2012 u.s. paralympic women's sitting team press kit

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U.S. Paralympic Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team

2012 Paralympic Games

London, England

August 29– September 9, 2012

For additional information or to schedule interviews, please contact:

Becky Murdy, Coordinator, Communications, Media ([email protected])

(719) 228-6800

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Table of Contents

Cover page………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 1 Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 2 2012 London Paralympic Preview………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3 History of Sitting Volleyball at the Paralympics…………………………………………………………………. 4 2012 U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team Roster…………………………………………………………………. 5 2012 U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team Photo Roster………….……………………………………………. 6 U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team Player Bios……………………………………………………………… ….. 7-18 U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team Staff Bios……………………………………………………………………..19-21 2012 London Paralympic Sitting Volleyball Schedule……………………………………………………………….. 22 2012 Sitting Volleyball Pools and World Rankings……………………………………………………………………. 23 The Host City: London……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 24 2008 Paralympics in Review………………………………...…………………………………………………………………. 25 2012 U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team Season in Review………………………………………………... 26 Women’s Sitting Gold at Masters, Holloway MVP……………………………………………………………………. 27 2012 Paralympic Sitting Volleyball Nominees Set…………………………………………………………………….. 28 2010 U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team Season in Review………………………………………………… 29 U.S. Women Win Parapan Am Championship………………………………………………………………………….. 30 Women’s Sitting Team Wins World Cup…………………………………………………………………………………… 31 U.S. Women’s Sitting Team Qualifies for 2012 Paralympics……………………………………………………… 32 U.S. Women’s Team Takes Silver at Worlds …………………………………………………………………………….. 33 USA Volleyball Names Its Teams of the Year…………………………………………………………………………….. 34 2011 U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team Season in Review………………………………………………….. 35 Women’s Sitting Team Gold at ECVD, Members Named ‘Best’…………………………………………………. 36 Women’s Sitting Wins Gold at Parapan Am Zonal Championships……………………………………………. 37 U.S. Women’s Team Named 2011 Sitting Team of Year……………………………………………………………. 38 2011 USA Volleyball Women’s Sitting Athlete of the Year……………………………………………………….. 39 All-Time U.S. Women’s Paralympic Volleyball Teams………………………………………………………………. 40 USA Volleyball Fact Sheet………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 41 Volleyball Glossary………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 42 Media Resources…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 43

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U.S. Women’s Sitting Team Looks to Bat Cycle at Paralympics

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 15, 2012)- The 2012 U.S. Para-lympic Women’s Volleyball Team will attempt to make history in London, Aug. 29-Sept. 9 at the ExCel venue, vying to capture the program’s first-ever gold medal at a Paralympic Games. Team USA, ranked second in the world according to the World Organization for Disabled Volleyball (WOVD) under head coach Bill Hamiter (Bethany, Okla.), will kick-start its Paralympic com-petition on Friday, Aug. 31, in Pool B at 4 p.m. local time (8 a.m. PT) against the No. 2 seed and top-ranked team in the world, China. The U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team has claimed hardware from the 2004 and 2008 Paralympic Games, winning bronze in Athens and silver in Beijing under then-head coach Mike Hulett, who was awarded USA Volleyball’s highest honor as the Harold T. Friermood ‘Frier’ award recipient at the 2012 Boyce Awards Banquet on May 24 in Dallas. The team now looks to bat a full-cycle with gold in London. Team USA, consists of eight returning athletes from the 2008 U.S. Paralympic Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team: Allison Aldrich (Schuyloer, Neb.), Heather Erickson (Fayetteville, N.C.), Katie Holloway (Lake Stevens, Wash.), Brenda Maymon-Jensen (Charlestown, Ind.), Lora Webster (Phoenix, Ariz.), Nichole Millage (Champaign, Ill.), Kari Miller (Washington, D.C.) and team captain Kendra Lancaster (Westfield, Ind.). Aldrich, Maymon-Jenson, Webster and Lancaster are making their third Paralympic appearances as they also competed at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens. The four athletes are trying to win their third Paralympic Games medal. Monique Burkland (Ardmore, Okla.), Michelle Gerlosky-Schiffler (Lake Wales, Fla.) and Kaleo Kanahele (Oklahoma City, Okla.) will make their Paralympic debuts in London. Hamiter is making his first Paralympic trip as the U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team head coach. He joined the program as head coach and high performance director in June of 2009. Joining Hamiter on the staff for London will be assistant coach Cara Lang, team leader Cecile Reynaud, athletic trainer Brian Choate and statistician Elliot Blake. With the host seeding, Great Britain will take the first seed and enter the competition for the first time in its program history. China, ranked No. 1 in the world, will take the second seed fol-

lowed by Team USA with the third seed. Ukraine, ranked No. 3 in the world, takes the fourth seed. The U.S. Women will start competition in Pool B with Brazil, China and Slovenia. Pool A is occupied by Great Britain, Japan, The Netherlands and Ukraine. The team earned its Paralympic qualification in July of 2010 after capturing the silver medal at the 2010 WOVD Sitting Vol-leyball World Championships. Since then the team has captured two gold medals and competed in a hand full of international exhibition matches. In September of 2011 the team took the gold medal at the ECVD Continental Cup in Yevatoriya, Ukraine. Holloway was named tournament most valuable player, Miller was named best libero and Gerlosky was named best server. In late September the team posted another gold-medal perfor-mance, this time at the Parapan Am Zonal Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Holloway was again named tournament most valu-able player and added best spiker to her awards, Erickson earned best server and Kanahele best setter. With its dominance as a team and individual success the team was named the 2011 Sitting Volleyball Team of the Year. Hol-loway was named the 2011 Sitting Athlete of the Year. The team suffered a devastating blow in May 2011 when Lan-caster, who had just been named team captain, suffered injuries in a head-on car accident in Morgan Country, Ind. Lancaster, 24, was taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis in critical condi-tion. But after a year of recovery, she returned to the team for its recent trip to Netherlands where it won the DELA Trophy 2012. As a last stitch effort to prepare for the Paralympics the team traveled to Shanghai for exhibition play with Ukraine and China. The matches brought the top three ranked teams in the world under one roof. Team USA went 1-5 on the tournament and came home for its last team camp to iron out kinks and get ready to jump the pond. The team will be tweeting from the games so be sure to follow @USA_Volleyball (USA Volleyball), @KennyLynn15 (Kendra Lan-caster), @KSHolloway (Katie Holloway), @Kaleo_vb10 (Kaleo Kanahele), @HeatherSitVB6 (Heather Erickson), @MoniqueBurkland (Monique Burkland), @allieusa11 (Allison Aldrich), @bmrocket3 (Brenda Maymon-Jenson), @KarisittingV

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History of Sitting Volleyball at the Paralympics Copy from London 2012 Paralympics Sitting Volleyball was introduced to the world at the Arnhem 1980 Paralympic Games with men’s sitting volleyball. Women’s sitting volleyball became part of the Paralympic Games in 2004. It requires a smaller court (10m x 6m) and a lower net, and the game is considerably faster than standing volleyball. It’s played in a best-of-five set format, and the first to reach 25 points (with at least a 2-point lead) wins the game. Teams consist of mixed classes in male and female events, with six on the court at a time. At all times, an athletes’ pelvis must be touching the ground, and service blocks are allowed. At the London 2012 Games, eight teams and 198 athletes will compete in the sport

Courtesy of U.S. Paralympics

Paralympic Women’s Sitting Volleyball Results

2004 Athens Gold– China

Silver– Netherlands Bronze– USA

2008 Beijing Gold– China Silver– USA

Bronze– Netherlands

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2012 U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team Roster

No. Name Ht. Hometown High School/College

1 Lora Webster 5-11 Phoenix, Ariz. Cactus Shadows High School

2* Bethany Zummo 5-3 Dublin, Calif. University of Central Oklahoma

3 Brenda Maymon-

Jensen 5-7 Charlestown, Ind. Midwestern State University

4 Michelle Gerlosky–

Schiffler 6-0 Lake Wales, Fla. University of Georgia

5 Katie Holloway 6-3 Lake Stevens, Wash. Cal State Northridge

6 Heather Erickson 6-0 Fayetteville, N.C. University of Central Oklahoma

7 Monique Burkland 6-0 Ardmore, Okla. University of Central Oklahoma

8* Angela DeHaan 5-10 Yuba City, Calif. Sutter High School

10 Kari Miller 5-6 Washington, D.C. University of Central Oklahoma

11 Allison Aldrich 5-10 Schuyler, Neb. Nebraska Wesleyan University

13 Nichole Millage 5-7 Champaign, Ill. University of Central Oklahoma

14 Kaleo Kanahele 5-6 Oklahoma City, Okla. Edmond Santa Fe High School

15 Kendra Lancaster 5-7 Westfield, Ind. Purdue University

Head Coach: Bill Hamiter

Assistant Coach: Cara Lang

Trainer: Brian Choate

Statistician: Elliot Blake

Team Leader: Cecile Reynaud

*Team Alternate

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2012 U.S. Paralympic Women’s Volleyball Team Photo Roster

#11 - Allison Aldrich Schuyler, Neb.

#7—Monique Burkland Ardmore, Okla.

#6—Heather Erickson Fayetteville, N.C.

#4—Michelle Gerlosky-Schiffler Lake Wales, Fla.

#5—Katie Holloway Lake Stevens, Wash.

#14—Kaleo Kanahele Oklahoma City, Okla.

#15—Kendra Lancaster Westfield, Ind.

#3—Brenda Maymon-Jensen Charlestown, Ind.

#10—Kari Miller Washington, D.C.

#13—Nichole Millage Champaign, Ill.

#1—Lora Webster Phoenix, Ariz.

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Home: Phoenix, Ariz. Birth Year: 1986 Height: 5-11 Residence: Point Lookout, N.Y. College: University of Central Oklahoma

2012 ATHLETE PROFILES: No. 1 Lora Webster

MAJOR INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION: 2012 - Volleyball Mas-ters in The Netherlands (gold). 2010- Lora contributed on the U.S. Women’s Sitting Team that won gold at the Parapan Ameri-can Championship (Colorado)… also contributed to the U.S. Women’s Sitting Team who won the World Organization for Vol-leyball Disabled (WOVD) World Cup (Egypt). 2009- U.S. Women’s Sitting Team won Parapan American Zonal Championship (Montreal)… also was a member of the U.S. Women’s Sitting Team that won gold at the Eurocup (Netherlands)... 2008- Para-lympic Games in Beijing (silver medal)... World Organization Vol-leyball for Disabled (WOVD) Intercontinental Cup in Ismailia, Egypt (bronze medal). 2007 - Sitting Volleyball Invitational in Shanghai China (silver medal). 2006 - Sitting Volleyball World Championship in Netherlands (fifth place). 2004 - Lora was the team's leading scorer at the Paralympic Games in Athens (bronze medal). 2003 - Para Pan American Games in Mar del Plata, Ar-gentina (gold medal). Lora was named best spiker and MVP of the tournament... Lora has also played in several exhibition matches, both international and domestic, with the U.S. team. INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 - Helped U.S. Women to a 4-0 record and gold medal at the Volleyball Masters in The Nether-lands. 2009- Lora was a awarded with team as Paralympians of the Year for 2008. 2008 - Lora helped lead the U.S. to a silver medal finish at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing... Finished the tournament with 29 points (15 kills, 13 blocks and one ace), tied for fourth best on the team... Started all five matches while playing in 16 of the 17 sets in Beijing... Had five kills and five blocks in a five-set semifinal win over the Netherlands.

PERSONAL: Born Lora Jessica Webster on Aug. 26, 1986, in Phoe-nix, Ariz. ... Parents are Dale and Sandy Webster... Has a sister named Lisa... Diagnosed with osteosarcoma (bone cancer) in her

left tibia at age 11 and later underwent a procedure known as rotationplasty to remove the cancerous bone, which included the knee. As part of the procedure, her lower leg was rotated 180 degrees and connected to the remnants of the femur. This gave her full range of movement, allowing her to play sports. In 1998, she was fitted with prosthesis... Graduated from Cactus Shadows High School in Cave Creek, Ariz., in 2004... In high school, she competed in volleyball for four years, track for one year and diving for one year at Lincoln East High School in Lin-coln, Neb. ... Won the spirit award for varsity volleyball and her 2004 Cactus Shadows team won the state title... In 2004, hon-ored at the 11th Annual Gene Autry Courage Awards in Tempe, Ariz. She was also named USA Volleyball's sitting player of the year that year... In the February 2006 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine, she was named Cosmo's first Fun Fearless Female Reader, an honor that came with a $10,000 cash prize... Studying broadcasting at the University of Central Oklahoma... Her favor-ite food is Italian... Her favorite singer is Adele...Her favorite movies are The Notebook, Bad Boys 2, Garden State and Mira-cle... Favorite professional team is the Indianapolis Colts...Her favorite athlete is Peyton Manning...Her favorite TV shows are Criminal Minds and Grey's Anatomy among others... Most ad-mired person is her mom because "she is the strongest person she knows and hopes she can be half as great of a mom as she is one day."

