A Long Beach, CA native, Christi graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School, and Long Beach City College. At LBCC she enjoyed two very successful seasons at Long Beach City College where she was named the SCC Most Valuable Player in 1995. Her team finished as the California State JUCO Championship runner-up in 1995. She was selected first team All-American (both American Volleyball Coaches Association and Volleyball Monthly) in 1995. She was also named first team all-state, all-state tournament and All-Southern California (both 1994 and 1995).
After LBCC, she continued her volleyball career at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, Texas. During her career at UTPA, Phillips was named to five All-Tournament teams including the UTPA Circle K/Asics Classic, the Prairie View A&M Invitational, and the UT-San Antonio Invitational. She set a school record for service aces in a match with 10, which is still ranked in the NCAA history books for aces in a four game match. She was also listed for seven weeks in the NCAA Top-20 rankings in that aces statistical category
In 1997 she was named to the Sun Belt Conference Commissioner's All-Academic List, earned UTPA's Female Sportsman of the Year honors and served as the secretary of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. In 1998 she received the UTPA Ann LaMantia Award for academic excellence.
After her playing days had concluded, Phillips served as a student assistant coach under then head coach Dave Thorn for the 1998 season. She also did an internship for the UTPA Sports Information Department at the same time. She was named the Assistant Women’s Volleyball coach at UTPA in May of 1999. She was also the camp director for the summer Lady Bronc Volleyball Camps. Along side of the college coaching, she coached and directed Kaepa Valley Elite Juniors for 3 seasons. In the spring of 2002, she resigned from UTPA to focus entirely on the club program.
Christi returned to Long Beach in 2003 to take over the Head Women’s Volleyball coaching Position at LBCC. She coached there for 3 seasons, along with coaching at Mizuno Long Beach. In February of 2006, Phillips ended her three-year coaching position with the Vikings to become the manager of Grass Roots on the AVP Crocs Pro-Beach Volleyball Tour. She worked on the AVP Tour for 2 seasons. From there she moved on to her current position, Foundation Director at Dig 4 Kids Education Program. She still coaches at Mizuno Long Beach and does other jobs for various companies.
