Class of 2011

Kristen Harris Cain graduated from Apex High School in 2011. Kris was highly valued by her coaches and teammates, which was exhibited through her appointment by her coaches as a three-year varsity captain. During her senior year as a student-athlete at Apex, Kris led the Cougars throughout the historic 2010-11 volleyball season that secured the first volleyball NCSHAA 4A State Championship for the Cougars, where she earned the 2010 NCHSAA 4A State Championship MVP and the Tri-9 Conference Player of the Year awards. She helped secure the perfect season, going 27-0 on the season and only losing 7 total sets, with the Cougars being ranked 13th nationally according to MaxPreps, setting the bar for what can be accomplished in high school sports in North Carolina. 

As a testament to her performance throughout her senior season, Kris was awarded the high honor of being named the 2010-11 Gatorade North Carolina Volleyball Player of the Year. 

In her sophomore season, she led the Cougars to secure the Tri-8 Conference Championship (25-3, 14-1), including a 21-match winning streak during the season. In 2008, Kris helped the Cougars progress to the semi-finals of the state playoffs where the Cougars were ultimately defeated by the would-be state champions. Kris amassed 337 kills during the season and was recognized as the Apex Volleyball Offensive MVP, in addition to being named to the 1st Team All-Conference, the Chapel Hill Invitational All-Tournament team, and recognized by the Raleigh Sports Club as Student-Athlete of the Week for outstanding performance in the classroom as well as volleyball. 

During her junior season, Kris continued to dominate on the court by leading the team in kills and blocks, 213 (.419 kill percentage) and 107, respectively, recording a season high 18 kills in one match against Panther Creek. She helped the Cougars become back-to-back Tri-9 Conference Champions (20-4, 16-0) despite the team not having any seniors, and earned back-to-back spots on the 1st Team All-Conference list, as well as being named the Apex Volleyball Offensive MVP for a second year in a row. During their 2009 season, the Cougars were ranked #15 in the nation according to the ESPN Rise rankings. 

In Kris’s final season as a Cougar, she commanded the court and led the team to its most successful season in its history. In addition to winning the 2010 State Championship, the Cougars made a historic run with a three-peat back-to-back-to-back Tri-9 Conference Championship title, where Kris was named Tri-9 4A Conference Player of the Year. Kris finished her senior season with 340 kills (.465 kill percentage) and 67 blocks, including a high school career high 23 kills in the match against J. H. Rose in the semi-finals, and was awarded as the Apex Volleyball Offensive MVP for the third straight  year and honored with the Coaches Award for athletic achievement. Kris also had multiple external recognitions, including being named MaxPreps Volleyball Player of the Week for Week 10 of the high school volleyball season, being named as one of the Top 150 High School All-Americans nationally on PrepVolleyball.com, and recognized as the Raleigh News & Observer Female Athlete of the Year. The Cougars also moved up in national rankings to #14 in the ESPN Rise national poll along with a final ranking at #13 according to MaxPreps, after being ranked as high as #8 on MaxPreps at one point during the 2010 season.

In addition to playing as a three-year varsity volleyball athlete, Kris was a varsity basketball athlete her freshman year, where she was a starter for the Cougars and led the team in rebounding. Kris made the Clayton Holiday Invitational All-Tournament team after the Cougars won the Invitational. That season, the team finished second in the Tri-8 Conference, and afterwards Kris decided to solely focus on her volleyball career in order to further develop and follow her deep passion for the game.

After graduating from Apex High School, Kris went on to play volleyball at Elon University on a full athletic scholarship, where she majored in Finance with minors in Accounting and Computer Science, along with being a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority. During her career at Elon, she amassed numerous awards including SoCon Defensive Player of the Week, SoCon Freshman of the Week, SoCon Offensive Player of the Week, SoCon All-Freshman Team, named back-to-back to the NCCSIA All-State second team, earned a spot on multiple invitational all-tournament teams, and earned an invitational MVP award. She finished her career playing for the Phoenix with totals of 740 kills, 51 aces, and 319 blocks after bouncing back from a season-ending knee injury early in her junior year. 

Following her playing career, Kris dedicated part of her time to the travel volleyball club she played for throughout high school to coach and share her passion for the game, before deciding to move back to Apex to focus on growing her family with husband, Grant, and now one-year-old son, Levi.