Sara Hughes Biography Details

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Sara Hughes

Sara Elizabeth Hughes is an American beach volleyball player. With teammate Kelly Cheng she achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 2 in August 2023. Hughes has won six tournaments on the AVP Pro Tour and seven gold medals, one silver medal, and three bronze medals on the FIVB World Tour/Pro Beach Tour.

Born: 14 February 1995 (age 29 years), Long Beach, California, United States

Height: 1.78 m

Partner: Kelly Cheng

Alma mater: University of Southern California

College team: USC Trojans

Highest world ranking: No. 2 (August 23, 2023)

Turned pro: 2017

Early life and junior career

Rory and Laura Hughes gave birth to Hughes in Long Beach, California. She has an older sister named Lauren and an older brother named Connor. Both of her siblings participated in collegiate volleyball, with Connor leading the UC Irvine Anteaters to two NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championships. Her mother was also a previous participant. Hughes grew up in a volleyball-playing household in Costa Mesa, California, and frequently went to her siblings’ practices and competitions. In one such incident, the parent of one of the players, eight-year-old Hughes, was impressed by her peppering and suggested that she be coached by local beach volleyball youth coach Bill Lovelace. Hughes claims that Lovelace’s comment that her ball handling was the best he had ever seen for an eight-year-old made her fall in love with the sport.

Following a fruitful audition, she started. Hughes was a superb junior beach volleyball player who competed on the circuits of the California Beach Volleyball Association and the Amateur Athletic Union, winning multiple titles. She played as a blocker primarily with Justine Wong-Orantes from 2004 to 2012. Hughes finished ninth in the 2011 and 2012 U19 World Championships with Wong-Orantes.

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College

Hughes committed to play beach volleyball for the USC Trojans in her junior year of high school. She was thought to be one of the best high school prospects for both beach and indoor volleyball. In the meantime, beach volleyball had just emerged as an NCAA Emerging Sport for Women, and Hughes had made the decision to give up indoor collegiate volleyball because “sand was real passion.”After joining the Trojans for the 2013–14 campaign, Hughes spent her rookie year playing as the top tandem alongside Kirby Burnham. By the end of the season, the pair had 42 wins, 4 losses, and the AVCA Pairs Championship. For the next three seasons, she and Claes were the Trojans’ starting duo. Hughes and Claes led the Trojans as sophomores and took home the AVCA Pairs championship.

Amateur career

Hughes participated in amateur competitions on the domestic and international professional circuits while still a high school and college student. In the 2011 Manhattan Beach Open, she finished in 17th place, which was her first professional tournament result. At the $190K Bangsaen Thailand Open in October 2012, she made her FIVB World Tour debut. She and partner Kaitlin Nielsen were eliminated in the first round of the national quota qualifier. The next year, Hughes and Lane Carico collaborated to win the $8K NORCECA tournament in Boquerón, Cabo Rojo, marking Hughes’s first international victory. She participated in the $75K Milwaukee Open with Geena Urango in 2014, her Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) debut, but she was eliminated in the qualifying rounds. Following her partnership with Kelly Claes.

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Professional career

After graduating from college in the summer of 2017, Hughes decided to play with her collegiate partner Claes instead of accepting a partnership offer from three-time Olympic gold medallist Walsh Jennings. At the $115K Long Beach Presidents Cup demonstration event in July, Hughes and Claes achieved their best result in international competition during their first professional season when they defeated Germany’s Walkenhorst and Ludwig in the bronze-medal match. They finished in eighth position and were eliminated from the World Championships two weeks later by Walkenhorst and Ludwig, the eventual champions. The 12th-seeded team on the AVP defeated Brooke Sweat and S. Ross in straight sets to win their maiden championship at the $112.5K Chicago Championships in September.

Hughes and Claes, who were 21 and 22 years old at the time, became the youngest pair to win an AVP tournament in history with this victory. Their best World Tour results came from placing fifth in the $300K Poreč Major and the $150K Rio de Janeiro Open. At the end of the year, Hughes and Claes were rated 16th in the world.

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Style of play

Hughes plays right-side defense and is a right-handed player. She started out as a blocker but switched to the backcourt when she started playing with Claes, who was taller. Hughes is renowned as a formidable rival who is praised for her “speed and relentless pursuit of every ball.” Her USC head coach, Anna Collier, called her “one of the fastest and smartest defenders,” a player who can anticipate the attacks of her opponents. Holly McPeak, an Olympian three times, claims that Hughes has the physical prowess, work ethic, and competitive spirit needed to compete professionally. Hughes was 33rd overall, averaging 5.61 points per set, out of the 87 players who participated in a Major Series main draw on the 2018 World Tour; he also placed 25th overall, averaging 5.61 kills per set.

Personal life

Hughes grew up with a poster of the three-time Olympic gold medallist in her bedroom, representing her childhood idol, Misty May-Treanor. May-Treanor, who had exercised in Huntington Beach frequently when Hughes was younger, would sometimes allow the latter to assist her during her workouts. Afterwards, during Hughes’ freshman year, May-Treanor volunteered to coach the USC Trojans, and Hughes claims that the two had a close bond. In her youth, Hughes participated in AVP tournaments as a ball girl, where she also met April Ross, a two-time Olympic medallist. When Hughes was in high school, a neighbor from Costa Mesa named A. Ross would invite him to her sessions. When Hughes and Claes first began competing on professional circuits, the largest obstacle they faced was not.

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Sara Hughes’ family and hometown

Sara Hughes was born on 14 February 1995 in Long Beach California to parents Rory and Laura. She has two older siblings: a brother and a sister. Hughes’ mother was a former volleyball player, while both of her siblings also played the sport during their college career.

When did Sara Hughes take up the sport

Hughes used to go with her siblings for volleyball practice, and during one of those visits, her peppering skills were noticed by a parent. She was then recommended to beach volleyball coach Bill Lovelace. Hughes would officially start her journey into the sport at eight years of age. She was trained by Lovelace for the next seven years.

Sara Hughes’ education

Hughes joined the University of South Carolina in the 2013-14 season and partnered with Kirby Burnham. She won the first NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship with the USC Trojans in 2015 and with her partner Kelly Claes. The pair went undefeated with a 48-0 record. They would win two more NCAA titles.

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Sara Hughes’ biggest achievements

Having turned professional in 2017, Hughes has won numerous world tour titles, with the first one dating back to 2018. She has eight World Tour titles to her name, winning the event once every year since her debut except 2019. With Cheng, Hughes won her first world title in 2023. A year before that, she secured the gold medal in the World Tour Finals in Doha. The 29-year-old also has two amateur bronze medals to her name, which she won at the 2013 and 2014 U19 and U20 World Championships.

Sara Hughes Net Worth & Salary