Rachael Alexis Adams (born June 3, 1990) is an American former 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 played as a middle blocker 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. The current head coach is three-time Olympic gold medalist and retired dominant bea ...

. Adams won gold with the national team at the 2014 World Championship and bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Career

She attended

Mount Notre Dame High School Mount Notre Dame High School (MND) is a Catholic, college-preparatory high school for young women. The school is affiliated with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur as a part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Archdiocese of Cincinnati ...

in Cincinnati, Ohio where she played volleyball. She then played college volleyball at

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. In 2012, while at Texas, Adams was named as one of the four finalists for 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 th ...

in volleyball. Adams was part of the USA national team that won the 2014 World Championship gold medal when the team defeated China 3-1 in the final match. Adams was awarded among the Best Middle Blockers along with the Brazilian

Thaísa Menezes Thaísa Daher de Menezes, also known as Thaísa Menezes or Thaísa Daher, is a professional volleyball player from Brazil. She won back-to-back gold medals at the Olympics in 2008 and 2012. She has won numerous Best Spiker and Best Blocker Aw ...

during the

2016 World Grand Prix The 2016 Ladbrokes World Grand Prix was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 8 and 13 March 2016 at the Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Wales. It was the seventh ranking event of the 2015/2016 season. The defending ...

. With her team

Eczacıbaşı VitrA Eczacıbaşı Holding is a Turkish industrial group of companies founded in 1942. The group with 44 companies has 11,400 employees and a combined net turnover of TL 11.1 billion in 2020. Group Eczacıbaşı's core sectors are building products, ...

, she won the gold medal at the

2016 FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship The 2016 FIVB Women's Club World Championship was the 10th edition of the event. It was held for the first time in the Philippines, on 18–23 October 2016 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. For the first time, eight teams competed, including four wil ...

. Adams won the

2016–17 CEV Champions League The 2016–17 CEV Champions League was the 58th edition of the highest level European volleyball club competition organised by the European Volleyball Confederation. Qualification Pools composition League round *All times are local Po ...

bronze medal with

when her team defeated the Russian

Dinamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

3-0 and she was also awarded Best Middle Blocker. At the end of season 2017-2018 she signed for Italian club

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label= Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of M ...

and will play in Italian A1 league.

Awards

Individual

* 2013 Nominee

for volleyball *'' 2016 World Grand Prix "Best Middle Blocker"'' * '' 2016-17 CEV Champions League "Best Middle Blocker"''

Clubs

- Bronze Medal, with

National team

* 2013

Pan-American Volleyball Cup Pan-American, Pan American, Panamerican, Pan-America, Pan America or Panamerica may refer to: * Collectively, the Americas: North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean * Something of, from, or related to the Americas * Pan-Ame ...

* 2013

NORCECA Championship * 2013 Silver medal with cup

FIVB World Grand Champions Cup The FIVB Volleyball World Grand Champions Cup is an international volleyball competition contested by the senior men's and women's national teams of the members of ' (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The tournament was created in 1993 af ...

* 2014

FIVB World Championship * 2015 Gold medal with cup

FIVB World Grand Prix The FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix was an annual women's volleyball competition created in 1993. The men's version of the competition was called World League. This event should not be confused with the other international volleyball competitio ...

* 2016

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

References

External links

Adams' official bio
a
USA VolleyballTexas Longhorns bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Rachael 1990 births Living people American women's volleyball players American expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Sportspeople from Cincinnati Texas Longhorns women's volleyball players Volleyball players at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in volleyball Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Volleyball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Pan American Games medalists in volleyball Expatriate volleyball players in Italy Middle blockers American expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate volleyball players in Turkey African-American volleyball players Aydın Büyükşehir Belediyespor volleyballers Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women