May 11, 2005

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina volleyball’s Shonda Cole was recently invited by USA Volleyball to train with the Women’s National team this summer in Colorado Springs, Colo. Cole was named along with 32 other athletes and will train at the United States Olympic Training Center under head coach “Jenny” Lang Ping. This is the first time a Gamecock volleyball player has been invited to train with the National Team.

Cole, a sophomore outside hitter from Kings Mountain, N.C., was named second team All-SEC this past season and led the Gamecocks in kills with 379 and averaged 4.03 per game. Cole will join Florida’s Jane Collymore, Marcie Hampton, Lakisya Killingsworth and Angie McGinnis as the only players selected from SEC schools.

“We are very happy and excited for Shonda. This is a great opportunity for her and it shows that South Carolina athletes are capable of competing among some of the best athletes in the world,” said head coach Nancy Somera. “She will get the chance to play at the international level and gain so much experience that it will change her game in several areas. She will be training with world class athletes and will come back with a whole new motivation for her game.”

Team USA will begin summer play at the women’s open division of the USA Open Volleyball Championships in Denver from May 28-June 4. The women will also have teams competing at the Montreux Volley Masters in Switzerland, the Pan American Cup in the Dominican Republic and the month-long World Grand Prix in Asia.

Included in the training group are seven Olympians from last year’s team that finished tied for fifth at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, Greece: setter Robyn Ah Mow-Santos (Hawai’i); middle blocker Elisabeth Bachman (UCLA); setter Lindsey Berg (Minnesota); opposite Tayyiba Haneef (Long Beach State); opposite nancy Metcalf (Nebraska); outside hitter Ogonna Nnamani (Stanford) and middle blocker Danielle Scott (Long Beach State).