Lauren Fendrick (born ) is an American beach volleyball player. She competed in beach volleyball at the 2016 Summer Olympics with teammate

Brooke Sweat Brooke Sweat (born Brooke Youngquist; March 27, 1986) is an American professional beach volleyball player, specializing as a defender. She started her career in 2007 with the AVP tours. Sweat had her best ever international ( FIVB) finish with ...

. In 2017, Fendrick and new teammate

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 ...

placed second at the

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships is the double-gender world championship for the sport of beach volleyball organized by the ' ( FIVB) the sport's global governing body. The first official edition of the event was held in Los Angele ...

Early life and education

Fendrick was born in

San Diego 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 State ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. She grew up in Carlsbad, California. From a young age she showed an interest in sports, competing in basketball, tennis, volleyball, and softball. Fendrick attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

and graduated with ''magna cum laude'' with a degree in communication studies. She then went on to study law at

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

graduating in 2010. Fendrick passed the bar, but as of 2016 does not practice law.

Volleyball career

Fendrick played indoor volleyball at UCLA from 1999-2002 where she led the team in kills her last two seasons. During her time playing for UCLA, Fendrick was honored as a 2002 U.S. Volleyball Association (USVBA) All-American. Following her time at UCLA, Fendrick joined the AVP tour as a beach volleyball player. In 2014, she teamed with

. The pair qualified with the U.S. Olympic Beach Volleyball Team to compete in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. Sweat and Fendrick qualified as the second team for the United States, ranked below

Kerri Walsh-Jennings Kerri Lee Walsh Jennings (born August 15, 1978) is an American professional beach volleyball player, three-time Olympic gold medalist, and a one-time Olympic bronze medalist. She is the beach volleyball leader in career victories as of 2016 hav ...

and her partner

, by ranking as one of the top seventeen teams in the world. At the Olympics, Fendrick and Sweat finished in last place for Pool A, eliminating them from the tournament. In spring 2017, Fendrick partnered with Ross for the upcoming volleyball season. The pair finished second at the 2017 world beach volleyball championships in

Vienna, Austria en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. The finish made Ross and Fendrick the first U.S. team, female or male, to medal at the event since 2011. Fendrick temporarily teamed with

Nicole Branagh Nicole Christine Branagh (born January 31, 1979, in Orinda, California) is an American volleyball player. She has represented the United States in international competition as a member of both the indoor and beach national teams. With partner E ...

in 2018 while Branagh's partner, Walsh-Jennings, recovered from injury. In May 2018, Fendrick entered the Association of Volleyball Professionals in Austin, Texas with Loyola Marymount collegiate athlete

Sarah Sponcil Sarah Marie Sponcil (born August 16, 1996, in Phoenix, Arizona) is an American beach volleyball player. Sarah competed for the USA Volleyball Beach National Team in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Sarah and partner Kelly Claes tied for 9th in the ...

. After taking a break from volleyball in 2019 for the birth of her first child, Fendrick returned to competition with partner Sara Hughes with the aim of earning a spot in 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 1 ...

Personal life

She married volleyball coach Andrew Fuller in February 2013. In June 2019, Fendrick gave birth to her first child, a daughter.

References

External links

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AVP Player
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fendrick, Lauren Living people 1982 births American women's volleyball players American women's beach volleyball players UCLA Bruins women's volleyball players Volleyball players from San Diego Sportspeople from Carlsbad, California Beach volleyball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic beach volleyball players for the United States USC Gould School of Law alumni 21st-century American sportswomen