Karolyn Kirby

Karolyn Kirby was born on June 30, 1961 in Brookline, Massachusetts, the hometown of one-time governor and presidential candidate Mike Dukakis and newscaster Mike Wallace and an unlikely hometown for one of the nation's best beach volleyball players. Kirby didn't play volleyball until she was a freshman in high school. Previously a competitive swimmer, she was burned out and looking for something new. Kirby and a group of friends decided to give volleyball a try. She never looked back.

Kirby took to the sport quickly and became especially known for her setting abilities. As a freshman with no previous experience, she made the varsity squad, and by the summer after her sophomore year she was good enough to be invited to join the junior Olympic team. During her senior year in high school she sent off tapes of her play to several universities. Rutgers offered her a

Karolyn Kirby

partial scholarship, but Utah State University, home of the National Collegiate Athletic Association volleyball champions, offered her a full ride. Kirby was both thrilled and worried by the invitation to play at Utah State, where she would join one of the best college teams in the nation. "When I was in high school, [my father] and I would sit around and talk about playing volleyball and going to the Olympics," Kirby later recalled to The Boston Globe. "I was so nervous, I didn't know if I wanted to go to Utah State. But [my father] encouraged me to do it. He had the vision I lacked." A month before she left for Utah State, Kirby's father passed away.

While at Utah State, Kirby was named an All-American in 1981. When her coaches left to take over the University of Kentucky volleyball team, Kirby transferred to the school, where she finished out her college play. In 1983, her final year in college, she was once again named an All-American and was also named as the Southeast Conference's Most Valuable Player. In the same year Kirby was named to the Olympic training team, and in 1984, she served as an alternate on the Olympic team.