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Kelly Marie Cheng (née Claes, born September 18, 1995) is an American beach volleyball player. She and her partner Sara Hughes won the bronze medal at the 2013 U19 World Championships, the silver medal at the 2014 U21 World Championships, the gold medal at the 2023 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships and back-to-back NCAA Championships in 2016 and 2017.
 Cheng attempting to block a volleyball in 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Birth name | Kelly Marie Claes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Kelly Marie Cheng | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National team |  United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | September 18, 1995 Fullerton, California, United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Beach volleyball | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College team | USC Trojans | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Partner(s) | Sara Hughes (2022–present, 2013–18) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Former partners |
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Medal record
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Cheng was born in Fullerton, California, to Paul, a former San Diego State baseball player, and Quincy. She played high school volleyball at El Dorado High School in Placentia, California, where she was awarded All-CIF Division 1A and Orange County Register All-Orange County first team honors.[2] Along with partner Sara Hughes, she won the bronze medal at the 2013 FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships and the silver medal at the 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships.[2]
Cheng began playing volleyball at the University of Southern California with partner Alexa Strange in 2014.[2] During her sophomore year she rejoined former partner Sara Hughes and won the AVCA Pairs National Championship.[3] Cheng was named a 2015 AVCA All-American. During their junior and senior years Cheng and Hughes led the USC Trojans to back-to-back NCAA Championships in 2016 and 2017. In 2016, Cheng won the inaugural Pac-12 Player of the Year award along with Pac-12 Pair of the Year and the Pac-12 Pairs Championship with Hughes. Cheng graduated from USC in 2017 with a degree in sociology.
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In her first year as a professional, Cheng won her first AVP Gold Series Championships in Chicago with college partner Sara Hughes. The duo became the youngest team to win an AVP event.[3] Hughes split from Cheng in early 2018. Cheng then teamed up with Sarah Sponcil. The duo won the silver medal at the 2019 FIVB four-star event in The Hague and then qualified for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo after winning gold medals in Sochi and Ostrava.[4]
Cheng is a Christian.[5] She married husband Jordan Cheng in 2022.[6]
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