Alexa Lea Gray (born August 7, 1994) is a Canadian

volleyball player This is a list of top international volleyball players. A * Foluke Akinradewo * Carolina Albuquerque * Todor Aleksiev * Ana Ida Alvares * Thiago Soares Alves * Dante Amaral * Andrea Anastasi * Matt Anderson * Stéphane Antiga * Halina As ...

. She is part of the Canadian women's national volleyball team. Professionally, she plays for Series A1 Italian league

Imoco Volley Conegliano Imoco Volley is an Italian women's volleyball club based in Conegliano and currently playing in the Serie A1. History The club was founded on 15 March 2012, two months after the bankruptcy of the other volleyball team in Conegliano. In April 2 ...

Personal life

Gray attended high school at Centennial High School in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. She began playing volleyball in sixth grade and played for

Calgary Dinos The Calgary Dinos are the athletic teams that represent the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. They were known as the "Dinosaurs" but usually referred to as the "Dinos" until 1999, when the name was officially shortened. Some of its venue ...

women’s volleyball club and helped them to U15 and U17 provincial champ titles and U16 and U17 national champ title. She also played

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

in high school. Gray has attributed her motivation to her late mother, Stacey French. Her mother was also an athlete and played basketball at

Southern Utah Southern Utah University (SUU) is a public university in Cedar City, Utah. Founded in 1897 as a normal school, Southern Utah University now graduates over 1,800 students each year with baccalaureate and graduate degrees from its six colleges. ...

. When Gray was 13, she and her sister survived a car accident that claimed her mother's life. While driving from

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, an

elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

struck the car, causing it to roll several times. Gray's father,

Evric Gray Evric Lee Gray (born December 13, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player. He was a small forward. College career Gray played college basketball at UNLV. Professional career Gray played in the National Basketball Association ...

, played basketball at

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes th ...

and is a high school basketball coach. Gray is a

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

, and opted to attend

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

to play in college.

Career

College

Gray played for

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

and was three time All-American. In her first season in 2012, she was named

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of ...

Freshman of the Year. She won West Coast Conference player of the year back-to-back in 2014 and 2015. She helped BYU to a national runner up finish in 2014, the first time BYU ever made it to a championship match. She finished her career at BYU ranked second in kills and attempts and sixth in points (all which ranked first during rally-scoring era) and sets played.

Professional clubs

GS Caltex Seoul KIXX GS Caltex Seoul KIXX is a South Korean women's volleyball team. The team is based in Seoul and plays in the V-League. It is currently owned by GS Sports and the main sponsor is GS Caltex, a subsidiary of GS Group. The club was founded in 1970 as ...

(2016–2017) * Volley Soverato (2017–2018) *

Casalmaggiore Casalmaggiore ( Casalasco-Viadanese: ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Cremona, Lombardy, Italy, located across the Po River. It was the birthplace of Italian composers Ignazio Donati and Andrea Zani. It became worldwide famous thanks to its ...

(2018–2019) * Golden Tulip Volalto Caserta (2019–2020) *

Scandicci Scandicci () is a ''comune'' (municipality) of c. 50,000 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region Tuscany, located about southwest of Florence. Scandicci borders the following municipalities: Campi Bisenzio, Florenc ...

(2019–2020) * Busto (2020–2022) *

(2022-present)

Canadian national team

Gray joined the Canadian national team in 2017. She participated at the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship,

2018 Women's Pan-American Volleyball Cup The 2018 Women's Pan-American Volleyball Cup was the 17th edition of the annual women's volleyball tournament. It was held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic from 8 to 14 July. Twelve teams competed and the top five ranked teams at the end of th ...

, and

2019 FIVB Volleyball Women's Challenger Cup The 2019 FIVB Volleyball Women's Challenger Cup is the second edition of the FIVB Volleyball Women's Challenger Cup, an annual women's international volleyball tournament contested by 6 national teams that acts as a qualifier for the FIVB Volleyb ...

. She has won international awards with the national team: she was named "Best Scorer" and "Best Spiker" at the

and "Best Spiker" at the

2019 Women's NORCECA Volleyball Championship The 2019 Women's NORCECA Volleyball Championship was the 26th edition of the tournament, and was played from 8 October to 13 October 2019 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Dominican Republic defeated the United States by 3–2 to win the Continental ...

. She was named the MVP at the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Women's Challenger Cup qualification.

Awards and honors

College

* AVCA All American – First Team (2015); Second Team (2014); Third Team (2013) *

Player of the Year – 2014, 2015 * West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year – 2012

Clubs

* 2022–23

Italian League The Italic League or Most Holy League was an international agreement concluded in Venice on 30 August 1454, between the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples, following the Tr ...

Champion, with

2022-23 MVP of 5th and deciding match vs. Vero Volley Milano * 2022-23 Italian Cup (Coppa Italia) - Simple cup icon

Champion, with

* 2022 Italian Supercup - Simple cup icon

Champions, with

* 2022 FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship - Simple cup icon

Champion, with

International

– ''Best Spiker'' *

– ''Best Scorer'' * 2019 FIVB Volleyball Women's Challenger Cup qualification – ''Most Valuable Player'' * ''2022–23

"Most valuable player"''

References

Exteneral links

*
Busto bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Alexa 1994 births Living people Canadian women's volleyball players Volleyball players from Calgary Sportspeople from Lethbridge Outside hitters BYU Cougars women's volleyball players Expatriate volleyball players in Italy Expatriate volleyball players in South Korea Serie A1 (women's volleyball) players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Black Canadian sportswomen Canadian people of American descent Expatriate volleyball players in the United States Canadian Latter Day Saints