Alexandra Rose "Alix" Klineman (born December 30, 1989) is an American

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

gold medalist, and former indoor

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. In high school she was the 2006

Gatorade National Player of the Year The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys' baseball, boys' and girls' basketball, boys' and girls' cross country, boys' football, boys' a ...

. She was a four-time All-American in volleyball at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, and the 2010 ''Volleyball Magazine'' national player of the year. She won a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

with Team USA at the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, ...

. Switching to beach volleyball, she was named part of the 2018 Association of Volleyball Professionals Team of the Year (along with

April Ross April Elizabeth Ross (born June 20, 1982) is an American beach volleyball player and three-time Olympic medalist. She won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics with Jennifer Kessy, a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics with Kerri Walsh ...

), and individually honored with the 2018 and 2019 Best Blocker awards.

Early life

Klineman was born in

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the m ...

, to Mike and Kathie Klineman, raised in

Manhattan Beach, California Manhattan Beach is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast south of El Segundo, California, El Segundo, west of Hawthorne, California, Hawthorne and Redondo Beach, California, Red ...

, and is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. She has an older brother, Max, and a sister, Maddy."Meet Breakout Beach Volleyball Player Alix Klineman: From Starting By Chance To Winning Golds,"
Team USA, August 20, 2019. She is 6'5" (1.96 m) in height.

High school

Klineman graduated from

Mira Costa High School Mira Costa High School (MCHS, "Costa") is a four-year public high school located in Manhattan Beach, California that first began operating in 1950. It is the only high school in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District. The school's athletic t ...

in 2007. She was named the 2005 and 2006 California Gatorade State Player of the Year for Volleyball, and the 2006

. She was also the 2004 and 2006 California State Championship most valuable player, PrepVolleyball.com 2004 Sophomore Player of the Year and 2006 Senior Player of the Year, and a three-time PrepVolleyball.com High School All-American. She led Mira Costa to three consecutive California State Championships, and three consecutive Southern Section CIF Championships. In indoor volleyball, Klineman is an outside hitter.

College

She played indoor college women's

for the Stanford Cardinal women's volleyball team in 2007–2010. She was the 2010 ''Volleyball Magazine'' Player of the Year as a college senior, a multi

American Volleyball Coaches Association The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is an organization of over 6,000 members, incorporated as a private non-profit educational corporation in 1981, as the Collegiate Volleyball Coaches Association. It is currently headquartered in L ...

(AVCA) All-American, the

Pac-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

Player of the Year, and an All-Conference selection all four years. Klineman was also the AVCA National Freshman of the Year, leading the Cardinal to the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Finals, and she made the NCAA All-Tournament Team. She finished her college career second at Stanford and fifth all-time in Pac-10 history with 2,008 kills. In 2010 she ranked second in the US with 5.55 kills per set and 6.25 points per set,

Team USA

She was on the USA Junior National Women's Volleyball Team and a member of the United States women's national volleyball team. She helped the U.S. Girls’ Youth National Team win a gold medal at the 2004

North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation The North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) is the international governing body for the sports of volleyball in Northern America, Central America, and the Caribbean. NORCECA is the continental confederation that r ...

(NORCECA) Girls’ Youth Continental Championship, and a gold medal at the 2006 NORCECA Women's Junior Continental Championship. Klineman was a training member of 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 beac ...

. She won a

with the US in

volleyball at the 2011 Pan American Games Volleyball competitions at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara were held from October 15 to October 29 at the Pan American Volleyball Stadium (indoor) and the Pan American Beach Volleyball Stadium (beach) in Puerto Vallarta. Each indoo ...

Professional indoor volleyball career

She also played volleyball in Italy from 2011 to 2015 for

Volley Pesaro Volley Pesaro is an Italian women's volleyball club based in Pesaro currently playing in the Serie A1. The club won three Italian leagues and international titles. Previous names Due to sponsorship, the club have competed under the following na ...

