Yukiko Ebata (江畑 幸子 Ebata Yukiko, born November 7, 1989) is a retired Japanese volleyball player who played for the PFU BlueCats and was a member of the Japan women's national volleyball team. She was a member of Japan's bronze medal-winning 2012 Olympic volleyball team. She married Shun Takahashi who is coach of Victorina Himeji. Career Ebata is from Tsuchizaki-Minato, Akita-shi, Akita prefecture. Her parents are volleyball players, she started playing volleyball when she is in her 3rd year in elementary school. She also has an older brother who also played volleyball. When she entered college, she was offered a scholarship by the director of the Holy Spiritual Women's Junior College, in return for playing volleyball for the school. Ebata has said that this was a major turning point for her. She was then attached to the Holy Spiritual Women's Junior College, she was active in the Spring High Valley and Inter – high as captain. In 2008, she was recruited by the Hitachi Rivale professional women's volleyball club team as one of their active wing spikers in 2009–10. In 2010, she was registered as one of the representatives of Japan women's national volleyball team at the 2010 World Grand Prix making her the youngest player in the team. In addition, during the World Championship in October–November of the same year, she scored 24 points for Japan in their second match of the qualifying round against Turkey on November 7, which is also her birthday. The team went on to win the bronze medal, her performance made a big contribution for the team. In June 2011, at the 2011 Montreux Volley Masters, she contributed greatly to her first win with the team against Turkey, due to her great performance, she won the Best Spiker award in the said tournament. Meanwhile, in the 2011 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup, she contributed to Japan's victory as an ace and at her young age, she leads Japan to a 4th-place finish. In March 2012, she contributed to the victory of Hitachi Rivale in the V. Challenge League, eventually winning the MVP award. In the same year, she participated in the 2012 London Olympic games alongside the Japanese women's volleyball team. She showed great success in her hitting throughout the games and particularly in the quarter-finals against China where she scored her all-time highest with 33 points. Ebata helped earn the team a place