Holly McPeak is a retired American beach volleyball player.
Education
A high school three-time All-Ocean League and All-Southern Section setter at Mira Costa High School, McPeak chose to attend college at the University of California for its academic excellence, attending the university on a volleyball scholarship.
Career
A three-time Olympian, McPeak garnered 72 career beach volleyball titles with career earnings of $1.4 million United States dollar. Though McPeak was considered short for a beach volleyball player at 5 feet 7 inches in height, she was one of the toughest players to beat on the tour. At Cal she was named National Freshman of the Year in 1987, and continued to play for Cal through her junior year before a coaching change prompted her to transfer to University of California, Los Los Angeles At University of California, Los Angeles her senior season she helped the 1990 University of California, Los Angeles Bruins to a National Collegiate Athletic Association collegiate championship, the school"s fifth of seven national titles. She was selected as first team All-Tournament, first team All-Pac 10 and set the single season assist record of 2,192.
She also set the single match assist mark, with 97 assists.
The following year she acted as an assistant coach as the Lady Bruins repeated as national champions. McPeak graduated from University of California, Los Angeles in 1995 with a degree in English.
At the 1996 Summer Olympics, McPeak partnered with Nancy Reno but the team was unable to medal. She returned to the Olympic Games in 2000, this time partnering with Misty May.
The team finished in fifth place.
Four years later at the 2004 Summer Olympics McPeak teamed with Elaine Youngs and made a serious run at the Gold Medal, but met powerhouse team Misty May and Kerri Walsh in the semi"s and were defeated. Following this her team defeated Australians Natalie Cook and Nicole Sanderson in the third place match to earn McPeak and Youngs the Bronze Meda During the 2005 season, McPeak teamed up with Jennifer Kessy and with Nicole Branagh for the 2006 season.
She then partnered with Angie Akers.
McPeak was planning to retire after the 2008 Avon Products season, but decided to continue for the 2009 season. After three-straight ninth-place finishes in her first three Avon Products events of the season, she retired for good on May 6, 2009, a week shy of her 40th birthday.
Since retiring from beach volleyball, McPeak works as a color commentator for Pac-10 volleyball shown on Fox Sports West, including most televised games of University of California, Los Los Angeles She also does color for Securities and Exchange Commission coverage on the Securities and Exchange Commission Network. In 2014, McPeak served as a sand volleyball game analyst for Pac-12 Network.
McPeak is married to former Avon Products commissioner Leonard Armato.