Madisen Skinner has three NCAA championships under her belt, but the volleyball star is setting her sights even higher as she looks to the future.
“It’s groundbreaking and it’s something that’s really hard to do,” Skinner, 22, told Us Weekly of her three-peat at INFLuential Beach presented by Brand Innovators on Tuesday, June 18. “There have been people who have gone four for four, and that’s my goal.”
After one championship-winning year with the Kentucky Wildcats and two with the Texas Longhorns, Skinner is hoping for another winning season as she enters her senior year at the University of Texas at Austin. As the recipient of the 2023 Honda Sports Award for volleyball and the youngest member of the U.S. women’s national volleyball team, her chances are high.
Yet Skinner has even bigger goals beyond college, as she is hoping to follow in her sister’s footsteps and join her on the Olympic stage.
“[My sister] is the reason I started playing volleyball,” Skinner told Us. “I have to give all the credit and the praise to her. She’s currently about to comPete for Team USA at the Olympics. So she’s amazing at what she does and is an inspiration to me.”
Madisen got to share the court with her sister, Avery, 25, for one year at the University of Kentucky, and the sisters led the school to their first-ever NCAA volleyball championship title in 2020. Avery currently plays volleyball in Italy for Chieri and will be making her Olympics debut in Paris this summer with the U.S. women’s national volleyball team, who earned their first-ever gold medal in Tokyo four years ago.
Madisen is eager to live up to her sister’s legacy.
“I would love to [compete in the Olympics],” Madisen told Us. “My goal is L.A. ’28. Fingers crossed Avery and I will be playing together on the same roster competing for Team USA. That’s definitely my next goal that I’m working towards.”
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Snag This Cozy and Comfortable Overalls Set While it’s Still 40% Off! View DealMadisen — who is featured in RISE Women in Sports, on newsstands now — also feels hopeful for women’s Sports more broadly.
“We’re seeing the most viewership and the most engagement across the board, which is awesome,” Madisen told Us. “Now the question is, how do we keep that going and how do we maximize it and help it continue to grow? It’s definitely exciting just to look around and see people getting the recognition they deserve because we work so hard.”
With reporting by Amanda Williams