, Gruppo Sportivo Oratorio Villa Cortese, and AGIL Volley Novara, and with

Praia Clube Praia Clube is the professional women's volleyball team from Uberlândia, Minas Gerais which represents the social and sports club of the same name in the Brazilian Superleague. The club currently plays under the commercial name Dentil/Praia Club ...

in Brazil for two years. She tested positive for anabolic androgenic steroids in 2013 and was suspended for 13 months. According to Klineman, the positive results were due to unintentional ingestion of her mother's

DHEA Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), also known as androstenolone, is an endogenous steroid hormone precursor. It is one of the most abundant circulating steroids in humans. DHEA is produced in the adrenal glands, the gonads, and the brain. It functio ...

supplement.

Beach volleyball career

2019-07-06 BeachVolleyball Weltmeisterschaft Hamburg 2019 StP 0520 LR by Stepro

In 2017, Klineman left indoor volleyball to focus on beach volleyball full-time, and was named the

Association of Volleyball Professionals The Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) is the biggest and longest-running professional beach volleyball tour in the United States. Founded in 1983, the AVP is headquartered in Newport Beach, California. The AVP operates as a 3-tiered ...

(AVP) Rookie of the Year. At the end of 2017, Klineman and

became beach volleyball partners. Klineman and Ross won the FIVB Dela Beach Open in January 2018, which was the first tournament they played together. During the

2018 AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour The 2018 AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour is a domestic professional beach volleyball circuit organized in the United States by the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) for the 2018 beach volleyball season. The 2018 AVP Tour calendar comp ...

, Klineman and Ross won four tournament events: the Austin Open, the

Manhattan Beach Open The Manhattan Beach Open is a beach volleyball tournament held annually during the summer in Manhattan Beach, California. Held on the south side of the Manhattan Beach Pier, the Open is the only professional volleyball tournament in which amat ...

, the Championships (in Chicago), and the Hawaii Invitational. In mid-October 2018, Klineman and Ross won their second FIVB tournament event, earning the gold medal over Brazil at the Yangzhou Open. Klineman was named part of the AVP Team of the Year (along with April Ross), and individually honored with the Best Blocker and Most Improved Player awards at the AVP Award Banquet that November. In 2019, Klineman's success with Ross continued as they won the

Huntington Beach Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 during the 2020 census, maki ...

and New York City Open AVP tour events, and won the FIVB Itapema Open mid-May. They also won the silver medal at the

2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships The 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships was held in Hamburg, Germany from 28 June to 7 July 2019.

Hamburg, Germany (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. Klineman was again named Best Blocker. In July 2020, the two won the AVP Monster Hydro Cup and the Wilson Cup, and in August they won the AVP Champions Cup. On August 6, 2021, Klineman and Ross captured the gold medal at the

, after winning in straight sets versus Australia. In the entire tournament, they went undefeated in match play, only losing one set throughout seven matches. Two weeks later, the pair won the AVP Manhattan Beach Open, their second time winning this tournament together.

Awards

Clubs

* 2014–15 Italian Women's Volleyball League – Silver medal, with

AGIL Volley AGIL Volley is an Italian women's volleyball club based in Novara and currently playing in the Serie A1. Previous names Due to sponsorship, the club have competed under the following names: * AGIL Trecate (1984–1999) * AGIL Volley Trecate (1 ...

. * 2015–16 Brazilian Women's Volleyball Superliga – Silver medal, with Dentil Praia Clube. * 2017 South American Club Championship – Silver medal, with Dentil Praia Clube.

Individual

* 2015 Inducted into the

Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distinguished themselves ...

* '' 2017 South American Club Championship "Best Outside Hitter"'' * 2018 AVP Team of the Year (with April Ross) * 2018 AVP Most Improved Player * 2018 AVP Best Blocker * 2019 AVP Best Blocker

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Klineman, Alix 1989 births Living people American women's volleyball players American women's beach volleyball players Outside hitters Jewish women's volleyball players Jewish American sportspeople Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in volleyball Stanford Cardinal women's volleyball players American expatriate sportspeople in Italy American expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Expatriate volleyball players in Italy Expatriate volleyball players in Brazil Serie A1 (women's volleyball) players Sportspeople from Manhattan Beach, California Sportspeople from Torrance, California Doping cases in volleyball Volleyball players at the 2011 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Beach volleyball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in beach volleyball Olympic gold medalists for the United States in volleyball 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women Mira Costa High School alumni