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2012 ATHLETE PROFILES: No. 3 Brenda Maymon-Jensen

MAJOR INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION: 2012 - Volleyball Mas-ters in The Netherlands (gold). 2011 - ECVD Continental Cup in Yevpatoria, Ukraine (gold). 2010- Sitting Volleyball World Cham-pionships in Oklahoma... Parapan American Championship in Colorado (gold)… World Organization for Volleyball Disabled (WOVD) World Cup Egypt (gold). 2009- U.S. Women’s Sitting Team won Parapan American Zonal Championship (Montreal)… also was a member of the U.S. Women’s Sitting Team that won gold at the Eurocup (Netherlands). 2008 - Paralympic Games in Beijing (silver medal)... World Organization Volleyball for Disa-bled (WOVD) Intercontinental Cup in Ismailia, Egypt (bronze medal). 2007 - Sitting Volleyball Invitational in Shanghai China (silver medal). 2006 - Sitting Volleyball World Championship in Netherlands (fifth place). 2004 - Paralympic Games in Athens (bronze medal). 2003 - Parapan American Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Brenda has also played in several exhibition matches, both international and domestic, with the U.S. team. INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 – Helped U.S. Women to a 4-0 record and a gold medal at the Volleyball Masters in The Netherlands. 2011 – Helped the U.S. Women to a 7-0 record and a gold medal at the ECVD Continental Cup in Yevpatoria, Ukraine... Helped the U.S. Women defeat the Shanghai club team in four exhibition matches played in conjunction with the 2011 Colorado Crossroads on March 17-20 in Denver… Tallied 19 points on 11 kills, good for fourth on the team. 2009 - Award-ed along with team as the Paralympians of the Year for 2008. 2008- U.S. team captain amassed 29 points to help the team to a silver medal finish at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing... Finished with 15 kills, 10 blocks and four aces in the tourna-ment... Started all five matches and played in 16 of the 17 sets... Tied for the team lead with two blocks in a preliminary round loss to China. PERSONAL: Brenda Michelle Jensen, born June 4, 1985, in New Albany, Ind. ... Parents are Patrick and Penny Maymon... Has sister named Ashley... Brenda lost her leg in a lawnmower acci-dent in 1991... She graduated from Silver Creek High School in Sellersburg in 2003... She played one year of high school volley-

ball... Member of the National Honor Society for two years and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for four... Graduated from Indiana University SE in 2008 with a general studies degree... She was on the college dean's list for four semesters and made the chancellor's list for one semester... Enjoys scrapbooking, reading, playing at the park with her stepdaughter Elli and watching movies... She listens to Chris Tomlin, OAR, Dave Matthews, the Script and Matt Kearney among others... Her favorite movie is Pride and Prejudice... Her favorite TV shows are Grey's Anatomy and The Office... Her favorite professional team is the Indianapolis Colts... Role model is her father "because he has always been there for me no matter what the issue. He never judged, only listened. He is someone that I look up to and would like to become more like"...The best day in her life was when she married her husband, Chris.

Home: Sellersburg, Ind. Birth Year: 1985 Height: 5-7 Residence: Wichita Falls, Texas College: Indiana University SE


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2012 ATHLETE PROFILES: No. 4 Michelle Gerlosky-Schiffler

MAJOR INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION: 2011- ECVD Continen-tal Cup in Yevpatoria, Ukraine (gold). 2010 - WOVD Sitting Vol-leyball World Championships (Silver Medal)... WOVD World Cup (Gold Medal)... Parapan American Championship (Gold Medal). 2009 - Michelle helped the U.S. Women’s Sitting Team win the Parapan American Zonal Championship (Montreal). INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2011 – Helped the U.S. Women to a 7-0 record and a gold medal at the ECVD Continental Cup in Yevpatoria, Ukraine... Named best server of the tournament with a total of 22 service aces… Competed with the U.S. Wom-en's Sitting Team in China in four exhibition matches against the Shanghai club team...Helped the U.S. Women defeat the Shang-hai club team in four exhibition matches played in conjunction with the 2011 Colorado Crossroads on March 17-20 in Denver… Totaled 16 points with seven kills. She was third on the team with six aces. 2010 –Played in nine sets for the Women's Sitting Team at the World Championships in Edmond, Okla., and tallied 13 aces, 0.50 per set. She also added two kills, 0.22 per set. PERSONAL: Born Michelle Denise Gerlosky on March 20, 1983, in Lake Wales, Fla. … Parents are Mike Gerlosky and Dayl Davis…

Has a brother named Greg Gerlosky and a sister named Donna Davis-Ebaugh… Born missing her right hand and part of her fore-arm. She says she finds it lucky that the radiology technicians had missed this in sonograms prior to her arrival because her mother had nothing to worry about during her pregnancy. After she was born, it was confirmed by geneticists that her disability was not genetic and was just a sporadic event that occurred during development… Graduated from University of Georgia on the Dean’s List, Provost’s List and with cum laude honors… Played standing volleyball from seventh to 12th grade and joined the U.S. Women’s Sitting Team in January of 2009... Fa-vorite professional team is Tampa Bay Buccaneers… Her favorite athlete is Ronde Barber… Likes to read journal articles, bike, watch and play football, basketball and volleyball… Her husband competed in the Athens and Sydney Paralympics for the Ger-man Sitting Volleyball Team... Most admired person is her moth-er because “she taught me to me to have an open mind, strong will, and yet to be empathetic through her example."

Home: Lake Wales, Fla. Birth Year: 1983 Height: 6-0 Residence: Lakeland, Fla. College: University of Georgia

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2012 ATHLETE PROFILES: No. 5 Katie Holloway

MAJOR INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION: 2012 - Volleyball Masters in The Netherlands (gold). 2011- Parapan American Zonal Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil (gold)...ECVD Conti-nental Cup in Yevpatoria, Ukraine (gold). 2010 - Sitting Volley-ball World Championships in Oklahoma (silver)... Parapan American Championship in Colorado (gold)… the World Organi-zation for Volleyball Disabled (WOVD) World Cup in Egypt (gold). 2009 - U.S. Women’s Sitting Team won Parapan Ameri-can Zonal Championship (Montreal)… Katie also was a member of the U.S. Women’s Sitting Team that won gold at the Eurocup (Netherlands). 2008 - Paralympics Games in Beijing (silver med-al)... World Organization Volleyball for Disabled (WOVD) Inter-continental Cup in Ismailia, Egypt (bronze medal). 2007 - Sitting Volleyball Invitational in Shanghai China (silver medal). 2006 - Sitting Volleyball World Championship in Netherlands (fifth place). Katie has also played in several exhibition matches, both international and domestic, with the U.S. team. INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 - Led U.S. Women to a 4-0 record and a gold medal at the Volleyball Masters... Named tournament Most Valuable Player at the Volleyball Masters in The Netherlands. 2011 – Named MVP and best spiker at the 2011 Parapan American Games where the team won gold...Helped the U.S. Women to a 7-0 record and a gold medal at the ECVD Continental Cup in Yevpatoria, Ukraine... Named Most Valuable Player and best spiker of the tournament... Katie competed with the U.S. Women's Sitting Team in China in four exhibition matches against the Shanghai club team... Helped lead the U.S. Women to four victories over the Shang-hai club team in exhibition matches played in conjunction with the 2011 Colorado Crossroads on March 17-20 in Denver… Led the team with 66 points, 47 kills and 13 aces… Was second on the team with blocks, tallying eight. 2010 - Awarded as the Best Offensive Player at the Sitting Volleyball World Champion-ships where she posted 71 kills, 2.84 per set, good enough for team best. She also led the team in total points, 111, and aver-aged 4.44 points per set. Her 26 aces was the team-high and she added 14 blocks, 0.56 per set. She finished in second be-hind Millage in total dids with 42. 2009– Awarded along with

team as the Paralympians of the Year for 2008... 2008 - Helped lead the U.S. to a silver medal finish at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing... Was the leading scorer on the U.S. team, totaling 63 points on 38 kills, 17 blocks and eight aces... Played in 15 of the team's 17 sets, starting all five matches... Was the team leader in points in four out of the five matches, including a 23-point effort in a semifinal win over the Netherlands... Fin-ished in double figure in three out of the five U.S. matches. PERSONAL: Born Kathryn S. Holloway on June 8, 1986, in Ever-ett, Wash. ... Parents are Jeff and Jane Holloway... Has a sister named Chelsey who played basketball at Seattle University... Katie was born without a fibula in her right leg and, when she was 20 months old, her right foot and ankle were amputated... Graduated from Lake Stevens High School in 2004... She com-peted in volleyball for two years (2000-02) and basketball for four (2000-04) in high school... She earned letters in both bas-ketball and volleyball and was named First Team All-Wesco North League as a basketball center in 2003-04... Her basket-ball team won the district championship and competed in the state playoffs in 2002-03... College basketball teams recruited her without knowing she was wearing a prosthetic leg... Gradu-ated from Cal State Northridge in 2008 with a degree in sociol-ogy... She played NCAA Division I basketball for Cal State Northridge from 2004-08... She was named to the All Big West Freshman Team in 2004-05... She was named Big West Sixth Woman of the Year in 2005-06 and 2006-07... As a senior, Av-eraged 14.5 points per game and 7.2 rebounds per game, led the Big West Conference in field goal percentage (.554), and was named second-team All-Big West... Appeared in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd feature in the June 9, 2008 issue... Enjoys scrapbooking... she listens to "a little bit of eve-rything" on her IPod...Her favorite TV show is Friends... Her favorite athlete is Phil Dalhausser... Admires her grandfather Milo the most.

Home: Lake Stevens, Wash. Birth Year: 1986 Height: 6-3

Birth Date: June 8, 1986

Residence: Edmond, Okla.

College: Cal State

Northridge


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MAJOR INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION: 2012 - Volleyball Mas-ters in The Netherlands (gold). 2011 - Parapan American Zonal Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil (gold)... ECVD Continental Cup in Yevpatoria, Ukraine (gold). 2010 - Sitting Volleyball World Championships in Oklahoma (silver)... Parapan American Cham-piolike nonship in Colorado (gold)… World Organization for Vol-leyball Disabled (WOVD) World Cup in Egypt (gold). 2009 - U.S. Women’s Sitting Team won Parapan American Zonal Champion-ship (Montreal)… Heather also was a member of the U.S. Wom-en’s Sitting Team that won gold at the Eurocup (Netherlands). 2008 - Paralympic Games in Beijing (silver medal)... World Or-ganization Volleyball for Disabled (WOVD) Intercontinental Cup in Ismailia, Egypt (bronze medal). 2007 - Sitting Volleyball Invita-tional in Shanghai China (silver medal). Heather has also played in several exhibition matches, both international and domestic, with the U.S. team. INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 - Helped the U.S. Women earn 4-0 record and a gold medal at the Volleyball Masters in The Netherlands. 2011– Named best server at the 2011 Parapan American Zonal Championships when the team won gold...Helped the U.S. Women to a 7-0 record and a gold medal at the ECVD Continental Cup in Yevpatoria, Ukraine. 2010 – Helped the U.S. Women’s team defeat the Shanghai club team in four exhibition matches played in conjunction with the 2011 Colorado Crossroads on March 17-20 in Denver… Ranked se-cond on the team in points with 42 on 29 kills and five aces… Led the team with eight blocks... Played in 24 sets over the course of the Sitting Volleyball World Championships where she tallied 37 "excellent" receptions, 1.04 per set, which was good enough to place her third amongst her team. She also was se-cond in total kills with 39, 1.63 per set, and added 10 stuff blocks, 0.42 per set. Her 33 digs, 1.13 per set, placed her fourth among the U.S. Women. 2009: U.S. Women's Sitting Team awarded as Paralympians of the Year for 2008. 2008 - The youngest player on the U.S. team, Heather finished the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing with a silver medal... She was se-cond on the team in scoring, finishing with 43 points in the tour-

nament... Was second on the team in kills with 24 while leading the squad in aces with 11. Also added eight blocks... Started all five matches and played in all 17 sets for the U.S... Finished with double-digit points in three of the team's matches in Beijing. PERSONAL: Born Heather Nicole Erickson on May 9, 1993, in Eureka, Calif. ... Parents are Kevin and Brenda Erickson... Has a brother named Kyle and a sister named Stephanie... Was born with a condition that prevented a bone in her lower right leg from developing fully. After 18 failed surgeries, she and her fam-ily opted to have her right foot amputated just above the ankle in 2002. A month later, when the swelling from her final surgery had subsided, Heather received her first prosthetic leg... Attend-ed Jack Britt High School in Fayetteville and graduated in 2011... Likes to listen to Maroon 5, Blake Shelton and He is We... Her favorite movies are Game Plan, Gridiron Gang and August Rush.... Her favorite TV shows are House and WWE Raw... She enjoys reading NIcholas Sparks books... In her free time, likes coaching, reading, playing volleyball, watching movies, and play-ing video games... Role model is her sister Stephanie, "she helps me with everything, including volleyball skills and life issues." ... Heather says about herself, "I pretty much live and breathe vol-leyball. I am always playing or thinking about volleyball."

