USA Men's Olympic Volleyball roster named

Donald Suxho sets David Lee
-courtesy FIVB

Those of us in the Northwest tend to focus on women's volleyball--the men's side is not a major high school or collegiate sport in our region.

But the men's game is equally exciting, and produced a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Top men also have an outsized influence on the women's game--9 coaches in the Pac-12 are men. Several--including Washington's Jim McLaughlin--have coached men at the highest levels (McLaughlin won a NCAA title with the USC men.) And the coach of the USA women's national team--which includes former UW stars Courtney Thompson and Tama Miyashiro--is Hugh McCutcheon, who led the men to that 2008 gold medal (and will be the head women's coach at Minnesota right after the London Olympics.)

This morning, USA men's head coach Alan Knipe named the members of the 2012 Olympic team:

2012 London Olympics USA National Men’s Roster

SETTERS
Donald Suxho	Korce, Albania	USC
Brian Thornton	San Clemente, CA	UC Irvine
DEFENDERS
Rich Lambourne	Tustin, CA	BYU
OUTSIDE HITTERS
Matt Anderson	West Seneca, NY	Penn State
Sean Rooney	Wheaton, IL	Pepperdine
Paul Lotman	Lakewood, CA	Long Beach State
Reid Priddy	Richmond, VA	Loyola Marymount
OPPOSITE HITTERS
Clay Stanley	Honolulu, HI	Hawai’i
David McKienzie	Littleton, CO	Long Beach State
MIDDLES
David Lee	Alpine, CA	Long Beach State
Russell Holmes	Fountain Valley, CA	BYU
David Smith	Saugus, CA	UC Irvine

• Reid Priddy, Rich Lambourne, David Lee, Sean Rooney, and Clay Stanley were members of the 2008 Olympic team; Donald Suxho was on the 2004 team.
• 2008 setter Lloy Ball and middle blocker Tom Hoff have retired.
• Riley Salmon, Ryan Millar, Gabe Gardner, and Kevin Hansen were on the 2008 team, but were named as reserves for 2012.

see also:
USAV Announces Olympic Men's Volleyball Team (press release)
Two former UW All-Americans named to Olympic Volleyball team