Sarah Grace Wilhite Parsons (born July 30, 1995) is an American professional volleyball player who plays as an outside hitter for Japan professional club NEC Red Rockets and the United States women's national volleyball team.

Personal life

Wilhite Parsons is from

Eden Prairie, Minnesota Eden Prairie is a city southwest of downtown Minneapolis in Hennepin County and the 16th-largest city in the State of Minnesota, United States. As of the 2020 census, it has a population of 64,198. The city is adjacent to the north bank of th ...

and attended

Eden Prairie High School Eden Prairie High School (EPHS) (formerly Eden Prairie Senior High School) is a four-year public high school in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, United States established in 1923. The present high school opened in 1981 and was significantly added to in ...

. She was the Minnesota Gatorade Player of the Year in 2011 and 2012 and was the number 14 nationally ranked recruit coming out of high school. She is married to Jameson Parsons.

Career

College

Wilhite Parsons played college volleyball for Minnesota. In her sophomore season in 2014, she was 2nd on the team in kills with 309 kills. During her junior season in 2015, she trained with the US Collegiate National Team. During that year, she helped Minnesota to its first NCAA Final Four appearance since 2009 in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

. Head coach

Hugh McCutcheon Hugh Donald McCutcheon (born 13 October 1969), a native of Christchurch, New Zealand, is a former volleyball coach. He previously coached the US men's and women's national volleyball team, and was the head coach for the University of Minnesota' ...

stated that it was her junior season when he saw real potential in her to become the team leader as a six-rotation outside hitter. With having won no major awards her entire career, she had a breakout season during her final season in 2016. She worked on her all-around volleyball skills and ended up averaging 4.20 kills per set and helped Minnesota to its second straight NCAA Final Four appearance in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

. Her season performance garnered her multiple awards such as the AVCA and ESPNW National Player of the Year, becoming the first player in Minnesota's history to receive the award. She was also named the Big Ten Player of the Year. She was named Minnesota's Female Athlete of the Year and Breakthrough Athlete of the Year in 2017. She finished her career with 1,182 kills.

National team

Wilhite Parsons has participated in several tournaments with the U.S. national team including the 2017 Pan-American Cup,

2017 FIVB World Grand Prix The 2017 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix was the 25th edition of the annual women's international volleyball tournament played by 32 teams between 7 July and 6 August. The Group 1 Final Round was held in Nanjing, China. Defending champions Brazi ...

, 2018 Pan-American Cup, 2018 FIVB World Championship, and preliminary rounds during the FIVB Nations League in 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022. She was named an alternate for the

2020 Olympic Games 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 ...

, but did not travel with the team to Tokyo.

Professional clubs

* Busto (2017–2018) * Allianz MTV Stuttgart (2018–2019) * Sesi Vôlei Bauru (2019–2020) * NEC Red Rockets (2020–)

Awards and honors

Clubs

* 2022–2023 Simple cup icon

Final Stage Champion, with NEC Red Rockets * 2021–2022 Empress' Cup All Japan Volleyball Championship – Gold Medal, with NEC Red Rockets * 2021–2022 Kurowashiki Tournament – Bronze Medal, with NEC Red Rockets * 2019–2020 Brazilian Cup – Bronze Medal, with Sesi Vôlei Bauru * 2019–2020 Paulista Championship – Bronze Medal, with Sesi Vôlei Bauru * 2018–2019 German Bundesliga – Gold Medal, with Allianz MTV Stuttgart * 2018–2019 German Cup – Silver Medal, with Allianz MTV Stuttgart * 2017–2018 Italian Cup – Bronze Medal, with Busto

College

* AVCA First Team All-American (2016) *ESPNW National Player of the Year (2016) *Big Ten Player of the Year (2016)

International

*2019 NORCECA Champions Cup – ''Most Valuable Player''

External links

Team USA profile

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilhite Parsons, Sarah 1995 births Living people Sportspeople from Minnesota People from Eden Prairie, Minnesota Sportspeople from Hennepin County, Minnesota Outside hitters American women's volleyball players Minnesota Golden Gophers women's volleyball players American expatriate sportspeople in Germany American expatriate sportspeople in Italy American expatriate sportspeople in Brazil American expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate volleyball players in Germany Expatriate volleyball players in Italy Expatriate volleyball players in Brazil Expatriate volleyball players in Japan Serie A1 (women's volleyball) players