Home: Fayetteville, N.C. Birth Year: 1993 Height: 6-0 Hometown: Fayetteville, N.C. Residence: Edmond, Okla. School: Jack Britt High School

2012 ATHLETE PROFILES: No. 6 Heather Erickson

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MAJOR INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION: 2012 - Volleyball Mas-ters in The Netherlands (gold). 2011- Parapan American Zonal Championship in Sao Paulo, Brazil (gold)... ECVD Continental Cup in Yevpatoria, Ukraine (gold)... Competed with the U.S. Wom-en's Sitting Team in China in four exhibition matches against the Shanghai club team. 2010- Helped the U.S. Women's Sitting Team in winning silver at the Sitting Volleyball World Champion-ships in Oklahoma. INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 - Helped U.S. Women to a 4-0 record and gold medal at the Volleyball Masters in The Neth-erlands. 2011 – Helped the U.S. Women to a 7-0 record and a gold medal at the ECVD Continental Cup in Yevpatoria, Ukraine... Appeared in all four matches in the U.S. Women’s four exhibition victories over the Shanghai club team played in conjunction with the 2011 Colorado Crossroads on March 17-20 in Denver… Tallied 16 points on seven kills… she tied for third on the team with six aces. 2010 – Appeared in five sets for the U.S. women and tallied three kills, five "excellent" receptions and one stuff block.

PERSONAL: Born Monique Marie Burkland on Aug. 11, 1989, in Reno, Nev. … Grandfather’s name is Ray Bachmeier and grand-mother is Bev Bachmeier… Has an older brother named Josh (born in 1987) and a younger brother named Cody (born in 2000)… Attended Plainview High School in Ardmore, Okla., from 2004-08 where she was an all-state softball player. She also par-ticipated in track and basketball… Lost her left leg below the knee in an accident with a forklift while working at a summer job after gradu-ating from high school… After participating in an A2 sitting volleyball camp at the Universi-ty of Central Oklahoma, Was added to the U.S. wom-en’s roster for the 2010 Sitting Volley-ball World Championships at the last mi-nute after starter Lora Webster was not medically cleared to play... Her fa-vorite profes-sional teams are the Oklaho-ma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers... She enjoys hang-ing out with friends and family... She admires her grandparents the most because "they are strong and always there for me."

Home: Ardmore, Okla. Birth Year: 1989 Height: 6-0 School: Plainview High School (Ardmore, Okla.)

2012 ATHLETE PROFILES: No. 7 Monique Burkland


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MAJOR INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION: 2012 - Volleyball Mas-ters in The Netherlands. 2011 – Parapan American Zonal Cham-pionship in Sao Paulo, Brazil (gold)... ECVD Continental Cup in Yevpatoria, Ukraine (gold) 2010- Sitting Volleyball World Cham-pionships in Oklahoma (silver)... Parapan American Champion-ship in Colorado (gold)… World Organization for Volleyball Disa-bled (WOVD) World Cup in Egypt (gold). 2009- U.S. Women’s Sitting Team won Parapan American Zonal Championship (Montreal)… Kari also was a member of the U.S. Women’s Sitting Team that won gold at the Eurocup (Netherlands). 2008- Para-lympic Games in Beijing (silver medal)... World Organization Vol-leyball for Disabled (WOVD) Intercontinental Cup in Ismailia, Egypt (bronze medal). 2007 - Sitting Volleyball Invitational in Shanghai China (silver medal). 2006 - Sitting Volleyball World Championship in Netherlands (fifth place). Kari has also played in several exhibition matches, both international and domestic, with the U.S. team. INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 - Helped the U.S. Women to a 4-0 record and a gold medal at the Volleyball Masters in The Netherlands. 2011 –Helped the U.S. Women to a 7-0 record and a gold medal at the ECVD Continental Cup in Yevpatoria, Ukraine... Named best libero with 163 receptions, good for a seven-game average of 57 percent...Competed with the U.S. Women's Sitting Team in China in four exhibition matches against the Shanghai club team... Led the U.S. Women’s Sitting Team defensively in its four exhibition victories over the Shang-hai club team played in conjunction with the 2011 Colorado Crossroads on March 17-20 in Denver… Ranked as team leader with 69 digs, averaging 79 percent “positive” and 59 percent “excellent.” 2010- Played in 25 sets for the U.S. Women at the Sitting Volleyball World Championships and was the team leader with her 50 "excellent" receptions, 2.00 per set. She also added 43 digs, 36 of which were considered "excellent", and averaged 1.44 digs per set, second best among the squad. 2009– Awarded along with team as the Paralympians of the Year for 2008- Key member of the U.S. squad that won the silver medal at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing... Started and played every set of

every match during the tournament as the team's libero.

PERSONAL: Born Kari LaRaine Miller on April 16, 1977, in New-ark, N.J. ... Father is Nathaniel Peterson. Her mother is Mary C. Lanuze... has one brother named Michael Miller... Graduated from Cardoza Senior High School in Washington, DC, in 1995... She competed in basketball and track during high school... Was serving in active military duty when a drunk driver collided with the car she was traveling in. The driver of her car was killed. Kari survived, but lost both her legs in the crash; one amputated above the knee, one below... Competed in wheelchair basketball before discovering sitting volleyball... She now trains with the U.S. Women's Sitting Team at the University of Central Oklaho-ma in Edmond, Okla. ... Hobbies include volunteering at an ani-mal shelter, sky diving, rock climbing, horseback riding and jet skiing... Her favorite professional team is the Minnesota Vi-kings...Her favorite athlete is Adrian Peterson... She likes to lis-ten to Neo Soul... Her favorite TV show is Heroes... Her role model is her mother... Says of herself, "I will try just about any-thing."

Home: Washington, DC Birth Year: 1977 Height: 5-6 Residence: Edmond, Okla.

2012 ATHLETE PROFILES: No. 10 Kari Miller


14

2012 ATHLETE PROFILES: No. 11 Allison Aldrich

MAJOR INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION: 2012 - Volleyball Mas-ters in The Netherlands (gold). 2010 - WOVD World Champion-ship (Silver Medal)... Parapan American Championship (Gold Medal). 2009 - Eurocup (Gold Medal). 2008 - Paralympic Games in Beijing (Silver Medal)... World Organization Volleyball for Disabled (WOVD) Intercontinental Cup in Ismailia, Egypt (bronze medal). 2007 - Sitting Volleyball Invitational in Shanghai China (silver medal). 2006 - Sitting Volleyball World Championship in Netherlands (fifth place). 2004 - Paralympic Games in Athens (bronze medal)... Allison has also played in several exhibition matches, both international and domestic, with the U.S. team. INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 - Helped U.S. Women to a 4-0 record and a gold medal at the Volleyball Masters in The Netherlands. 2011- Competed with the U.S. Women's Sitting Team in China in four exhibition matches against the Shanghai club team... Helped the U.S. Women go 4-0 against the Shang-hai club team played in conjunction with the 2011 Colorado Crossroads on March 17-20 in Denver… Finished third on the team with 34 points on 25 kills. 2010 - Helped the U.S. Women win the silver medal and qualify for the 2012 Paralympic Games at the WOVD World Championships in Edmond, Okla. ... Fin-ished with 19 aces over the course of 25 sets. She also finished third on the team with 29 kills, 1.16 per set, and tied for fourth among the U.S. blockers with 11 stuff blocks, 0.42 per set... Helped U.S. Women to gold medal at the Parapan American Championship in Denver. Team defeated Canada and Brazil. Played in 25 sets for the U.S. Women at the Sitting Volleyball World Championships where she finished with 29 kills, 1.16 per set, good enough for third place on the team. She also added 32 digs and second on the team with her 61 total points, 2.44 per set. 2009 - Helped the U.S. Women to a gold medal at the Eu-rocup in Roermond, Netherlands...Named Best Setter of the tournament. U.S. team defeated Netherlands in the final. U.S. Women also defeated Canadian team in matches in Denver and Canada. 2008 - Helped lead the U.S. to a silver medal at the

2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing... Ranked as the third-leading scorer on the U.S. side, finishing the tournament with 38 points... Was fourth on the team with 23 kills while finishing with seven blocks and eight aces... Started all five matches and play in all 17 sets of the Games... Was the U.S. team's leading scorer in a win over Latvia, as she totaled 13 points on six kills, six aces and one block. PERSONAL: Allison Elizabeth Aldrich, born Jan. 19, 1988, in Da-vid City, Neb. ... Parents are Marvin and Peggy Aldrich... Aldrich lost her right leg when she was 7 years old due to osteosarcoma (bone cancer)... AGraduated from Schuyler Central High School in Nebraska in 2006... While in high school, she competed in volleyball, basketball, soccer and golf... She was named all-conference in golf and academic all-conference... She was a member of the National Honor Society and won the Ron Gus-tafson Inspirational Award... Majored in health and fitness stud-ies and K-12 physical education with a minor in coaching at Ne-braska Wesleyan University... She lettered in golf for two years... Works as a teacher... She enjoys coaching, teaching and lifting weights... Her favorite movies are Grease, Cinderella and Enchanted... Her favorite book is The Sisterhood of the Travel-ing Pants... Her favorite professional teams are the Miami Dol-phins and Los Angeles Lakers... Her favorite athlete is Kobe Bry-ant...She admires her mom the most because "she has been there for me through everything"... Says she has "courage and a will to succeed."

Home: Schuyler, Neb. Birth Year: 1988 Hometown: Schuyler, Neb. Height: 5-10 Hometown: Schuyler, Neb. Residence: Lincoln, Neb. College: Nebraska Wesleyan University


15

2012 ATHLETE PROFILES: No. 13 Nichole Millage

MAJOR INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION: 2012 - Volleyball Mas-ters in The Netherlands (gold). 2011- Parapan American Zonal Championship in Sao Paulo, Brazil (gold). 2010- Sitting Volleyball World Championships in Oklahoma (silver)... Parapan American Championship in Colorado (gold)… World Organization for Vol-leyball Disabled (WOVD) World Cup in Egypt (gold). 2009- U.S. Women’s Sitting Team won Parapan American Zonal Champion-ship (Montreal)… Nichole also was a member of the U.S. Wom-en’s Sitting Team that won gold at the Eurocup (Netherlands). 2008 - Paralympic Games in Beijing (silver medal) World Organi-zation Volleyball for Disabled (WOVD) Intercontinental Cup in Ismailia, Egypt (bronze medal). 2007 - Sitting Volleyball Invita-tional in Shanghai China (silver medal). 2006 - Sitting Volleyball World Championship in Netherlands (fifth place). Nichole has also played in several exhibition matches, both international and domestic, with the U.S. team. INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 - Helped U.S. Women to a 4-0 record and a gold medal at the Volleyball Masters in The Netherlands. 2011 – Helped the U.S. Women to a 7-0 record and a gold medal at the ECVD Continental Cup in Yevpatoria, Ukraine... Competed with the U.S. Women's Sitting Team in Chi-na in four exhibition matches against the Shanghai club team... Nichole helped the U.S. Women to four victories over the Shang-hai club team in exhibition, played in conjunction with 2011 Col-orado Crossroads on March 17-20 in Denver… Ranked third on the team with 34 points on 22 aces… Recorded eight service aces, good for second on the team. 2010 - Played in 25 sets for the team at the Sitting Volleyball World Championships. At the event, she posted 28 kills, 1.12 per set, and five blocks, 0.50 per set. She was also the team leader in digs with 44, 1.48 per set, and finished fifth amongst the teams best point scorers with 46, 1.84 per set. 2009– Awarded along with team as the Paralympi-ans of the Year for 2008... 2008-Was the sixth-leading scorer on the U.S. team that captured a silver medal at the 2008 Paralym-pic Games in Beijing... Nichole finished with 23 points in the

tournament on 12 kills, eight blocks and three aces... Came in as a substitute in the semifinal match against the Netherlands and totaled eight kills and five blocks to lead the U.S. to the victory in five sets... Played in 12 of the 17 sets in Beijing. PERSONAL: Born Nichole Ann Millage on March 27, 1977, in Champaign, Ill. ... Parents are Dennis Millage and Philomena Schnepper. Her step-father is Dave Schnepper... Step-brother is Brett Schnepper. Hannah Millage is her half sister... Graduated from Centennial High School in Champaign in 1995. While in high school, she played volleyball and softball for all four years... Lost her left leg in a boating accident when she was 21... She discov-ered sitting volleyball while volunteering at a camp for disabled children... She graduated from the University of Central Oklaho-ma with a degree in business and human resources management in 2009... Nichole works as a waitress and bartender at the Oak Tree Country Club... Enjoys bike riding, sunbathing, reading and spending time with her friends... She enjoys listening to alterna-tive music... Favorite foods are pizza, sushi and lobster... Among her favorite movies are Say Anything and She's Out of My League...Among her favorite TV shows are Scrubs, The Office and Nip/Tuck... Her favorite professional team is the Chicago Cubs...Clay Stanley is her favorite athlete... Role model is her mom "because she's such a good person. She's always there for me, no matter what, with unconditional love."

