Kim Hill At The 2014 World Championship

MVP

YOU DID IT KIM!

Congrats and we’re all super proud of you!

With your World Championship MVP Award, you are officially in the history books as the VERY FIRST AMERICAN female player to win such award.

Kim Hill on her award:

“I feel ecstatic and happy and just can’t believe it’s real. The award was a surprise and I still can’t believe it either, it’s just amazing. Tonight it’s everything. Eating, drinking and we’re just going to celebrate being together.”

Coach Kiraly on Kim Hill:

“Kimberley Hill has improved tremendously. She is a world-class player in so many of her skills and she’s only been with this team two years, two seasons. Last summer and this summer. She can still get much better so we are excited about her future and her future with USA. This is a good start.”

In case you you didn’t know, Miss MVP will play for Italian club team Igor Gorgonzola Novara this 2014/2015 season.

FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship Italy 2014 Dream Team:

Best Outside Spiker: Ting Zhu (China)

Second Best Outside Spiker: Kimberly Hill (USA)

Best Middle Blocker: Thaisa (Brazil)

Second Best Middle Blocker: Junjing Yang (China)

Best Libero: Monica DeGennaro (Italy)

Best Setter: Alisha Glass (USA)

Best Opposite: Sheilla (Brazil)

Most Valuable Player: Kimberly Hill (USA)

Fair Play Award: Coach Ze Roberto (Brazil)

We’d also like to share this FIVB article about the World Championship MVP’s:

Of the seven players who have taken home the MVP award at World Championships since 1982, two in particular, have made their presence felt on the volleyball courts in Italy.

China’s ‘Jenny’ Lang Ping who was the first to receive the MVP accolade at the World Championships in 1982, finds herself on the other side of the fence at this World Championship as coach of the China team.

As a player, the “Iron Hammer” as she was fondly called, broke new ground for women’s volleyball in her country. And after leading the USA team to a silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games, Jenny Lang Ping (the only woman to coach a team at this World Championship) and her team of young Chinese players find themselves just one match within reach of a gold medal.

Following their semifinal win against hosts Italy on Saturday, China are searching for their third World Championship title after consecutive wins in 1982 and 1986. If China wins, Lang Ping will be only the second person to win gold both as coach and as a player – a feat equaled by her compatriot Zhang Rongfang, who was on the team that won World Championship gold in 1982. Four years later, Rongfang coached China to the top spot at the World Championship that was held in Prague.

Russia’s star player Ekaterina Gamova, who came out of retirement at the request of coach Yuri Marachev, was another past MVP who was also present in Italy. The MVP at the last World Championship in 2010, Gamova also previously won gold at the 2006 edition and bronze in 2002. During her glittering career, Gamova has competed in four Olympic Games, taking home silver medals in 2000 and 2004 and was named Best Scorer and Best Blocker in the latter. The opposite hitter won gold at the 2002 World Grand Prix, and claimed silver and the Best Scorer award at both the 2003 and 2006 editions. At club level she was named Best Spiker of the Russian Cup five times.

Along with Lang Ping and Gamova, this year’s MVP will take her place alongside a superstar cast of players who have firmly stamped their presence in women’s volleyball history.

Following Lang Ping in 1982, it was the turn of Chinese player Yang Xilan to be crowned MVP at the 1986 World Championship in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Russia’s Irina Park Hamchuk did her country proud by winning the title in 1990 though it would be another eight years before another European would win its bragging rights.

Cuba’s Regla Torres is the only player to win two MVP awards in the history of the tournament, securing her legend status by winning it in two consecutive Championships (1994 and 1998). She was followed by Italy’s Elisa Togut in 2002, who was in the stands this time round in Italy to cheer on her compatriots, and then Japan’s Yoshie Takeshita in the 2006 edition.

(images: FIVB)