Merel Mooren

Merel Mooren
Personal information
Full nameMerel Else Mooren
Born (1982-09-22) 22 September 1982 (age 42)
Haarlem, The Netherlands
HometownAmstelveen, The Netherlands
Height1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight70 kg (154 lb)
Beach volleyball information
Current teammate
Years Teammate Tours (points)
2005-present Rebekka Kadijk 21 (2246)
Previous teammates
Years Teammate Tours (points)
2002-2002
2003-2004
Mered de Vries
Sanne Keizer
2 (4)
18 (260)
Best results
Years Location Result
2003, 2005, 2006
2004
Dutch nationals
Lausanne Satellite
1st
1st
Honours
Women's beach volleyball
Representing  Netherlands
European Championships
Silver medal – second place 2005 Moscow Kadijk
Silver medal – second place 2006 Scheveningen Kadijk
Last updated: 6 September 2006

Merel Else Mooren (born 22 September 1982) is a Dutch professional beach volleyball and indoor volleyball player born in Haarlem.

In indoor volleyball Mooren started her career in 1989 at Allides Haarlem where she was part of the youth teams. The Dutch youth team called her up in 1996 and she was part of the team until 2000, winning a silver medal at the European Youth Championships. From 1997 until 2002 she played for Martinus Amstelveen in the highest Dutch league. Then she decided to switch sports to beach volleyball.

She started her international beach volleyball career in 2002, teaming up with Mered de Vries. The talented team did not last long and in the following year Mooren had a new partner called Sanne Keizer. They quickly became one of the best teams in The Netherlands. They even became Dutch champions by breaking the run set by Rebekka Kadijk who was teaming up with Marrit Leenstra at that time. In 2004 they finished second behind this team, but they won the FIVB Satellite tournament in Lausanne. After the 2004 Summer Olympics Kadijk/Leenstra decided to split up. Mooren was Kadijk's next partner, while Leenstra continued with Sanne Keizer. The combination Kadijk/Mooren was nearly unbeatable in their own country. In 2005 and 2006 they became Dutch national champions. In both 2005 (Moscow) and 2006 (Scheveningen) they reached the final of the European Championships. In both occasions the final was lost and they won the silver medals twice. In 2007 they won their first European Tour Tournament, prevailing in the final of the German Masters in Hamburg.