Ben Somera is in his second year as head coach of the South Carolina volleyball program after spending the previous two seasons as associate head coach. He took over the reigns from his wife, Nancy, in June 2007 after she made the decision to pursue a business opportunity. Somera coordinates the recruiting efforts of the Gamecock staff and oversees training of the middle blockers and outside hitters. Somera was named associate head coach for Gamecock volleyball in February 2005 after six seasons as an assistant and associate head coach at Oregon State. The Gamecocks have gone 42-46 (.477) during his three years on staff and are 20-36 (.357) in Southeastern Conference matches. Included in the SEC victories was a 3-1 win over Florida in 2006, which was the program's first against the Gators since 1994. Florida, ranked sixth at the time, is the highest-ranked team South Carolina has defeated in its history, and it marked just the fifth regular-season SEC defeat for the Gators since 1991. In 2007, Somera's squad went 14-15 overall but turned things around toward the latter part of the season. The squad captured five wins in their final nine SEC contests, including wins over NCAA Tournament squads LSU and Alabama. One of the standouts for Somera was SEC All-Freshman Team middle blocker Megan Laughlin, who ranked in the top 10 in the conference in aces while ranking second on the team in blocks and third in kills. As an associate head coach, Somera was instrumental in furthering the development of Shonda Cole during her final two years as a Gamecock, as the outside hitter earned All-SEC First Team and AVCA All-South Region Team honors after a record-setting 2006 season. Cole became the Gamecocks' career leader in kills per game and attacks while setting single-season school records for kills, kills per game and attacks. She also hit the 30-kill plateau in six matches her senior year, a feat that had only been accomplished once in school history prior to 2006. While at Oregon State, Somera coached the middle blockers for four seasons and spent two with the setters. Under his tutelage, one of his setters earned honorable mention All-Pacific 10 honors and two of his middle blockers finished the season ranked among the top 10 blockers in the Pac-10 Conference. Two other Beavers earned honorable mention and one was named first-team All-Pac-10, while two student-athletes earned spots on the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team from 1999 to 2004. Additionally, seven Beavers received academic praise from CoSIDA and 16 were awarded academic laurels from the Pacific-10 Conference while Somera served as a coach. During his tenure at OSU the Beavers were 77-98 (.440) overall, and he helped lead Oregon State to the NCAA Tournament in 2001 with a 17-12 record and fifth-place finish in the Pac-10. It was the first NCAA appearance for OSU since joining the Pac-10 in 1987 and only its second in school history after first making the field in 1983. Oregon State finished at .500 or better in one of the toughest volleyball conferences in the country in three of Somera's six seasons on staff. Academically, Oregon State's volleyball program led the athletic department in team GPA for 9-of-15 terms. Somera's collegiate coaching experience began at Southern California in 1993 as a volunteer coach. He was then promoted to second assistant in 1994 and took the lead in the training and development of the program's middle blockers. While at Southern California, he cultivated three All-Americans at the middle blocker position. In 1996, Somera left collegiate coaching to pursue a career in sales, but he continued to coach club volleyball. When his wife became the head coach at Oregon State in 1999, Somera returned to collegiate coaching. Somera hails from LaCrescenta, Calif., and earned his bachelor's degree in political science from Southern California in 1995. Ben and Nancy have an 11-year-old son, Sam, and a 7-year-old daughter, Maile. |
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