Summer Ross

Summer Ross (born December 20, 1992)

Early life and junior career Ross was born in Carlsbad, California to Tony and Kathy. Her older brother, Chase, was a member of the men's volleyball team at Pepperdine University.

Ross began working with coaches from the USA Volleyball (USAV) Beach Program in 2008. With these wins, 17-year-old Ross became the first beach volleyball player to win both age-group World Championships in the same year. and was named USAV's Beach Female Athlete of the Year. Ross also placed fourth at the U21 World Championships with Sara Hughes two years later. As a sophomore, she partnered with Caitlin Racich to lead Pepperdine to both the inaugural team and pairs AVCA National Championships. She was named a Division I Collegiate Beach All-American at the end of season. Later that year, Ross and partner Emily Day won the 2012 World University Championships in Maceio, Brazil.

After one season at Pepperdine, Ross left college in 2013 to play beach volleyball professionally. eventually finishing in 49th place. They reached their first World Tour podium at the $146.4K Phuket Open in November, where they were the runners-up after being beaten in the gold-medal match by China's Xia Xinyi and Xue Chen. Ross and Day finished the year ranked No. 22 in the world. The pair also had success on the AVP tour. Despite having to go through the qualifiers in their first AVP event together, The pair went on to reach the finals at the next two AVP stops, losing to Jennifer Kessy and April Ross in the $50K Atlantic City Open,

On the 2014 World Tour, Ross and Day's best finish was taking fifth place at the $400K Stavanger Grand Slam in June, following a quarterfinal defeat by eventual champions April Ross and Walsh Jennings. The duo also posted two ninth-place finishes at the $400K Shanghai and $500K Long Beach Grand Slams. They ended the World Tour season ranked No. 21. Ross and Day entered the 2014 AVP season as the top seeds. Competing in seven AVP tournaments, their best result was a second-place finish at the $75K Atlantic City Open in September, in which they lost to April Ross and Walsh Jennings in straight sets in the finals. With Fopman, Ross's best finish was a fifth place at the $75,000 Prague Open in May. Ross played with Lane Carico for the second half of the year, posting two more fifth-place finishes at the $75K Rio de Janeiro and Sochi Opens. Domestically, the duo competed in three AVP tournaments, coming in second in the $75,000 Seattle Open, and third in the $100K Manhattan Beach and $75K Chicago Opens. They came in second or third in the remaining AVP events that they entered.

2017: Partnering with Brooke Sweat At the end of 2016, Ross split with Carico and teamed up with Brooke Sweat. In the 2017 AVP season, Ross won the $75K Seattle Open again with new partner Brooke Sweat, beating Betsi Flint and Kelley Larsen in straight sets. The pair were also runners-up at the $87.5K New York City Open and the $112.5K Chicago Championships. They also had a fourth-place finish at the $300K Fort Lauderdale Major, as well as a fifth-place finish at the 2017 World Championships, losing in the quarterfinals to the eventual champions Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst of Germany. with Ross recording the most points, kills and blocks in the tournament. Later that month, Ross left her previous partner Sweat to team up with Sara Hughes, Hughes and Ross won their first tournament as a team at the AVP New York Open in June 2018, as part of the 2018 AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour. The pair medalled in their first FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament the following month, winning bronze at the Espinho Open. Hughes and Ross later won the 2018 AVP Hermosa Beach Open and the 2018 Moscow Open, the latter being their first FIVB gold medal.

At the end of 2018, Ross was named USAV's Female Beach Athlete of the Year for the first time since 2010.

Style of play Ross is a blocker and specializes in playing on the left side of the court. a skill that is uncommon in the women's game. She also possesses good ball control During matches, Ross is known for her calm and reserved demeanor. Teammate Hughes has complimented Ross' aggressiveness at the net, while former partner Sweat described her as "a really consistent, solid, steady player."