Home: Champaign, Ill. Birth Year: 1977 Height: 5-7

Residence: Edmond, Okla.

College: University of

Central Oklahoma


16

MAJOR INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION: 2012 - Volleyball Mas-ters in The Netherlands (gold). 2011- Parapan American Zonal Championship in Sao Paulo, Brazil (gold)... Competed with the U.S. Women's Sitting Team in China in four exhibition matches against the Shanghai club team. 2010 - Helped the U.S. Wom-en's Sitting Team in winning silver at the Sitting Volleyball World Championships in Oklahoma... Contributor on the U.S. Women’s Sitting Team that won gold at the Parapan American Champion-ship (Colorado). INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 - Helped U.S. Women to a 4-0 record and a gold medal at the Volleyball Masters in The Netherlands. 2011– Named best setter at the 2011 Parapan

American Zonal Championships where the team won gold. 2010 – Was the youngest player on the team, age 14, to compete for the U.S. at the Sitting Volleyball World Championships. She ap-peared in seven sets over the course of the Tournament and tallied one kill, 0.14 per set, and five service aces, 0.71 per set. PERSONAL: Born Kaleo Okalani Kanahele on June 11, 1996, in Oklahoma City, Okla. … Parents are Iubile and Charla Dye-Kanahele… Has a brother named Johnathan Wong and a sister name Kau’i… Was born with a left clubfoot. The day after she was born, they started casting it into shape. The cast was changed every two weeks until she was nine months old. At this time it was decided to have reconstructive surgery where they would perform a tenotomy and put pins through the toe and heel to set the heel bone in place. Her toes turn inward, her foot will always be shorter and wider than the other, a small calf muscle, and she has limited flexibility… Has played volleyball since she was nine years old. At age 10 she started playing for Oklahoma Peak Performance 12s team in 2007, in 2008 the team took 42nd in the USA Volleyball Girls’ Junior National Championships and in 2009 the team took 18th... Has played basketball since age 7... Has also played softball since she was 8; she was a first baseman for Oklahoma Reign who in 2009 took 2nd at the NAFA 12 and under Nationals… Likes to read, listen to music and eat… Her favorite music group is Kings of Leon... She has never let her disability slow her down... At 16, she is the youngest player on the U.S. Women's Sitting Volleyball Team... Says to “work hard, go for your dreams and don’t ever believe anyone that says you can’t do it.”

Birth Year: 1996 Home: Oklahoma City, Okla. Birth Year: 1996 Height: 5-7 Hometown: Oklahoma City, Okla. High School: Edmond Santa Fe High School

2012 ATHLETE PROFILES: No. 14 Kaleo Kanahele


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2012 ATHLETE PROFILES: No. 15 Kendra Lancaster

MAJOR INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION: 2012 - Volleyball Mas-ters in The Netherlands (gold). 2010 - Helped the U.S. Women's Sitting Team in winning silver at the Sitting Volleyball World Championships in Oklahoma... Parapan American Championship (Gold Medal)... WOVD World Cup (Gold Medal). 2009- U.S. Women’s Sitting Team won Parapan American Zonal Champion-ship (Montreal)… also was a member of the U.S. Women’s Sitting Team that won gold at the Eurocup (Netherlands) 2008 - Paralympic Games in Beijing (silver medal)... World Organization Volleyball for Disabled (WOVD) Intercontinental Cup in Ismailia, Egypt (bronze medal). 2007 - Sitting Volleyball Invitational in Shanghai China (silver medal). 2006 - Sitting Volleyball World Championship in Netherlands (fifth place). 2004 - Paralympic Games in Athens (bronze medal)...Played in several exhibition matches, both international and domestic, with the U.S. team. INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 - Helped U.S. Women to 4-0 record and a gold medal at the Volleyball Masters in The Neth-erlands. 2011 – Helped the U.S. Women defeat the Shanghai club team in four exhibition matches played in conjunction with the 2011 Colorado Crossroads on March 17-20 in Denver… Tal-lied four service aces to accumulate 15 points on seven kills. 2010 - Helped the U.S. Women to a gold medals at the Parapan American Championship in Denver and the WOVD World Cup in Port Said, Egypt. She also appeared in 24 sets at the Sitting Vol-leyball World Championships where she tallied 12 service aces, 0.50 per set, good enough for fourth place amongst the U.S. Women. She also tallied 20 kills, 0.83 per set, and 12 stuff blocks, 0.50, the team high. Her 44 total points, 1.38 per set, placed her amongst the team leaders. 2009 - Helped the U.S. Women to a gold medal at the Eurocup in Roermond, Nether-lands. The U.S. Women beat Netherlands in the final... was awarded along with team as the Paralympians of the Year for

2008. 2008– Helped lead the U.S. to a silver medal at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing... Scored 18 points in Beijing on 13 kills, three blocks and two aces... Started all five matches in the tournament while playing in 11 of the 17 sets... Tied for second on the team in points in a win against Lithuania. Finished the match with seven kills, two aces and one block. PERSONAL: Born Kendra Lynn Lancaster on Feb. 1, 1987, in Indi-anapolis, Ind. ... Parents are Kent and Karen Lancaster... Kendra has a sister, Kelsie... Born without a left arm, but played stand-ing volleyball, soccer and basketball while growing up... Sitting volleyball is the first adapted sport in which she has participat-ed... In 2004 at age 17, Kendra played with the women's U.S. Paralympic team that won a bronze medal in Athens... Graduat-ed from Westfield Washington High School in Westfield, Ind., in 2006... She played volleyball all four years... She was a member of the National Honor Society and won the Excellence in Jour-nalism Award and the WHS Volleyball Shamrock Award... Re-ceived her bachelor's degree in animal sciences from Purdue University and is currently attending to get her master's de-gree... She is on track to graduate in 2010... Her favorite move is Pride and Prejudice... Favorite TV shows are Lost and Grey's Anatomy... Role model is her mother "because she is such a strong person and has always been there for me... Describes herself as "outgoing, energetic and like to have fun no matter where I am or what I'm doing."

Home: Westfield, Ind. Birth Year: 1987 Height: 5-7 Residence: West Lafayette, Ind. College: Purdue University



18

2012 Paralympic Team Alternates

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2012 - Helped U.S. Women to a 4-0 record and a gold medal at the Volleyball Masters in The Netherlands. 2011 – Parapan American Zonal Championship in Sao Paulo, Brazil (gold)... Made her U.S. Women’s Sitting team debut in exhibition against the Shanghai club team… matches were played in conjunction with the 2011 Colorado Crossroads on March 17-20 in Denver… Competed in three of the four team victories over Shanghai, recording four digs, 75 percent “positive” and 75 percent “excellent. Competed with the U.S. Women's Sitting Team in China in four exhibition matches against the Shanghai club team.

PERSONAL: Born Bethany Paige Zummo on Feb. 15, 1993, in Oakland, Calif. … Parents are Joe and Kelly Zummo… Has two sisters who are twins: Hailey and Megan, both born in 1994… Started playing volleyball in February 2006 when she played opposite and libero for Fallon Middle School… Attended Dublin High School from 2007-11… She started at the University of Central Oklahoma in 2011 and is majoring in psychology… Bethany was born without her right fibula. When she was 2, she had surgery to amputate her foot and she has had a pros-thetic leg ever since… Happiest moment in life was hiking six miles through The Narrows in Utah with her family… Enjoys singing and sewing. Her story of how she got started sewing: “Right before homecoming my sophomore year, my mom got

my progress report and I didn’t have the best. She told me she wouldn’t buy me a new dress for the dance; that I’d have to wear one I already owned. I didn’t want to do that. So instead, I cut up my bed sheets and made a dress of my own. I didn’t real-ize I was good at sewing until then. Since then, I’ve made every homecoming and prom dress, and I don’t plan on stopping.” … Bethany’s favorite food is pasta… She loves her puppies Bubba Chooch and Buddy… Her favorite musical artists are Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert… Her most admired people are her par-ents, “My parents have helped and supported me throughout my entire life.”

Bethany Zummo Home: Dublin, Calif. Birth Year: 1993 Height: 5-3

College: University of Central

Oklahoma

Angela DeHaan Home: Yuba City, California Birth Year: 1994 Height: 5-10

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: 2011- Parapan American Games in Sao Paulo, Brazil... Cmpeted with the U.S. Women's Sitting Team in China in four exhibition matches against the Shanghai club team. PERSONAL: Born Angela Nicole DeHaan on Oct. 14, 1994, in Yuba City, Calif. ... Parents are Joseph and Janice DeHaan... Has an older brother named Kenneth and two older sisters named

Cassie and Staci... Sister, Cassie was offered a full ride to play volleyball at Weber State University in Utah... Was born with half of her left hand which she says, “makes her who I am to-day”... Angela graduated from Sutter High School in 2012... Her favorite food is chocolate... Her favorite book is A Child Called It… Angela enjoys listening to all types of music… Favorite hob-bies include ceramics, sleeping and sitting volleyball… Happiest moment was going to San Luis Obispo with her family…Her most admired person is her brother, Kenneth, “he was born deaf and he has accomplished so much in his life such as travel all around the world, graduated with a AA degree, bachelors degree, masters degree and is now studying for his PHD.”

19

Head Coach Bill Hamiter

Bill Hamiter was named USA Volleyball's head coach and high performance director for the U.S. Sitting Volleyball Teams, based at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) in Edmond, in June of 2009. As the program director, he manages USA Volleyball’s Paralym-pic program. Among his duties are player recruitment and coaching development as well as setting up competitive oppor-tunities for the teams. He will work closely with Elliot Blake, the sitting volleyball coor-dinator at UCO. “I am very humbled to be hired for this new position and hon-ored to be working with two great organizations such as the University of Central Oklahoma and USA Volleyball,” Hamiter said. “We are excited to have Bill join USAV as a full-time staff mem-ber,” said USA Volleyball CEO Doug Beal. “We view his hiring as a positive step forward in our support of our Paralympic pro-gram. “With two full-time employees at UCO dedicated to the sitting volleyball teams, we look for them to continue and build on their past success.” The U.S. Women’s Sitting Team won the silver medal at the 2008 Paralympics and the bronze in 2004. The U.S. Men’s Sitting Team won the gold medal at the 2003 Parapan American Games and a berth at the 2004 Paralympics. The team took silver at the 2007 Parpan Am Games. “Ultimately, the goal is to put (both teams) in a position to be

able to win the gold medal in the world championships and also (at the 2012 Paralympics) in England,” Hamiter said. “Part of that is developing a good program base so that we can contin-ue to reach excellence and a high level of play consistently.” Hamiter graduated from Southern Nazarene University with a degree in Religion/Philosophy, and received his master’s de-gree from Southern Nazarene in Education-Kinesiology. He has had a long and successful coaching career, with experience at every level of competition. Hamiter was the head coach at Southern Nazarene University from 1986-91, where he led the Crimson Storm to two national tournament appearances, two regional championships, and five district championships. He was named District 9 Coach of the Year five times. From 1998-2005, Hamiter was an assistant coach at the Univer-sity of Central Oklahoma where the Bronchos were three-time North Division Champions and qualified for the NCAA Tourna-ment in 2002. He coached volleyball at Heritage Hall High School from 2006 to 2008, leading the team to three state championships and being named Oklahoma Volleyball Coach of the year in 2008. Hamiter is one of the founders and club director of Oklahoma Peak Performance, Inc. and a founder of the Oklahoma Wind Volleyball Club. He has served as the Oklahoma Region’s junior coordinator and as the USA Volleyball Junior Elite Development Commission chairman. Hamiter lives in Bethany, Okla., with his wife, Marcy, and

daughters Olivia and Avery.


20

Assistant Coach Cara Lang

Team Leader Cecile Reynaud

Cecile Reynaud was the Head Women’s Volleyball Coach at

Florida State University from 1976-2001 where her teams won

seven conference titles and appeared in 13 National Champi-

onship Tournaments. Reynaud has international experience in

volleyball serving as an Assistant Coach for the USA World Uni-

versity Games Team, as the Head Coach of the USA Junior Na-

tional Team, and the USA High Performance Continental

Teams. She also held the position of Deputy Competition Man-

ager for Volleyball at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. She

has served on the USA Volleyball Board of Directors & Execu-

tive Committee, and is a past president of the American Volley-

ball Coaches Association. She is currently serving on that

board as the Education and Publications committee chair. She

graduated from Southwest Missouri State University in 1975

and received her master’s degree from Florida State University

in 1979. She earned her doctorate at Florida State University

in Sport Management in 1998.

