Jul 11

2012 USA Paralympic Sitting Volleyball Nominees Set

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Becky Murdy
Coordinator, Communications
Phone: (719) 228-6800
E-Mail: becky.murdy@usav.org

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 nominated 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 Oklahoma 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-Jenson (Charlestown, Ind.), Nichole Millage (Champaign, Ill./UCO Resident 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 Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team that won the silver medal in Beijing: Aldrich, Erickson, Holloway, Maymon-Jensen, Webster, Millage, Miller and Lancaster.

Aldrich, Maymon-Jenson, 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 Lancaster, 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 condition. 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 program’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 (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 (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