Sara Hughes is a professional volleyball player, who has reached great heights in the sport with her exceptional talent and her partner Kelly Cheng. She started her volleyball training at the early age of eight.

In their junior careers, both of them won bronze medals at the 2013 U19 and 2014 U21 World Championships. Following this, they continued the legacy in the collegiate career, where they won 103 consecutive collegiate matches and made brough two NCAA Championships title consecutively for the USC Trojans. (2016 and 2017).

Hughes turned professional in 2017, and became the youngest team to win an AVP event with Kelly Cheng. She played alongside Cheng till early 2018, and paired up with her new partner, Summer Ross.

However, their split was just temporary, and they reconciled in late 2022. Some more partners that Hughes played with were Justin Wong-Orantes, Kelley Kolinkse, and Jose Loiola. She has won a total of 13 medals at the World Tour. Out of the 13 medals she won, eight are gold which she won one in the 2018 Moscow, one at 2020 Siem Reap, one in 2021, three in 2022, and one in 2023 and 2024 editions each.

She also clinched gold in the World Tour Finals in 2022 Doha, and another gold in the 2023 Tlaxcala World Championship. Hughes is a right-side defender and has been under the spotlight for her speed and passion to get the ball. She was also awarded the title of the 2017 FIVB Top Rookie.

Sara Hughes Nationality

Sara Hughes is American. She grew up in Costa Mesa, California, in a family who was extremely fond of volleyball. Her mother is a former volleyball player and her brother Connor, also won two NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship. She was an extraordinary junior beach volleyball player, as she nabbed several wins on the Amateur Athletic Union and California Beach Volleyball Association circuits.

She was also named the most valuable player after her club won the U16 Junior Olympics national championship in 2011.

Sara Hughes Hometown

Sara Hughes was born in Long Beach, California and grew up in Costa Mesa, CA, where she grew up learning volleyball from her mother, Laura Hughes. She grew up attending her siblings’ practices and tournaments and she impressed a player’s parents while attending these practice sessions. That parent recommended her to local beach volleyball youth coach Bill Lovelace. Hughes fell in love with the sport when her coach commended her ball control skills at the tender age of eight. She trained under him til she was 15 years old. She even played multiple tournaments at her hometown and accomplished several wins.