Sara Hughes

Early life and junior career Hughes was born in Long Beach, California, to Rory and Laura. She has an older brother, Connor, and an older sister, Lauren. According to Hughes, she first came to love the sport when Lovelace praised her ball control as the best he had ever seen for an eight-year-old. From 2004 to 2012, she was mostly partnered with Justine Wong-Orantes, playing as a blocker. She played indoor volleyball for Mater Dei High School as well and was the Orange County Player of the Year as a senior.

Hughes joined the Trojans in the 2013–14 season, partnering with Kirby Burnham as the top-flight pair throughout her freshman year. The duo won the AVCA Pairs Championship and recorded 42 wins and 4 losses by the end the season. Women's beach volleyball was also promoted to an NCAA Championship sport that year, and Hughes and Claes helped the Trojans win the first-ever NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship, defeating the Florida State Seminoles' top pair in straight sets in the finals. They ended the season with an undefeated 48–0 record and were selected to the NCAA All-Tournament Team. As seniors, the duo repeated as Pac-12 Pairs Champions and were once again named Pair of Year. Hughes and Claes completed their senior year with a 55–1 win–loss record, amassing an overall record of 147 wins and 4 losses in their three seasons together.

Between their sophomore and senior years, Hughes and Claes had a win streak of 103 collegiate matches, losing just seven sets during this run. Their streak began in April 2015 Hughes was named an AVCA Division I Collegiate Beach All-American in all her four years of college. She graduated with a Bachelor's degree in business administration in 2017, and earned a Master's degree in Entrepreneurship and Innovation the following year.

Amateur career

While still in high school and college, Hughes competed as an amateur on the domestic and international professional tours. Hughes partnered with Lane Carico to win her first international event the following year at the $8K NORCECA tournament in Boquerón, Cabo Rojo. She made her Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) debut playing with Geena Urango at the $75K Milwaukee Open in 2014, but did not progress past the qualifying rounds.

Professional career 2017: Partnering with Claes Hughes turned professional upon graduating from college in the summer of 2017, choosing instead to continue playing with her collegiate partner Claes. In their first professional season, Hughes and Claes got their highest finish in international competition at the $115K Long Beach Presidents Cup exhibition event in July, beating Germany's Walkenhorst and Ludwig in the bronze-medal match. Two weeks later, they were knocked out of the World Championships by eventual champions Walkenhorst and Ludwig for a ninth-place finish. With this win, Hughes and Claes, aged 22 and 21 at the time, became the youngest team in history to win an AVP tournament.

2018–2019: Partnering with S. Ross

After ninth-place finishes in their first two World Tour tournaments of 2018, Hughes ended her partnership with Claes to team up with S. Ross. According to Hughes, she made the switch because she "needed to grow a little more as a volleyball player." Hughes and S. Ross entered the AVP season as the top seeds, winning two of the four events they competed in. The following month, they beat A. Ross and Alix Klineman in three sets to win another AVP title at the $79K Hermosa Beach Open. The duo were runners-up to A. Ross and Klineman at the $125K Chicago Championships and the $75K Hawaii Invitational in September.

Hughes and S. Ross also reached their first podium on the World Tour by taking the bronze medal at the $150K Espinho Open in July. The pair then won their first World Tour title the next month at the $150K Moscow Open. Seeded ninth in Moscow, they upset three of the top five seeds, beating the second-seeded Brazilian team of Ágatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda Santos Lisboa in the gold-medal match. After Moscow, Hughes and S. Ross were ranked No. 9 in the world, a career-best for Hughes. They were awarded a wild card entry to the World Tour Finals in Hamburg at the end of the season, in which the eight top-ranked teams and two wild cards compete for the $400K prize pool. As the tenth seeds in the Finals, they notched victories over the top-seeded German team of Chantal Laboureur and Julia Sude and the eight-seeded Dutch team of Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink. However, losses to the fifth-seeded Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson of Canada and the fourth-seeded Maria Antonelli and Carolina Solberg Salgado of Brazil meant they did not progress to the quarterfinals, finishing tied for seventh place. Hughes and S. Ross concluded 2018 with a third-place finish at the $150K Yangzhou Open, defeating Canada's Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes in the bronze-medal match.

Accolades Hughes is the 2017 FIVB Top Rookie and the 2018 AVP Best Defender. She and Claes were named Sportswomen of the Year at the 2017 LA Sports Awards, organized by the Los Angeles Sports Council.

Style of play

Hughes is a defender and right-handed right-side player. Originally a blocker in her youth, she moved to the backcourt when she started playing with the taller Claes. Hughes has been noted for her "speed and relentless pursuit of every ball."

Of the 87 players who competed in a Major Series main draw on the 2018 World Tour, Hughes ranked 33rd for total points scored, averaging 5.61 points per set; 25th for total kills, averaging 5.21 kills per set; and 40th for number of aces, with around four percent of her serves being aces.

Personal life Hughes' childhood idol was Misty May-Treanor,

When Hughes and Claes were just starting to compete on the professional circuits, their biggest challenge was not being able to afford a coach. As their tournament results improved, the pair received more financial assistance from USA Volleyball and began working with Volleyball Hall of Fame inductee José Loiola. She is sponsored by Mikasa Sports, Oakley, KT Tape, and Nike.

Kelly Claes April RossKerri Walsh Jennings 17–21, 13–21(0:53)

1–1

Summer Ross Nicole BranaghBrandie Wilkerson 21–14, 21–19(0:52)

3–1

Summer Ross April RossAlix Klineman 19–21, 21–19, 17–15(1:28)

3–2

Summer Ross April RossAlix Klineman 23–25, 16–21(0:54)

3–3

Summer Ross April RossAlix Klineman 21–18, 19–21, 10–15(0:59)

Performance timeline

Current through the 2018 FIVB World Tour Finals.

Q1

0 / 1 2–3

0 / 1 2–2

0 / 2 5–3

0 / 1 4–1

0 / 2 5–4

0 / 1 3–2

0 / 1 2–2

0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0

0–0 4–5 16–9 9–7

161 60 16 9

Note: Only main draw results are considered.