Joliet Catholic Alum Lands Spot on Olympic Volleyball Team

• Photo courtesy of Team USA

USA Volleyball has announced its 12-player U.S. Olympic Women’s Volleyball Team and local residents might see a familiar face.

Joliet-born and Joliet Catholic Academy alum Kelly Murphy has been selected for the team along with 11 other women.

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Murphy, who now calls Wilmington her home town, started playing volleyball at age 11 in 2000 with Club Uno, according to her Team USA profile. Her mom played volleyball at Illinois State University and her boyfriend Christian Taylor won the 2012 Olympic gold medal in the triple jump.

After high school, Murphy attended the University of Florida, majoring in elementary education.

University of Florida Head Volleyball Coach Mary Wise called Murphy a unique talent.

“She has a picture-perfect arm swing coming from a 6-foot-2 left-hander. She has great court vision and great arm speed. That by itself would be enough to make her a special talent. But then she has one of the best deliveries and touches on the ball ... of any setter in the college game. She makes it look effortless,” Murphy said in a Dec. 2011 espnW article.

The official announcement came Tuesday, which nearly left Murphy speechless.

"It's pretty hard to find the right words," Murphy told the Chicago Tribune. "I'm still trying to process it and settle in. I guess the one thing I can say is that I'm really happy and just extremely honored that this has happened."

The team will open play Aug. 6 against Puerto Rico.