Assistant Coach Cara Lang began playing volleyball in 1990.

She currently lives in Dayton, Minn. Lang graduated from St.

Cloud State University in 2005 with a degree in Statistics. Dur-

ing her collegiate career, Lang ranked second in digs in SCSU

history. Lang’s happiest moment in life was when her son was

born. Cara began coaching at South Dakota State University in

2005. Lang was hired as the team statistician and second assis-

tant coach by the U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team. She

was a part of the 2008 USA Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team

that won silver at the Beijing Paralympics before starting Club

Liberty Volleyball in Monticello, Minnesota in 2010. Her most

recent medal with the women’s sitting volleyball team was a

gold at the European Masters in the Netherlands.

21

Statistician Elliot Blake

Athletic Trainer Brian Choate

Elliot Blake first emerged onto the USA Volleyball staff scene in

2008 as the Sitting Volleyball Coordinator. He is currently serving

as the Statistician for USA Sitting Volleyball Teams and has done

so since June 2011. Blake worked as the Competition Director at

the WOVD 2010 Sitting Volleyball World Championships and also

as a WOVD Jury Delegate at the 2011 Guadalajara Parapan

American Games. Blake received his Bachelor of Science in Physi-

cal Education form Florida International University in 2003. He

then earned his Masters of Science in Sport Management from

Florida State University in 2007. Blake has been very involved in

coaching at the high school and college level, as well as working

as a volleyball referee. He currently resides in Fort Lauderdale,

Fla.

Brian Choate is the Athletic Trainer for the 2012 Women’s Sitting

Volleyball Team. He graduated from Lambuth University with a

Bachelors degree of Health and Physical Education with the em-

phasis of Athletic Training in 2000. Choate currently resides in

Edmond, Okla. The happiest moment in Brian’s life was when he

proposed to his wife. Choate has worked with the USA Sitting

Volleyball teams since 2007 and became the head athletic train-

er for both men’s and women’s programs in 2009. He is also

currently a clinical instructor to first year Athletic Training gradu-

ate students from the University of Central Oklahoma. Choate

also serves as the head athletic trainer for Edmond Santa Fe

High School. In March 2011, Brian was awarded the Humanitari-

an Award for HCA hospitals in the state of Oklahoma.

22

2012 London Paralympic Women’s Sitting Volleyball Schedule

Times are in local time in London and in (Pacific Standard Time).

Friday, Aug. 31

9 a.m. (3 a.m. CST) Women's Preliminaries Pool A GBR vs UKR 4 p.m. (10 a.m. CST) Women's Preliminaries Pool B CHN vs USA 7 p.m. (1 p.m. CST) Women's Preliminaries Pool A NLD vs JPN

Saturday, Sept. 1

9 a.m. (3 a.m. CST) Women's Preliminaries Pool B CHN vs BRA 4 p.m. (10 a.m. CST) Women's Preliminaries Pool A GBR vs NLD 7 p.m. (1 p.m. CST) Women's Preliminaries Pool B USA vs SVN

Sunday, Sept. 2

11:00 a.m. (3 a.m. CST) Women's Preliminaries Pool A NLD vs UKR 4:00p.m. (8 a.m. CST) Women's Preliminaries Pool B SVN vs BRA 7:00 p.m. (11 a.m. CST) Women's Preliminaries Pool A GBR vs JPN

Monday, Sept. 3

9 a.m. (3 a.m. CST) Women's Preliminaries Pool B CHN vs SVN 4 p.m. (10 a.m. CST) Women's Preliminaries Pool A UKR vs JPN 7 p.m. (1 p.m. CST) Women's Preliminaries Pool B USA vs BRA

Tuesday, Sept. 4

7 a.m. (1 a.m. CST) Women's Semifinals 5-8 Classification 3B vs 4A 9 a.m. (3 a.m. CST) Women’s Semifinals 5-8 Classification 3A vs 4B

Wednesday, Sept. 5

4 p.m. (10 a.m. CST) Women's Semifinal 1A vs 2B 7 p.m. (1 p.m. CST) Women's Semifinals 2A vs 1B

Thursday, Sept. 6

9 a.m. (3 a.m. CST) Women's Final 7-8 Classification 11 a.m. (5 a.m. CST) Women's Final 5-6 Classification

Friday, Sept. 7

7 a.m. (1 a.m. CST) Women's Final Bronze Medal Match 9 a.m. (3 a.m. CST) Women's Final Gold Medal Match 10:45 a.m. (4:45 a.m. CST) Women's Medal Ceremony

23

Pool A Pool B

Great Britain

Japan

The Netherlands

Ukraine Slovenia

China

Brazil

United States

2012 Sitting Volleyball Pools

24

The Host City: London

The 2012 London Sitting Volleyball competition will be held in

ExCeL South Arena 2 from Aug. 30– Sept. 8.

ExCeL is the largest competition venue at the London 2012

Games. It is made up of five different arenas, each of which will

host a different sport at London 2012. Capacity ranges from

6,000-10,000 in each of the five arenas.

The Venue: ExCeL

25

2008 Paralympics in Review

U.S. WOMEN'S SITTING VOLLEYBALL TEAM UNABLE TO CON-TAIN CHINA, SETTLES FOR SILVER AT PARALYMPIC GAMES

Copy by University of Central Oklahoma

EDMOND, Okla. (Sept. 15, 2008)- Before a crowd of over 5,500, the 2004 Paralympic Games gold medalists China secured their second consecutive Paralympic gold medal by defeating the U.S. in straight sets (25-14, 25-19, 25-15) in the Women's Sitting Vol-leyball final match on Sunday, September 14 at the Paralympic Games in Beijing, China. Team USA fought with all of their courage and energy to try to upset favorite China, but numerous errors for the U.S. team, combined with star China player Sheng Yuhong's 28 points, were too much for the U.S. to overcome. "It wasn't the match we wanted to play," said Lora Webster (Cave Creek, Ariz./Edmond, Okla.). "But we worked extremely hard to get here and there is still nothing like having a medal hang around your neck." Team USA was led by Team Captain Brenda Maymon (Sellersberg, Ind.), along with other starters Webster, Katie Hol-loway (Lake Stevens, Wash./Edmond, Okla.), Kendra Lancaster (Sheridan, Ind.), Heather Erickson (Fayetteville, N.C.) and Allison Aldrich (Schuyler, Neb.). Kari Miller (Washington, D.C./Edmond, Okla.) served as Libero. The U.S. scored the first point of the first set with a powerful kill by Maymon. The set remained close and after the first technical time-out the score was tied at eight. China then began to pull away but the U.S. marched right back until China called a time-out with the U.S. trailing by two (14-12). After the time-out, it was all China and the U.S. only managed to score two more points in the entire set. Team USA committed 13 hitting errors in the first set and struggled to keep the ball in play with their serves.

The second set began similar to the first with the teams playing evenly and the U.S. taking the lead with a score of 7-5. China then took control and went on a 6-0 run and the U.S. could nev-er get past the initial run. In the third and final set after a tied score of three, the U.S. played in the deficit the remainder of the game. China came out with strong hits and fast movement on the court; ready to claim their gold medal once more. When China led 21-15, they scored four unanswered points to finish the set 25-15 and claim the title for a second time. "Playing the former gold medal team in their home country - that is a once in a lifetime opportunity," commented Assistant Coach Denise Van deWalle (Bowling Green, Ohio). "We have improved a lot and we've come so far but we were simply out-played today. It was just not our day." With tears streaming down her face, 15-year old Erickson, the youngest member of the team commented, "I wanted to win so badly. I think that we didn't execute our plan and we had a lot of unforced errors. But I am going to keep playing and hopefully come back in four years and beat them." Holloway once again led the team in scoring with eight points earned on five kills, two blocks and one ace. Webster contribut-ed six points and Maymon had five.

Courtesy of U.S. Paralympics

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Volleyball Masters (GOLD) DATE SITE OPPONENT RESULT 5-31 Netherlands Ukraine W (25-5, 25-14, 25-17) 6-1 Netherlands Netherlands W (25-23, 25-11, 23-25, 23-25, 15-13) 6-2 Netherlands Slovenia W (1526-24, 23-25, 25-23, 25-21) 6-2 Netherlands Ukraine W (20-25, 25-19, 25-16, 25-19) Shanghai Exhibition Matches DATE SITE OPPONENT RESULT 7-12 Shanghai, China China L (25-18, 25-17, 25-27, 21-25, 15-13) 7-12 Shanghai, China Ukraine W (27-25, 25-23, 18-25, 26-24) 7-13 Shanghai, China China L (25-16, 25-20, 27-25) 7-13 Shanghai, China Ukraine L (17-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-20) 7-14 Shanghai, China China L (25-12, 26-24, 25-22) 7-14 Shanghai, China Ukraine L (25-19, 26-24, 25-23)

2012 U.S. Women’s Sitting Team Season in Review

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U.S. Women’s Sitting Gold at Masters, Holloway MVP

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 3, 2012) -The U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team captured first place at the 2012 edition of the Volleyball Masters on Saturday in The Netherlands.

Team USA defeated Slovenia, 26-24, 23-25, 25-23, 25-21 to pro-ceed to the championship match where it defeated Ukraine, 20-25, 25-19, 25-16, 25-19. Standout, Katie Holloway (Lake Stevens, Wash./UCO Resident Athlete) was named tournament Most Valuable Player.

Team USA finished with a perfect 4-0 record in the tournament with previous wins over Ukraine, 25-5, 25-14, 25-17 and The Netherlands, 25-23, 25-11, 23-25, 23-25, 15-13.

“We had to fight for each point in both matches today,” Head Coach Bill Hamiter (Bethany, Okla.) said. “I was very pleased with our execution and drive to compete. The depth of our team paid off huge dividends today as players were subbed freely to give us needed energy and execution. I was especially proud of the way our youngest player, Kaleo Kanahele, came off the bench in the second set of the championship match to set a marvelous match. We had players step up to the challenge when we needed it.”

In the Slovenia match the U.S. Women out-hit their opponent 48-37 kills and out-served 16-7 aces.

Starting the match was Holloway and Heather Erickson (Fayetteville, N.C./UCO Resident Athlete) at outside, Monique Burkland (Ardmore, Okla./UCO Resident Athlete) and Allie Al-drich (Schuyler, Neb.) at middle and Nichole Millage (Champaign, Ill./UCO Resident Athlete) and Brenda Maymon (Charlestown, Ind.) at setter and Kari Miller (Washington, D.C.) at Libero. In the second set, Aldrich was replaced by Lora Web-ster (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Millage by Brenda Maymon at setter. Maymon also was utilized in the middle during the third set.

Holloway led the team with 23 points on 17 kills, 4 blocks and two service aces followed by Erickson who contributed 19 points from 12 kills, four aces and three blocks. Maymon and Burkland both contributed nine points with Maymon posting six kills, two blocks and an ace while Burkland connected on four service aces, four kills and a block.

Aldrich tallied six points off of three aces, two kill and a block while millage chalked six from four kills and two aces. Kanahele charted four points off of three kills and a block and Webster contributed two points from two blocks.

In the Championship match, Team USA out-hit Ukraine 39-24 kills and out-blocked them with 17 to their 12. Ukraine won the serving battle with 13 aces to Team USAs 12 aces.

Starting the match was Holloway and Erickson at outside, Burk-land and Aldrich at the middle, Maymon and Millage at setter, and Miller as the Libero. In the second set Kaleo Kanahele (Oklahoma City, Okla.) replaced Maymon and Webster replaced Aldrich.

Holloway was again the lead scorer for Team USA with 18 points off of 14 kills, two blocks and two service aces. Erickson again followed, posting 15 points from seven kills, five blocks and three aces. Burkland charted 13 points from six kills, five blocks and two service aces.

Millage chalked four kills, four blocks and an ace while Kanahele

connected on three aces and three kills. Also scoring for Team

USA was Webster who charted five points off of three kills and a

block and an ace while Maymon connected on two kills.


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2012 U.S. Paralympic Sitting Volleyball Nominees Set

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 11, 2012) -USA Volleyball is pleased to announce the athlete and staff nominations for the 2012 U.S. Paralympic Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team.

Pending approval from the U.S. Olympic Committee, the nomi-nated athletes and staff will represent the United States at the 2012 Paralympic Games on Aug. 29-Sept. 9 in London.

