Kelly Murphy ’08 makes U.S. Olympic Team

Kelly Murphy

JCA graduate Kelly Murphy (’08) is a member of the 2016 U.S. Olympic women’s volleyball team.

She’s traveled around the world in pursuit of her dream. From Wilmington to Joliet to Florida to Japan, Joliet Catholic Academy graduate Kelly Murphy (’08) grew up playing volleyball with making the Olympics always in the back of her mind. That dream came true Tuesday morning when Murphy was named as one of 12 players for the U.S. women’s volleyball team that will play at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Murphy, a 6-foot-2 right-side hitter, is one of eight newcomers for top-ranked Team USA, including former high school rival and outside hitter Kelsey Robinson of St. Francis. Team USA, which has taken silver medals in the last two Olympics, has won six of its last eight tournaments and just finished runner-up to Olympic host Brazil in the World Grand Prix under coach Karch Kiraly.

Murphy, who led back-to-back JCA teams to the state finals in 2005 and 2006 in Class AA, was one of Team USA’s eight regular rotation players in the final against Brazil. Murphy is the first Angel volleyball player to make an Olympic team.

“I know this has been a dream of Kelly’s since she first started playing volleyball, and all of her time, effort and hard work has been rewarded,” JCA coach Christine Scheibe said.

“We couldn’t be more happy for her as a program and as a school community. Personally, it’s the potential that I saw in her the first day of summer camp when she was a freshman in 2004. She was already that good, and she has only gotten better over the years because of who she is as a person and the family that she comes from. The Murphys are just a very, very special family to our program. Now, we hope that Kelly leads the U.S. to that elusive gold medal.

– Article courtesy of the Joliet Catholic Academy Official Girls Volleyball Facebook Page.

To follow Kelly’s performance and experience throughout the games, visit: www.jca-online.org/mupholympics

 


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