University Park, Pa., July 26, 2006 ¨C Former Nittany Lion Olympian and three-time All-American Salima (Davidson) Rockwell has been named the women¡¯s volleyball Director of Operations, head coach Russ Rose announced.

Rockwell was a setter for the Nittany Lions from 1991-94 and served as a two-time team captain of the U.S. National Team during her time with the squad from 1995-99. She comes back to Penn State after spending last year as an assistant coach at Oregon State under head coach Terry Liskevych.

¡°Very few players in my tenure with Penn State volleyball have had the impact on others that Salima had while attending Penn State,¡± said head coach Russ Rose. ¡°Her playing career speaks for itself and the fact that she was the captain of the U.S. National team highlights her talents as a player as well as her leadership traits. She will be a fabulous mentor to all of the women in the program as well as a great ambassador for Penn State women¡¯s volleyball.

A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., Rockwell was an assistant at Pittsburgh from 2001-03 where she worked primarily with the Panthers¡¯ setters. She was also the Panthers¡¯ lead recruiter and signed four of their top five recruits in 2002.

Rockwell captained the USA National Team in 1997 and 1998, serving as the starting setter for the Americans and earned the Coaches¡¯ Award, MVP and the Team Award in each of those seasons.

Rockwell also spent three years in the ultra-competitive world of pharmaceutical sales, consistently ranking as a top selling representative.

She still ranks fourth all-time on Penn State¡¯s career assists list with 5,455, and sits third on the career assists per game list (12.34). She ranks fifth on the career digging charts with 1,278 and sits 12th all-time on the career hitting percentage list (.301). An all-around player, Rockwell also ranks 10th on the career total blocks chart with 382 and was inducted into the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Hall of Fame. A two-time member of the NCAA Championship All-Tournament team (1993 & 1994), Rockwell also earned All-Big Ten accolades four times, including three first-team selections. She graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor¡¯s of the Arts in Speech Communications and she and her husband, Jeff, have one son, Logan, who was born in October of 2004.

Rockwell joins a team that returns all but three players from last season¡¯s 31-3 Big Ten Champion squad that posted an unblemished 20-0 record in conference action. The Nittany Lions will be looking to replace three-time All-America setter Sam Tortorello, 2006 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year libero Kaleena Walters and middle and right side hitter Kim Holm. However, Penn State returns 2006 AVCA National Freshman of the Year and Second Team All-America outside hitter Nicole Fawcett, AVCA Second Team All-America middle hitter Melissa Walbridge, First Team All-Big Ten middle hitter Christa Harmotto, 2003 Big Ten Freshman of the Year Cassy Salyer and 2004 Big Ten Freshman of the Year Kate Price. In addition, Penn State adds Gatorade National Player of the Year Megan Hodge, Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year Blair Brown, Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year Alisha Glass and Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year Jessica Yanz.

The Nittany Lions open up the 2006 slate at the LSU Classic in Baton Rouge, La., against Nicholls State, Rice and the host Tigers on Aug. 25-26 and then host the Penn State Invitational on Sept. 1-2 with Eastern Kentucky, West Virginia and Duke.

For more information on the Penn State women¡¯s volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.