U.S. Paralympic Women’s Sitting Team Head Coach Bill Hamiter (Bethany, Okla.) has nominated Allison Aldrich (Schuyler, Neb.), Monique Burkland (Ardmore, Okla./University of Central Oklaho-ma Resident Athlete), Heather Erickson (Fayetteville, N.C./UCO Resident Athlete), Michelle Gerlosky-Schiffler (Lake Wales, Fla./UCO Resident Athlete), Katie Holloway (Lake Stevens, Wash./UCO Resident Athlete), Kaleo Kanahele (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Kendra Lancaster (Westfield, Ind.), Brenda Maymon-Jensen (Charlestown, Ind.), Nichole Millage (Champaign, Ill./UCO Resi-dent Athlete), Kari Miller (Washington, D.C.) and Lora Webster (Phoenix, Ariz.). Lancaster will serve as team captain.

Alternates for the team will be Angela DeHaan (Yuba City, Calif.) and Bethany Zummo (Dublin, Calif./UCO Resident Athlete).

Eight athletes will return from the 2008 U.S. Paralympic Wom-en’s Sitting Volleyball Team that won the silver medal in Beijing: Aldrich, Erickson, Holloway, Maymon-Jensen, Webster, Millage, Miller and Lancaster.

Aldrich, Maymon-Jensen, Webster and Lancaster are making their third Paralympic appearance as they also competed at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, where the United States won the bronze medal.

Burkland, Gerlosky-Schiffler and Kanahele will look to make their Paralympic debuts.

Joining Hamiter on the staff for London will be assistant coach Cara Lang, team leader Cecile Reynaud, athletic trainer Brian Choate and statistician Elliot Blake.

The U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team, ranked second in the world by the World Organization for Volleyball Disabled (WOVD), won the 2004 Paralympic bronze medal and the 2008 Paralympic silver medal under then head coach Mike Hulett, who was awarded USA Volleyball’s highest honor as the Harold T. Friermood ‘Frier’ award recipient at the 2012 Boyce Awards Banquet on May 24 in Dallas.

In July of 2010, the women captured the silver medal at the 2010 WOVD Sitting Volleyball World Championship earning it a trip to the 2012 Paralympics in London.

The team suffered a devastating blow in May 2011 when Lancas-ter, who had just been named team captain, suffered injuries in a head-on car accident in Morgan Country, Ind. Lancaster, 24, was taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis in critical condi-tion. But after a year of recovery, she returned to the team for its recent trip to Netherlands where it won the DELA Trophy 2012.

The team has one more pre-Paralympic Games tournament scheduled for July 12-15 in China where it will play both China and Japan before it will head to London to battle for the pro-gram’s first-ever Paralympic gold.

U.S. Women’s Sitting Team Name (Hometown) Allison Aldrich (Schuyler, Neb.) Monique Burkland (Ardmore, Okla./UCO Resident Athlete) Heather Erickson (Fayetteville, N.C./UCO Resident Athlete) Michelle Gerlosky-Schiffler (Lake Wales, Fla./UCO Resident Athlete) Katie Holloway (Lake Stevens, Wash./UCO Resident Athlete) Kaleo Kanahele (Oklahoma City, Okla.) Kendra Lancaster (Westfield, Ind.) Brenda Maymon-Jensen (Charlestown, Ind.) Kari Miller (Washington, D.C.) Nichole Millage (Champaign, Ill./UCO Resident Athlete) Lora Webster (Phoenix, Ariz.) Alternates Bethany Zummo (Dublin, Calif./UCO Resident Athlete) Angela DeHaan (Yuba City, Calif.)

Staff Head Coach: Bill Hamiter (Bethany, Okla.)

Assistant Coach: Cara Lang (Sartell, Minn.)

Statistician: Elliot Blake

Athletic Trainer: Brian Choate

Team Leader: Cecile Reynaud


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Parapan American Championships (GOLD) DATE SITE OPPONENT RESULT 3-6 Denver, Colo. Brazil W (25-18, 25-11, 25-15) 3-7 Denver , Colo. Canada W (25-13, 25-9, 25-14 ) 3-8 Denver, Colo. Brazil W (25-15, 25-14, 25-18) WOVD World Cup (GOLD) DATE SITE OPPONENT RESULT 3-21 Egypt Netherlands W (22-25, 22-25, 25-15, 25-23, 15-11) 3-22 Egypt Slovenia W (25-19, 25-12, 25-13 ) 3-22 Egypt Russia W (25-12, 25-17, 25-17) 3-23 Egypt Egypt W (25-9, 25-8, 25-5) 3-24 Egypt Russia W (25-14, 25-18, 25-8) 3-25 Egypt Netherlands W (25-20, 25-17, 20-25, 25-19) Sitting Volleyball World Championships (SILVER) DATE SITE OPPONENT RESULT 4-11 UCO Germany W (25-10, 20-25, 25-14, 25-16) 4-12 UCO Japan W (25-10, 25-14, 25-9) 4-13 UCO Lithuania W ( 25-21, 25-8, 25-12) 4-13 UCO Canada W (25-16, 25-7, 25-14) 4-14 UCO Netherlands W (25-16, 25-11, 25-12) 4-16 UCO Russia W (25-13, 25-19, 25-19) 4-17 UCO Netherlands W (25-12, 23-25, 25-20, 25-18) 4-18 UCO China L (25-18, 25-20, 25-15)

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DENVER, Colo. (March 8, 2010) – The second verse was the same as the first for the U.S. Men’s and Women’s Sitting Volley-ball Teams on Monday at the Parapan American Championships at the Colorado Convention Center.

The U.S. Sitting Women’s Team won its part of the tournament with its second straight victory over Brazil, 25-15, 25-14, 25-18. The U.S. Men lost their second match of the competition to Bra-zil, 16-25, 16-25, 21-25 and finished second to the South Ameri-cans. Canada placed third in both the men’s and women’s brack-ets.

Brazil qualified both its teams for the 2010 Sitting Volleyball World Championships on July 11-18 in Edmond, Okla. The U.S. teams have already qualified for Worlds by virtue of hosting.

The women’s match opened the final day of the tournament, which was held in conjunction with the Colorado Crossroads tournament and drew 100-150 spectators at a time.

Although the U.S. Women had already beaten Brazil pretty handily on Saturday, 25-18, 25-11, 25-15, U.S. Team Captain Brenda Maymon (Sellersburg, Ind.) said they didn’t have any trouble getting motivated for Monday’s match.

“I think we always come in with the mindset of winning,” she said. “We do a good job motivating each other.”

U.S. Women’s Sitting Team Head Coach Bill Hamiter (Bethany, Okla.) started Maymon, Lora Webster (Cave Creek, Ariz.), Katie Holloway (Lake Stevens, Wash.), Heather Erickson (Fayetteville, N.C.), Allison Aldrich (Schuyler, Neb.) and Nicole Millage (Champaign, Ill.). Kari Miller (Washington, D.C.) started at libero.

Kendra Lancaster (Westfield, Ind.) played as a substitute.

The United States got a quick start in the first set as a Brazilian serving error tied the score at 2-2 and gave Maymon the serve. She served Team USA to a 6-2 lead, including an ace and kills by Holloway and Millage, and Brazil was never able to close the gap to more than a two-point difference. When Brazil did pull to within two points at 12-10, Erickson got the serve and scored the next four straight points to give the United States a 16-10 lead at the second technical timeout (TTO).

In the second set, Brazil had a 7-6 lead when the United States used a kill to tie the score and take back the serve. Holloway served for the next nine points, including three aces, to give Team USA the 15-7 lead and the U.S. Women cruised to the set victory.

But Brazil was not ready to go down quietly. The South Ameri-cans led 8-7 at the first TTO and later led 11-9. The United States tied the score at 11s on a kill and Brazil error. After Brazil went ahead 12-11, Holloway got the serve and used two straight aces to put the United States ahead. She served for two more points to give the U.S. Women as 15-12 lead. Brazil cut the lead to one at 18-17, but Erickson served for six points, including an ace, to give the United States match point at 24-17. Brazil held the U.S. Women off for one more point before Erickson ended the match with a kill.

“Brazil was a much improved team. They served and passed

much better than Saturday,” Hamiter said. “They put pressure

on us. I don’t know that we always executed our plays exactly

the way we wanted to. But all of our players did a great job.

When you win, you’ve got to be pleased.”

U.S. Women Win Parapan Am Championship


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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (March 25, 2010) – The U.S. Wom-en’s Sitting Volleyball Team won the WOVD (World Organization for Volleyball Disabled) World Cup in Port Said, Egypt, after de-feating Netherlands, 3-1 (25-20, 25-17, 20-25, 25-19), in the gold medal match on Thursday. The U.S. Women’s Sitting Team, ranked No. 2 in the world, fin-ished the tournament with a 6-0 record and lost only three sets, all to Netherlands. The U.S. Men's Sitting Team finished the tournament with a 25-19, 25-11, 25-9 sweep of Algeria and a record of 2-5. Katie Holloway (Lake Stevens, Wash.) again led the U.S. Women with 26 points. Kendra Lancaster (Westfield, Ind.) added 14. Although Netherlands served aggressively, the U.S. Women’s Sitting Team dominated at the net, hitting and blocking with high efficiency. "Apart of a few unforced errors, we played well as a team partic-ularly in transition" Holloway said. U.S. Women’s Sitting Team Head Coach Bill Hamiter (Bethany, Okla.) started Holloway, Lancaster, Heather Erickso (Fayetteville, N.C.), Lora Webster (Cave Creek, Ariz.), Brenda Maymon

(Sellersburg, Ind.), Nichole Millage (Champaign, Ill.) and Kari Mil-ler (Washington, D.C.) at libero. Gina McWilliams (The Colony, Texas) started the third set for Holloway. The U.S. Men’s Sitting Team was paced by three different play-ers with hitting percentages over 0.600: Brent Rasmussen (Omaha, Neb.) with 0.636, Edgar Laforest (San Juan, Puerto Rico) with 0.667 and Roderick Green (Monroe, La.) with 0.667. As a team, the United States hit 0.454; its best of the tourna-ment. “The team really rallied today for a great win to finish off the tournament moving into worlds,” said Rasmussen, the U.S. Men’s team captain. “We gained some great experience in tough matches to know what it takes to overcome adversity." The United States will host the 2010 Sitting Volleyball World Championships on July 11-17 at the University of Central Okla-homa in Edmond, Okla. “This was great experience for the whole team as we look for-ward to world championships in the U.S.,” said U.S. Men’s Sitting Team Head Coach Edgar Miraku (Elbasan, Albania). “We feel this tournament helped prepare us mentally and physically.”

U.S. Women’s Sitting Team Wins World Cup


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EDMOND, Okla. (July 17, 2010) – It’s one goal down and a gold medal match to go for the U.S. Women’s Sitting Team, which qualified for the 2012 Paralympic Games in London on Saturday as it defeated Netherlands, 3-1 (25-12, 23-25, 25-20, 25-18) on Saturday in the semifinals of the 2010 Sitting Volleyball World Championships at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO). The U.S. Women’s Team improved to 7-0 in the tournament and will face China (7-0) in the gold medal match at 3 p.m. CT on Sunday on Court 1 of the Hamilton Field House at UCO. The gold medal match will renew a rivalry that began at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing when China defeated the U.S. Women twice, once in pool play and again in the gold medal match. No matter who wins on Sunday, it will be the best finish ever for the U.S. Women’s Sitting Team at a World Champion-ship. “Now that we’ve qualified, I would expect our players won’t feel as much pressure (against China),” said U.S. Women’s Sitting Team Head Coach Bill Hamiter (Bethany, Okla.). “We don’t have to option to let down,” U.S. libero Kari Miller (Washington, D.C.) said. “We want to win a gold medal and Chi-na is standing in the way of that.” Katie Holloway (Lake Stevens, Wash.) led all scorers with 19 points on a match-high 13 kills (0.32 hitting percentage), two blocks and four aces. Heather Erickson (Fayetteville, N.C.) added 11 points on five kills (0.36 hitting percentage), two blocks and four aces. Brenda Maymon (Sellersburg, Ind.) totaled nine points on three kills, four blocks and two aces. Allison Aldrich (Schuyler, Neb.) added nine points on four kills, one block and four aces. Kendra Lancaster (Westfield, Ind.) contributed seven points on three kills and four blocks. Nichole Millage (Champagne, Ill.) had six points on five kills and one block. Michelle Gerlosky (Lake Wales, Fla.) had one point on an ace. Miller led the team in receptions with 21, 76 percent positive and 71 percent excellent. She had only one error. The U.S. attack percentage was 0.26, Netherlands’ was 0.24. The U.S. Women out-blocked Netherlands, 14-7. The U.S. had 15

aces to Netherlands’ 13. The United States swept Netherlands, 25-16, 25-11, 25-12, in its final pool play match on Wednesday. After the first set on Satur-day, when Team USA had nine aces, it looked like it would be another U.S. blowout. But Netherlands found its serve in the second set. “They were smart with their serving,” Miller said. “They didn’t serve it right at us like they did last match. They must have watched the video.” Hamiter responded with lineup changes to help improve the United States’ service reception and the U.S. Women won the next two sets. Hamiter started Maymon, Holloway, Erickson, Aldrich, Millage, Lancaster and Miller at libero. Gerlosky played as a substitute.

