Sarah Beth Noriega (Sulentor) (born April 24, 1976) is an American former

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, a collegiate champion, and an

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

athlete.

Early life

Noriega graduated in 1994 from Ulysses High School, in the small town of

Ulysses, Kansas Ulysses (pronounced ) is a city in and the county seat of Grant County, Kansas, Grant County, Kansas, United States. It is named after Ulysses S. Grant, the List of Presidents of the United States, 18th President of the United States. As of th ...

. There, she played on the volleyball team under coach Courtney Eslick, who described her as the best athlete he had ever coached. Though her high school team did not win any major championships, Noriega became a three-time WAC all-conference athlete, and, while playing for Ulysses High School, was a two-time all-state selection. She helped win Program-of-the-Year honors for her school for the 1992–93 season from the Kansas Volleyball Association.

Collegiate and beyond

Noriega played for

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

from 1994 to 1997, helping lead the team to three consecutive WCC championships, and was named the 1997 West Coast Conference Player of the Year. Noriega played with the US National team, participating in the 1995 U.S. Olympic Festival, the

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, the

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, and the 2002 World Championships.

2000 Summer Olympics

At the

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, Noriega played for the

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as an "outside position player". With her as a starting player, her team defeated the teams from

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and

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before facing the

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team - with Noriega, by then, having competed in 108 international competitions and three world championships. Noreiga also participated in the USA defeat of teams from

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and

; however, two losses to

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and one to

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pushed the team just outside the medals, ranking fourth in the 2000 Olympics.

Honors and awards

Collegiate

* 1997 West Coast Conference (WCC) Player of the Year * 1997–98 school year: LMU's Female Athlete of the Year * All-District VIII honoree (three times) * AVCA First Team All-American * ''Volleyball Magazine'' All-American * 1998 (February) ''Volleyball Magazine'' National Player of the Month * All-West Coast Conference First Team selection (three-time) * 2007 (October 13) fifth volleyball player in LMU history to have her number retired * 2009

Loyola Marymount Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

Hall of Fame

Other

* 2000 U.S. Olympian * 2012 Kansas Volleyball Association Hall of Fame

Records and stats

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

records: * Most kills in a four-set match (47 kills on November 7, 1997, against San Diego) * 1997-1998 Senior year: 614 kills, and led the nation with a kill average of 6.90

rankings, as of 2009: * second in kill average (4.71) * third in attack percentage (.319) * third in one-year kills (614) * third in one-year kill average (6.90) * fourth all-time in kills (1,446) Extensive details on her performance stats are found at the Loyola Marymount Lions website, in the article about her induction to the LMU Hall of Fame.

References

External links

*
Volleybox.net profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noriega, Sarah 1976 births Living people Olympic volleyball players for the United States Volleyball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Loyola Marymount Lions women's volleyball players Sportspeople from Kansas American women's volleyball players Volleyball players at the 1999 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in volleyball 20th-century American sportswomen