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After two NCAA indoor titles at USC and a brilliant 18-year career beach volleyball, American star April Ross, 42, announced her retirement on Instagram on Monday:
“It is with a very fulfilled and grateful heart, and also some tears, that I am announcing my retirement (after the end of this @avpbeach League season). 18 years, 16 seasons, four quads I’m glad I can say I lived it to the fullest and that it was an absolute BLAST. At the same time, I’m in disbelief it’s (almost) over, it feels like it went by in a heartbeat.
“There were lots of ups and a few downs, a lot of it was tough emotionally and mentally, but it was all so rewarding and worth it. What an intensely amazing experience. I feel so so lucky to have had this career. When I started back in 2006 I could have never allowed myself to dream of doing the things I can now say I have done. All I wanted to do was see the world I never would have guessed picking up beach volleyball at 26 would lead to all this.
“It feels both easy and hard for me to step away from playing. After all the hard work I put into gearing up for this season after giving birth and making a big push to be ready for The League, I know I could keep playing. But I have the overwhelming feeling that I’ve done all I need to do as an athlete. My motivation has been satisfied and it’s time to chase other passions. I also cannot imaging traveling to tournaments and spending that much time away from [son] Ross and my family anymore.”
Ross emerged, slowly but surely, as a major star in beach volleyball after being a two-time first-team All-American at USC and on two NCAA-winning Trojan teams in 2002 and 2003.
She moved to beach in 2006 and played with a series of partners until teaming with Jen Kesey in 2007. They took off, winning nine FIVB World Tour titles from 2007-13, were 2009 World Champions and won the Olympic silver at London 2012, losing to Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor in the gold-medal final.
With May-Treanor retired, Ross and Walsh Jennings began playing together at the end of the 2013 season and immediately won two FIVB World Tour events. They won 11 events together and the Olympic bronze at Rio 2016.
After Rio, Ross and Lauren Fendrick played together in 2017 and won the Worlds silver in Vienna.
But Ross’s greatest success was ahead of her, pairing with Alix Klineman in 2018 and winning five FIVB World Tour events from 2018-21 and rising to the world no. 1 ranking. They were the clear Olympic favorites and won their three Tokyo 2020 group matches by a combined 140-109 points, then won all four playoff matches by two sets to none (8-0 total), defeating Australians Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar in the final, 21-15, 21-16.
Both Klineman and Ross had children in 2023, but came back for the 2024 AVP Huntington Beach Open in May (seventh) and Manhattan Beach Open in August (ninth). There are four events left on this year’s schedule.
Ross married Josh Riley in September; she added at the end of her retirement post:
“Thank you @alixklineman for playing this season with me, it wouldn’t have felt right any other way and I will cherish every point we still get to play this year.
“And lastly, THANK YOU to all of you who have supported and cheered me on along the way, it has been so fun sharing my journey with you. I hope you will keep following along for what’s next!”
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