U.S. Women’s Sitting Team Qualifies for 2012 Paralympics


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Katie Holloway was named the tournament’s Best Spiker while Kari Miller was named Best Libero. The U.S. Women’s Sitting Team finished second in the tournament and qualified for the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. EDMOND, Okla. (July 18, 2010) – After driving through the 2010 Sitting Volleyball World Championships with relative ease, the U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball ran into a roadblock called Chi-na in the gold medal match and fell 25-18, 25-20, 25-15 on Sun-day at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO). The U.S. Women’s Team won the silver medal and finished the tournament with a match record of 7-1 and a set record of 21-5. China finishes at 8-0 and a set record of 24-1. With the second-place finish, the U.S. Women's Sitting Team qualified for the 2012 Paralympic Games on Aug. 29-Sept. 9 in London. The U.S. Women’s Sitting Team played well at times during the match, but didn’t keep up a consistent attack against China. “We did do some things we wanted to do when we were in sys-tem,” U.S. Women’s Head Coach Bill Hamiter (Bethany, Okla.) said. “We knew (China’s Yuhong Sheng) would get her swings… When we were in-system and getting our swings, they weren’t picking up on it.” Hamiter started Brenda Maymon (Sellersburg, Ind.), Katie Hol-loway (Lake Stevens, Wash.), Heather Erickson (Fayetteville, N.C.), Allison Aldrich (Schuyler, Neb.), Nichole Millage (Champaign, Ill.), Kendra Lancaster (Westfield, Ind.) and Kari Miller (Washington, D.C.) at libero. Michelle Gerlosky (Lake Wales, Fla.) and Alex Gouldie (St. Paul, Neb.) played as substitutes. China jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first set before the U.S. Women could score their first point on a Holloway kill. China led 8-3 at the second technical timeout (TTO) and increased that to 11-3 before the U.S. scored on a double block by Erickson and Millage. China scored again before Aldrich got a kill that sparked a 5-0 U.S. run behind Millage’s serving. With the gap closed to 12-8, China called timeout and the run ended on a service error. China scored again, but then was called for a lift. Erickson got the serve and scored on an ace. The U.S. scored three more points, including a Maymon kill, to pull to within two points at 14-12. China got a block, but then hit the ball out and Aldrich served for two points on an ace and an attack by Holloway to tie the score at 15-15. A service error gave China the 16-15 lead at the second TTO, but Holloway tied it again by blocking the serve. China got a kill to take the serve for Sheng, who scored on two straight aces to help the Chinese increase the lead to 19-16. The two teams traded kills, with the U.S. scoring on kills by Millage and Lancaster, until China’s lead was 21-18. Hamiter

called timeout, but China could not be frozen and scored four straight points for the set victory. The second set started much closer with the U.S. taking its first lead of the match at 4-3 on an ace by Holloway, who had also scored for the U.S. on a block. A tip from Erickson increased the lead to 5-3 before came back with four straight points, including three aces from Sheng, to lead, 7-5. China’s hitting error sparked a four-point U.S. run, including an Erickson spike and Lancaster ace, to lead 9-7. China re-took the lead at 10-9 and the two teams traded points. When China grabbed a 14-12 lead on a kill and a U.S. error, Team USA came back with two straight points on a Chinese error and an attack by Holloway. But China came back with two straight points to lead 16-14 at the second TTO, and scored once more when it won a joust at the next to lead 17-14. The U.S. scored on a kill by Lancaster and block by Holloway, but China ended the run with a kill and the U.S. never tied the score again. With China leading 20-18, Millage scored with a kill. China returned the favor and then scored the next three points to reach set point at 24-19. The U.S. held off the loss with Erickson’s tip, but Sheng finished the set with a kill for China. China grabbed an 8-2 lead at the first TTO of the third set, with the U.S. scoring China errors. China increased the lead to 11-2 before Millage was able to score a point for the U.S. when China let her serve return fall. Erickson scored with an ace and the U.S. Women scored five more points on two China errors, a block by Maymon and two more Erickson aces to pull to within three at 12-9. However, that was the last run of more than two points that the U.S. could muster. China led 16-10 at the second TTO. Holloway made it 16-11 with a kill, but China went on a run of four points to make it 20-12 and the damage was done. Trailing 22-14, Team USA scored its final point of the match on Erickson’s tip. China scored the final three points, including the final ace, to win the match.

U.S. Women’s Team Takes Silver at Worlds


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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Dec. 13, 2010) – USA Volleyball has announced its teams of the year for the 2010 season. Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers comprise the Beach Team of the Year. The U.S. Women’s National Team has been named the Indoor Team of the Year. The U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team has been named the U.S. Sitting Team of the Year. Dalhausser/Rogers and the U.S. Women’s National Team will be nominated for the United States Olympic Committee Team of the Year. The U.S. Women’s Sitting Team will be nominated for Paralympic Team of the Year. The U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team capped off a success-ful summer with a silver medal at Photo: John Armuth The U.S. Women's Sitting Team waits to receive its silver medals at the 2010 World Championships. the Sitting Volleyball World Champi-onships, which qualified the team for the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

The U.S. Women’s Sitting Team finished the World Champion-ships, which were held July 11-18 in Edmond, Okla., with a match record of 7-1 and a set record of 21-5. Katie Holloway (Lake Stevens, Wash.) was named the tournament’s Best Spiker while Kari Miller (Washington, D.C.) was named Best Libero. The U.S. Women’s Sitting Team opened 2010 by defeating Brazil and Canada to win the Parapan American Championships on March 6-8 in Denver, Colo. It then traveled to Port Said, Egypt, where it won the WOVD World Cup, finishing with a 6-0 record and losing only three sets along the way, all to Netherlands

USA Volleyball Names its Teams of the Year


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Shanghai Club Series DATE SITE OPPONENT RESULT HIGH SCORER 3-18 Denver, Colo. Shanghai W (25-18, 21-25, 25-12, 25-16) Holloway (14) 3-19 Denver, Colo. Shanghai W (25-20, 25-15, 25-16) Erickson (11) 3-19 Denver, Colo. Shanghai W (15-25, 30-28, 22-25, 25-21, 17-15) Holloway (25) 3-20 Denver, Colo. Shanghai W (25-19, 23-25, 25-21, 25-14) Holloway (20) Tour of Shanghai DATE SITE OPPONENT RESULT HIGH SCORER 6-9 Shanghai, China Shanghai W (16-25, 17-25, 25-10, 25-11, 17-15) Holloway (27) 6-10 Shanghai, China Shanghai L (27-25, 25-23, 18-25, 26-24) Holloway (25) 6-11 Shanghai, China Shanghai W (20-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-23) Holloway (27) EVCD Continental Cup Yekatoriya, Ukraine (Gold Medal) DATE OPPONENT RESULT 9-5 Russia W (15-25, 24-26, 25-19, 25-21, 19-17) 9-5 Ukraine W (25-18, 25-21, 21-15, 25-23) 9-6 Slovenia W (-17, 25-19, 20-25, 25-27, 16-14) 9-6 Brazil W (25-13, 27-25, 25-4) 9-7 Netherlands W (25-19, 26-24, 25-18) 9-8 Great Britain W (25-9, 25-13, 25-15) 9-9 Slovenia W (25-20, 25-15, 25-11) 9-10 Ukraine W (25-20, 25-23, 25-22) Parapan American Zonal Championships DATE OPPONENT RESULT 9-28 Canada W (25-9, 25-20, 25-22) 9-29 Colombia W (25-0, 25-2, 25-3) 9-29 Brazil W (25-17, 25-20, 25-15 9-30 Colombia W (25-0, 25-0, 25-1) 10-1 Brazil W (25-13, 25-12, 25-15)


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Women’s Sitting Team Gold at ECVD, Members Named ‘Best’

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Sept. 13, 2011) - The U.S. Women’s Sitting Team traveled back to the United States from the ECVD Continental Cup with more than just gold medals. Three players earned four individual all-tournament awards for their unmatch-able performances in Yevatoriya, Ukraine. Team Captain Katie Holloway (Lake Stevens, Wash./UCO Resi-dent Athlete), Michelle Gerlosky (Lake Wales, Fla.) and Kari Mil-ler (Washington, D.C.) earned individual awards after their per-formances led the United States to a perfect 7-0 record in the tournament. Holloway was named tournament Most Valuable Player and best spiker after charting a tournament-high 100 kills and totaling 123 points for her team. Holloway connected on 22 attacks and three blocks in the first match against Ukraine on Sept. 5 for a personal-tournament high of 25 points. Gerlosky was named best server with a tournament total of 22

service aces. Gerlosky delivered a personal-tournament high of six aces in the U.S. sweep over Great Britain on Sept. 8. Kari Miller was named best libero with 163 receptions, good for a seven-game average of 57 percent. U.S. Head Coach Bill Hamiter (Bethany, Okla.) brought seven athletes to Ukraine to compete, the smallest roster in the tour-nament. Teams were also allowed two able-bodied and two min-imally-disabled players on the court at any time; however the U.S. team did not include any able-bodied or minimally-disabled players. The U.S. Women’s Sitting Team had previously qualified for the 2012 London Paralympic Games and continues to use interna-tional tournaments for its preparation. The next stop for the U.S. Women’s Sitting team will be the 2011 Para Panamerican Championship from Sept. 28- Oct. 2 in Brazil.


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Women’s Sitting Wins Gold at Parapan Am Zonal Championships

Three U.S. Women Earn Individual Honors: Katie Holloway was voted tournament Most Valuable Player and best spiker while Heather Erickson was named best server and Kaleo Kanahele best setter. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Oct. 1, 2011) -The U.S. Women’s Sitting Team won the gold medal at the Parapan American Zonal Championship on Saturday after downing Brazil, 25-13, 25-12, 25-15 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. “The team had a great tournament,” team captain Katie Hol-loway (Lake Stevens, Wash./UCO Resident Athlete) said. “We didn’t lose a set the entire tournament showing our consistency of play. Everyone played well.” Holloway led the team with 17 points coming from 12 kills, three aces and a pair of blocks, while Monique Burkland (Ardmore, Okla./UCO Resident Athlete) charted 10 points from six aces and four kills. Nichole Millage (Champaign, Ill./UCO Resident Athlete)

connected on six kills, two aces and a block for nine points and libero, Bethany Zummo (Dublin, Calif./UCO Resident Athlete) posted a 91 percent good and 70 percent excellent pass per-centages. Head Coach Bill Hamiter (Bethany, Okla.) started Heather Erick-son (Fayetteville, N.C./UCO Resident Athlete) and Holloway at outside, Kari Miller (Washington, D.C.) and Burkland at middle, and Kaleo Kanahele (Oklahoma City, Okla.) and Millage at setter/rightside the first two sets and subbed Angela DeHaan (Yuba City, Calif.) for Kanahele in the third set. Team USA had previously qualified for London 2012, so when Brazil defeated Canada in their semifinal match on Friday, Brazil qualified for London as well. "It will be wonderful to have two teams representing our zone in London," stated Hamiter.


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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Dec. 22, 2011) – The U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team won both of its major international tour-naments and posted an 18-1 record, earning it the Sitting Team of the Year for 2011. “We had a very successful year from a number of standpoints,” said U.S. Women’s Sitting Team Head Coach Bill Hamiter. “One being that we won a lot; but two and the most important being that we were able to get the younger players great experience.” In late 2010, the women captured the silver medal at the 2010 Sitting Volleyball World Championships earning them a trip to the 2012 Paralympics in London. With the bid already in its pocket, the team had room to relax in 2011 but it chose not to. In March, the team traveled to Denver, in conjunction with the Crossroads Qualifier, to play a club team from Shanghai, China that included players from its national team. China is the only team in recent history that the U.S. women have not been able to beat. Team USA took the four exhibition matches seriously and went undefeated against the Shanghai club team. The team suffered a devastating blow in May as its captain, Ken-dra Lancaster (Westfield, Ind.) suffered injuries in a head-on car accident in Morgan Country, Ind. Lancaster, 24, was taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis in critical condition, but her injuries proved to not be life threatening and she is expected to be back with the team in 2012. In September 2011, Team USA traveled to Yekotoriya, Ukraine for the ECVD Continental Cup where it swept the competition with a 7-0 record and won the gold medal. In addition to the team honor, three players received individual awards for their outstanding play including Holloway who was named best spiker and Most Valuable Player. Michelle Gerlosky (Lake Wales, Fla.) was named Best Server and Kari Miller (Washington, D.C.) earned Best Libero. “I'm most proud of the huge strides we have made as a team,” Katie Holloway Holloway (Lake Stevens, Wash./UCO Resident Athlete) said. “In Ukraine, there was such maturity shown on the court. When we were down by a few points, we never let ourselves get into a slump. We would always fight our way back, and every person took on that responsibility. In past years we would ride on our emotional ups and downs, this year I saw that change for the better in our Ukraine tournament.” Eager to improve their team play, the U.S. Women’s Sitting Team then traveled to Sao Paulo, Brazil for the 2011 Parapan American Zonal Championships. The team posted an unblem-ished 5-0 run to secure the gold medal. Holloway again was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and Best Spiker.

