...

Early life

Hentz was born to Mike and Kerin Hentz and grew up in Lakeside Park,

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 ...

. She is the oldest of four siblings. Hentz began playing volleyball while in third grade. She gained an interest in volleyball because she wanted to play with friends and enjoyed traveling to tournaments. She attended Notre Dame Academy where she played volleyball and graduated in 2016. She finished high school as the 22nd ranked recruit in the nation and was named Kentucky's Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior. She committed to

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

to play collegiate volleyball.

Career

College

While at Stanford, Hentz was the starting libero all four years. She helped Stanford win NCAA national championships in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

and

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. She was named

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

libero of the year in 2017, 2018, and 2019, and was a three-time AVCA First Team All-American. She finished her Stanford career with 2,310 digs, which ranks first all time in Stanford volleyball history and fourth all time in Pac-12 history. In addition to playing on Stanford's indoor team, she also played on Stanford's beach volleyball team in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Professional clubs

Dresdner SC Dresdner Sportclub 1898 e.V., known simply as Dresdner SC, is a German multisport club playing in Dresden, Saxony. Founded on 30 April 1898, the club was a founding member of the German Football Association (Deutscher Fussball Bund) in 1900. Th ...

(2020–2021) * Athletes Unlimited (2022–2023) * Atlanta Vibe ( PVF) (2024)

U.S. National Team

Hentz was invited to play on the U.S. national team in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic shut down training. In May 2022, Hentz made her national team playing debut when she was named to the 25-player roster for the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Nations League tournament. In her first match, a win vs. the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

, she had a team-leading 15 digs and 10 excellent receptions.

Awards and honors

Clubs

* 2020–21 German Bundesliga – Simple cup icon

Champion, with Dresdner SC. * 2020–21 German Women's Volleyball Super Cup – Silver medal, with Dresdner SC. * 2021–22 German Cup – Simple cup icon

Bronze medal, with Dresdner SC. * 2022 Athletes Unlimited – Simple cup icon

Champion * 2022 Athletes Unlimited "Best Libero" * 2022 Athletes Unlimited "Defensive Player of the Year"

College

*2016 NCAA Division I National Champions *2018 NCAA Division I National Champions *2019 NCAA Division I National Champions *Pac-12 Libero of the Year (2017, 2018, 2019) * AVCA First Team All-American (2017, 2018, 2019) * co-NCAA Most Outstanding Player (2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hentz, Morgan 1998 births Living people Sportspeople from Kentucky Liberos American women's volleyball players Stanford Cardinal women's volleyball players Atlanta Vibe players American expatriate volleyball players in Germany Sportspeople from Campbell County, Kentucky 21st-century American sportswomen Athletes Unlimited volleyball players