Katherine Briana "Khat" Bell (born May 5, 1993) is an American

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 Sum ...

player who played for the

Petron Blaze Spikers The Petron Blaze Spikers were a professional women's volleyball team that played in the Philippine Super Liga (PSL) from 2013 to 2020. After the cancellation of the 2020 season of the PSL due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the team took a lea ...

in the

Philippine Super Liga The Philippine Super Liga (PSL; alternatively spelled as Philippine Superliga) was a non-professional corporate club women's volleyball league in the Philippines. It was first organized by SportsCore Event Management and Consultancy, Inc. an ...

from 2018 to 2020. She currently plays for

Korea Expressway Corporation Hi-Pass Gimcheon Korea Expressway Corporation Hi-Pass ( ko, 김천 한국도로공사 하이패스) is a South Korean professional women's volleyball team. The team was founded in 1970 and became fully professional in 2005. They are based in Gimcheon and ...

in the Korean V-League.

Early life

Bell was born on March 5, 1993 to Kenneth Bell and Regina Williams. She was born in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

though she considers

Mesquite Mesquite is a common name for several plants in the genus '' Prosopis'', which contains over 40 species of small leguminous trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. They have extremely long roots to seek water from very far under gr ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

as her hometown. She has two sisters and a brother.

Career

College

Bell during her attendance at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

played for the

Texas Longhorns women's volleyball The Texas Longhorns women's volleyball team represents The University of Texas at Austin in NCAA Division I intercollegiate women's volleyball competition. The Longhorns currently compete in the Big 12 Conference. Texas has won four volleyball n ...

team in 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 ...

. During her stint, she was named into the All-American women's volleyball thrice. She along with teammate Haley Eckerman became the first senior class to win all four Big 12 Champions for the Longhorns and advanced to three NCAA Semifinal in four years. In 2012, they help the Longhorns earn their first National Championship since 1988. Also for the year 2012, she was named Cobra Magazine National Defensive Player of the Year. She finished fourth in the University of Texas' career chart with the record of 1.17 blocks per set. She graduated from the university in 2015.

Club

After graduating from the University of Texas, Bell started her club career in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

with GS Caltex Seoul. She played for the Korean club from 2015 to 2016 before playing for Gigantes de Carolina in Puerto Rico in 2016. Bell later played for Turkish clubs Manisa BB SK (2016–2017) and Balıkesir Büyükşehir Belediyespor (2017–2018). Two weeks before her stint with Balıkesir was set to end, Bell was contacted by the

of the

(PSL) due to its import player Hillary Hurley having recurring injuries. Bell replaced Hurley as Petron entered the semifinals of the

2018 PSL Grand Prix Conference The 2018 Chooks-To-Go PSL Grand Prix Conference was the first conference and first indoor tournament for the Philippine Super Liga's sixth season. The games commenced February 17, 2018 at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig and the formal opening c ...

. On May 1, 2018, Bell scored 42 points for Petron which is the PSL's 2nd highest record for points.

Galatasaray

She signed a 1-year contract with

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

on September 22, 2022. On 29 December 2022, she announced on her social media account that she had parted ways with Galatasaray.

International

Bell was part of the United States U18 girls' youth team that played at the

2009 FIVB Volleyball Girls' U18 World Championship The 2009 FIVB Girls Youth Volleyball World Championship was held in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand from 3 to 12 July 2009. 16 teams participated in the tournament. Qualification process Pools composition First round ''All times are Thai Stan ...

in Thailand. She was also a participant of the

2015 Summer Universiade ) , Nations participating = 143 , Athletes participating = 12,885 , Events = 272 in 21 sports , Opening ceremony = , Closing ceremony = , Officially opened by = Park Geun-hye , Athlete's Oath = Kim Seong-yeon and Kim Kuk-young , Judge's Oath = ...

in South Korea playing for the Universiade volleyball team of the United States.

Television

Bell was a contestant on the second season of the American TV series ''The Circle''.

Sporting Achievements

Individual

Korean V-League: * Best Blocker Philippine Superliga: * Best Outside Spiker ( 2019 PSL Grand Prix Conference)

Team

Philippine Superliga: * Champions -

(

, 2019 PSL Grand Prix Conference)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Katherine 1993 births Living people University of Texas alumni American women's volleyball players American expatriate sportspeople in the Philippines American expatriate sportspeople in South Korea American expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Sportspeople from Texas Expatriate volleyball players in the Philippines Wing spikers American expatriate volleyball players GS Caltex Seoul KIXX players Participants in American reality television series 21st-century American women Texas Longhorns women's volleyball players Galatasaray S.K. (women's volleyball) players