Heather Erickson (Fayetteville, N.C./UCO Resident Athlete) was named best server and Kaleo Kanahele (Oklahoma City, Okla.), the youngest on the team at 15-years-old, was named best setter. “The team played well this year because of the focus we had going into each competition,” Holloway said. (Head Coach) Bill [Hamiter] has done an incredible job with our team and helping us to focus on the task at hand in each match, which most of the time is focusing on us.” The team will now head into the 2012 year with the London Paralympics as their focus. They will have a little more than six months to prepare in hopes to bring the gold home to the Unit-ed States. “We have our blinders on for the 2012 year,” Hamiter said. “Our focus will be London, getting a roster ready to represent the U.S. and fine-tuning our skills to compete at our highest level.”

U.S. Women’s Team Named 2011 Sitting Team of the Year


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2011 USA Volleyball Women’s Sitting Athlete of the Year

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Dec. 22, 2011) – Katie Holloway (Lake Stevens, Wash.) has been named the USA Volleyball Sitting Women’s Athlete of the Year for 2011. “I am so very honored to be giv-en this,” Holloway said. “I feel the progress our team has made this year has been such a huge success.” Holloway’s year has been filled with remarkable achievements both on and off the volleyball court. In addition to captaining a 2012 London Paralympic-bound team, Holloway was named Most Valuable Player and “best spiker” at two international tournaments, posted the most points for the U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team and inspired the country as a celebrity guest on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Holloway was born without a fibula in her right leg and when she was 20 months old she had her right foot and ankle amputated. Since then, she has been a standout in women’s NCAA Division I basketball at Cal State Northridge (2004-08), a sitting volleyball star representing the United States and an inspiration to every-one she meets. In September, the U.S. Women’s Sitting Team traveled to Yevpa-toria, Ukraine for the ECVD (European Committee Volleyball for Disabled) Continental Cup. With the London Paralympic bid al-ready in its pocket, the team had room to relax but it chose not to. The women took the gold medal with a 7-0 finish, led by Hol-loway’s 100 kills and 123 points. Holloway was named the tour-nament’s Most Valuable Player (MPV) and Best Spiker.

Immediately following the Continental Cup, the team traveled to Sao Paulo, Brazil for the Parapan American Zonal Championship. Again, the team proved unbeatable with a 5-0 record, capturing the gold medal on Oct. 1. The team posted four individual hon-ors; two earned by Holloway, who was again named the tourna-ment’s MVP and Best Spiker. “Katie was named most valuable player at both the Continental Cup and Zonal Championship,” U.S. Women’s Sitting Volleyball Head Coach Bill Hamiter said. “She was also the leading scorer for the U.S. in each tournament. Her improvements to her all-around play have made her one of the top players in the world.” Holloway has been competing with the Women’s Sitting Team since 2006 and she was part of the silver-medal winning team at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games. With the team, she has ac-cumulated five gold medals, two silver medals and a bronze medal in international competition. Her achievements then went prime time. On Oct. 9, Holloway appeared on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition with NBA star Dwight Howard as the inspirational celebrities to a 10-year-old hero, Anaiah, who lost her left leg and a kidney while saving her younger sister from an oncoming pickup truck. The 2011 season was noteworthy for Holloway and the U.S. Women’s Sitting Team, but to them it was all in preparation for the 2012 Paralympic Games. In 2010, the team captured the silver medal at the Sitting Volleyball World Championships and Holloway was named Best Offensive Player. The medal earned the team a spot in the 2012 Paralympic Games. “It means so much that USA Volleyball values the sitting program as much as they do,” Holloway said. “We all look forward to next year in London and competing for that gold.”

Katie Holloway 2011 USAV Women’s Sitting

Athlete of the Year

Courtesy Katie Holloway

http://usavolleyball.org/athletes/katie-holloway

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All-Time U.S. Women’s Paralympic Volleyball Teams

2004 Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team 2008 Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team

2004 (Athens) Allison Ahlfeldt Allison Aldrich Bonnie Brawner Lori Daniels Kendra Lancaster Hope Lewellen Brenda Maymon Gina McWilliams Erica Moyers Penny Ricker Deb Vosler Lora Webster

2008 (Beijing) Allison Aldrich Heather Erickson Alexandra Gouldie Katie Holloway Brenda Jensen SiGui Kriss Kendra Lancaster Hope Lewellen Gina McWilliams Nichole Millage Kari Miller Lora Webster

Allison Aldrich, Monique Burkland, Heather Erickson, Michelle Gerlosky-Schiffler, Katie Holloway, Kaleo Kanahele,

Kendra Lancaster, Brenda Maymon-Jensen, Kari Miller, Nichole Millage, Lora Webster

2012 London

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Name: USA Volleyball Location: Colorado Springs, Colo. Founded: 1928 Membership: Approximately 275,000 Mission: USA Volleyball is the National Governing Body (NGB) for all disciplines of volleyball in the United States and is officially recognized by the Federation Inter-nationale de Volleyball (FIVB) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). As mandated by the Amateur Sports Act, USA Volleyball is responsible for the growth of the sport in America at the grassroots and most elite levels. USA Volleyball is the parent organization of the USA National Teams. Chief Executive Officer: Doug Beal Head Coach USA Women: Hugh McCutcheon (Fourth Year with Women’s Team) Head Coach USA Men: Alan Knipe (Fourth Year with Men’s Team) Major 2012 National Team Events: Senior Women’s Senior Men’s FIVB World Grand Prix (June 8-July 1, Various Countries) U.S. versus Argentina (April 27 and April 28, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) Pan American Cup (July 11-21, Mexico) NORCECA Men’s Continental Olympic Qualifier (May 7-12, Long Beach, Calif.) U.S. versus Bulgaria (July 14, 16, 18 - Anaheim/Los Angeles, Calif.) FIVB World League (May 18-July 8, Various Countries) Olympic Games (July 27-Aug. 13, London) Pan American Cup (July 7-15, Dominican Republic) Olympic Games (July 27-Aug. 13, London) Indoor High Performance and USAV Juniors (Youth and Junior) Beach Indoor High Performance and USAV Juniors (Youth and Junior) FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour (various countries) NORCECA Girls’ Youth Championship (June 24-July 2, Dominican Republic) NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour (various countries) USAV Girls’ Junior National Championships (June 28-July 7, Columbus, Ohio) Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Series (various stops) NORCECA Boys’ Youth Championship (June 30-July 8, Mexico) FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch Youth World Championships (July 11-14, Cyprus) USAV Boys’ Junior National Championships (July 1-8, Dallas, Texas) FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch Junior World Championships (Aug. 29-Sept. 2, Canada) USAV High Performance Championships (July 24-28, Des Moines, Iowa) U.S. Open of Beach Volleyball (Sept. 14-16, Manhattan Beach, Calif.) NORCECA Women’s Junior Championship (Aug. 19-27, Nicaragua) NORCECA Men’s Jr Championship (Aug. 24-Sept. 1, Colorado Springs, Colo.) Other Events NCVF Collegiate Club Championships (April 5-7, Kansas City, Mo.) USAV Beach Collegiate Challenge (April 14-15, Hermosa Beach, Calif.) USA Volleyball Open National Championships (May 26-July 2, Salt Lake City, Utah) USA Beach Junior Tour (various locations) About USA Volleyball: Founded in 1928, USA Volleyball is a Colorado incorporated non-profit organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB) as the National Governing Body for the sport of Volleyball in the United States. USA Volleyball is re-sponsible for both the Olympic disciplines of indoor volleyball and beach volleyball. USA Volleyball has over 275,000 registered members, 12,000 teams and 5,300 clubs nationwide. With an annual budget in excess of $17 million dollars, USA Volleyball supports the USA men’s and women’s senior national team programs, youth and junior national teams, national championship events, coaching educa� on and certificate on programs, grassroots development, and programs for the disabled and Paralympic Teams. USA Volleyball has a rich tradition of success as evidenced by winning an Olympic medal in every Olympic Games since 1984 and capturing numerous World Cup, World Championship and Continental Championship titles. USA Volleyball is committed to and works toward opportunity for all to participate. It is an advocate for all Americans endeavoring to assure universal access to opportunities at all levels of the game. For more information please visit www.usavolleyball.org. Other: USA Volleyball consists of 40 regional volleyball associations which manage grassroots playing opportunities for the USA Volleyball membership and is affili-ated with 36 member organizations (i.e. NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA, YMCA) that provide playing opportunities at a variety of levels.

USA Volleyball - 2012 Fact Sheet

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Ace - a served ball that directly results in a point. Block - an attempt by a player or players to interrupt the ball before, as or just after it crosses the net. Bump (Pass) - technique of playing the ball using forearms, hands together, to direct the ball. Bump (Set) - a forearm pass used as a set. Carry - a fault called if the ball comes to rest in the course of contact by one player. Court - the playing surface divided into two equal areas by a net. In its official form, volleyball is played on a rectangular court 18 meters (59 feet 0.75 inches) long and 9 meters (29 feet 6.475 inches) wide; the women’s net placed at 2.24 meters (7 feet 4.125 inches) high and the men’s net at 2.44 meters (8 feet) high. Coverage - most often, refers to backing up a teammate’s hit when the block is up and the ball comes back. Cross Court/Cut Shot - an offensive hit when a player, instead of hitting with power, slices the ball just over and nearly parallel to the net. Dig Lips - defending more than once and successfully an opponent’s hard spike as if the attacker was saying beforehand where the hit was going and you read their lips. Dig - to pass a very hard hit spike; a ball brought up (saved) with any part of the body, particularly from a spike attempt. Dink - a very softly-hit spike; ball played just over the net or the block-ers hands. Down-Referee - secondary referee. He/she stands on the floor at the opposite end of the net as the up-referee. Also known as the second official. Dump - when the setter, instead of setting the hitters, attacks the ball over the net. Foot fault - stepping on the court or out of bounds before serving the ball. Free Ball - a ball the opponent cannot attack and must yield by passing over the net. Joust - when two players on opposing sides attempt to block the ball by vying to push it onto each other’s side of the net. Kill - an attack that results in an immediate point. Paint Brush - a wipe off shot by the spiker (painter) on a blocker. Pancake - a one-handed floor defensive technique where the hand is extended and slid along the floor, palm down, and the ball rebounds off the back of the hand, rather than the floor. Pass - the first of three contacts on the offensive side - overhead or forearm.

Perimeter Defense - backrow defenders work in the area a meter in from the backline and sidelines up to the three-meter line. Pipe - a ball set in the middle of the court, on the three-meter line, for a backrow player to hit. Quick - the first of the three attack options. The attacker contacts the ball immediately after it is released from the setter’s hands. Red card - a severe sanction given by the up-referee. Roof - to block a spike, usually straight down and for a point. Screening - an attempt by a player to conceal the start of a teammate’s serve by obstructing an opponent’s line of sight. Screening is illegal. Seams - the space between the blockers and between back-court defenders. Set – the act of getting the ball into the position for the hitters to attack the ball. Usually done overhead with two hands. Setter – the team quarterback. Attempts to “set” every second contact for his/her hitters to attack. Serve - the act of putting the ball into play. Shank - to pass the ball badly. Six Pack - another term for getting a spiked ball in the face on defense. A “Twelve Pack” actually knocks down the defender. In the past the defender was then obligated to buy the spiker a six pack of his/her desired beverage (roots are found in doubles sand play). Sizzle the Pits - a spike that goes under, and past, the armpits of a big block. Slide - a movement from an attacker’s serve receive position past an-other onto a third; usually the ball is hit while “sliding out” towards the sideline. Spiked Ball - a ball hit forcibly from a height not less than the top of the net. Also known as a bury, crush, hammer, kill, put-away or slam. Stuff - a block in which the ball goes straight down to the floor with no hope of being picked up by an opposing player. Tool - when a ball is intentionally spiked off a blocker’s hands to make it go out of bounds. Touch - when the ball lands out of bounds, but not before contacting one of the players. Up-referee - the main referee. He/she stands upon a special chair. Also known as the first referee. Yellow card - a first sanction given by the up-referee, cost the sanc-tioned team a point.

Volleyball Glossary

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Media Resources

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Media Contact:

Becky Murdy USA Volleyball

Coordinator, Communications, Media

Email: [email protected]

Phone: (719) 228-6800

2012 u.s. paralympic women's sitting team press kit

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