Feb. 9, 2010

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- Samford volleyball senior Sheriden Stangohr will attend the USA Volleyball National Team tryouts, Feb. 19-21 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The middle blocker from Shawnee, Kan., will join 46 other middle blockers, 41 outside hitters, 41 liberos, 31 setters and 15 opposites for a total of 175 athletes participating in the open tryout. This will be the largest-ever single tryout for the U.S Women's National Team with 80 colleges from across the country being represented.

"I'm very excited to have the opportunity to practice and hopefully compete with the best athletes in the country," Stangohr said. "I have always wanted to compete at this level and feel, since Dex (Schroeder) and the coaching staff here at Samford arrived, I have a new understanding of high level volleyball based on our team's success and my increased volleyball I.Q. I'm eager to see where this experience leads me as a person and what opportunities open up for me as a volleyball player."

Stangohr is arguably one of the best players to come out of Samford University. In the past two years, she has helped Samford to back-to-back North Division Championships and Southern Conference Tournament appearances. She is also a part of the most successful class in Samford Volleyball history that has seen three winning seasons in the last four years. She helped the Bulldogs to their first winning season in 2007 as they went 16-13 followed by the best season yet for the program in 2008 that ended in with 28-5 record.

She was named to the 2007 All-Ohio Valley Conference First Team and was named to the All-SoCon First Team after a stellar senior season in 2009. She was named the SoCon November Athlete of the Month for Volleyball after leading her team to the semifinals of the conference tournament.

Stangohr is the all-time leader for Samford in block assists with 420 and made her way into the 1,000 Kills Club this season. She is second all-time in career attack percentage (.303), making her the leader for all four-year letterwinners. She ranks sixth in career kills (1,097) and eighth in career attempts (2,565) and block solos (63).

In the single season records, Stangohr ranks first in block assists with 129 in 2007, second with 125 in 2009 and fifth in 106 in 2008. In hitting percentage, she stands at sixth with a .326 average in 2007 and at eight with a .310 average in 2009.

Before she became a Bulldog, Stangohr was earning Junior Olympic All-America honors in 2004. She was invited to participate in the USAV High Performance camp, which is basically a junior version of the U.S. Volleyball Team, after her sophomore year of high school.