Lindsey Berg Named to USA Olympic Volleyball Team

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Former Golden Gopher standout Lindsey Berg was selected to the U.S. Olympic Women's Volleyball team according to an announcement by USA Volleyball on Wednesday, July 16.

Head Coach 'Jenny' Lang Ping and her coaching staff, nominated the 12 players who will represent Team USA at the 2008 Olympic Games in August, pending official confirmation by the United States Olympic Committee.

Berg joins Ogonna Nnamani (Stanford), Danielle Scott-Arruda (Long Beach State), Tayyiba Haneef-Park (Long Beach State), Stacy Sykora (Texas A&M), Nicole Davis (USC), Heather Bown (Hawai'i), Jennifer Joines (Pacific), Kimberly Glass (Arizona), Robyn Ah Mow-Santos (Hawai'i), Kim Willoughby (Hawai'i) and Logan Tom (Stanford) as part of the group of 12 selected to represent the United States in Beijing, China in August at the Olympics.

Eight of the 12 players on the roster have previous Olympic experience. Berg returns as one of the two setters who played on the 2004 Olympic team that competed in Athens, Greece. Scott-Arruda (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008), Ah Mow-Santos (2000, 2004, 2008), Bown (2000, 2004, 2008), Sykora (2000, 2004, 2008), Tom (2000, 2004, 2008), Haneef-Park (2004, 2008) and Nnamani (2004, 2008) join Berg as experienced Olympians on the 2008 roster.

Davis, Glass, Joines and Willoughby were all named to the Olympic roster for the first time in their respective careers.

For the Olympic Games, the U.S. is grouped into Pool A with host China, Cuba, Japan, Poland and Venezuela. The U.S. Women open the Olympic Games on Aug. 9 versus Japan at 10 p.m. at the Capital Indoor Stadium. The Americans face Cuba on Aug. 11 at 12:30 p.m. at the Capital Indoor Stadium. Team USA plays its only match at the Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium on Aug. 13 against Venezuela at noon. The U.S. challenges China on Aug. 15 at the Capital Indoor Stadium at 8 p.m. before concluding pool play on Aug. 17 versus Poland at 12:30 p.m. at the Capital Indoor Stadium.

The top four teams in both Olympic preliminary round pools advance to the quarterfinals on Aug. 19. The winner of each pool faces the fourth-place team in the opposite pool. A drawing of lots will determine the opponents for the second- and third-place teams against the opposite pool.

The quarterfinal winners advance to the semifinals on Aug. 21. The gold and bronze medal matches take place on Aug. 23.

With Berg's selection to the team, Minnesota is one of only eight schools to have a player on this year's U.S. Olympic team roster. The Golden Gophers are one of only five programs to have had a player on both the 2004 and 2008 U.S. Olympic teams.

Berg will join her former Golden Gopher teammate Nicole Branagh, who qualified with teammate Elaine Youngs as one of two U.S. beach volleyball Olympic teams, in Beijing. The two played together for three years from 1998-2000.

Minnesota joins Long Beach State and Stanford as the only three schools in the nation to have a player in both the U.S. Indoor and Beach Volleyball Olympic rosters in 2008. Since beach volleyball started in the Olympics in 1996, only Long Beach State, Minnesota, Stanford and UCLA have had Olympians in both beach and indoor volleyball in the same year.

As a four-year setter for Minnesota from 1998-2001, Berg amassed 5,913 assists, which was good for third on the Minnesota and Big Ten career list. Berg is also second on the Minnesota career list in service aces at 283 and ninth in digs at 1,047.

Berg also helped Minnesota to a pair of Big Ten second place finished and NCAA Regional appearances in 1999 and 2000. In 2000, she helped lead the Golden Gophers to their highest winning percentage in school history at .882 (30-4).

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