Nicole Branagh - AVP FIVB Olympic Volleyball Star

Looking back over my blog (http://bestdigitalshots.blogspot.com/ if you are not looking at my blog), I realized that I had not written much about Nicole Branagh nor had I posted her picture. As mentioned in my previous post, Branagh will partner with Misty May-Treanor for the 2010 AVP season.

Branagh is coming off a hot season where she won AVP Best Offensive Player and MVP honors. In 2009, she and partner Elaine Youngs (“EY”) won nine AVP championship matches. Nicole and EY placed fifth in the 2009 FIVB World Championships and they also claimed a bronze medal at Gstaad and a silver medal at Klagenfurt. Together, they were named AVP Team of the Year and 2009 AVP Crocs Cup Champions.

Branagh played collegiate volleyball at the University of Minnesota where she was twice named as a second team All-American and three times named as a first team All-Conference player. In 2000, she was named Big Ten co-player of the year. She still holds the Big Ten record for most kills. After college, she played on the U.S. National Team helping it win a bronze medal at the 2003 Pan American Games.

Her beach game started in 2004. She received AVP Rookie of the Year honors in 2005. Since then, Branagh’s game has steadily improved leading to Most Improved Player recognition by the AVP in 2006 and 2008, and Most Improved Player recognition by the FIVB in 2008. During 2008, Branagh and Youngs competed in the Beijing Olympics. The pair defeated teams from the Netherlands, Germany and Cuba to advance to the quarterfinals before losing to the Chinese team of Chen Xue and Xi Zhang. During AVP and FIVB play that year, they finished as the third ranked team on the AVP Tour while winning four medals on the FIVB Tour. Interestingly, it was Branagh and Youngs (after the Olympics) who put the brakes on Walsh and May-Treanor’s amazing 112 match win streak.

Off the sand, Branagh supports Sports for Kids in South Africa, a Home Field Advantage Project. The project plans to provide access to clean water and build volleyball and soccer facilities for disadvantaged children outside of Johannesburg, South Africa. You can learn more about the project by following the link at Branagh’s website: http://www.nicolebranagh.com/ssp/home

Finally, I am looking forward to an exciting year of AVP and FIVB volleyball. May-Treanor and Branagh should pair up well and they are clearly one of my preseason favorites to finish at the top nationally and internationally.