Logan Tom is not the only member of the U.S. volleyball teams with Utah ties.
Joining Tom on the U.S. women's team is Charlene Johnson Tagaloa, who was an All-American setter at Brigham Young University from 1991 to 1994. She also played her senior year of prep volleyball at Pleasant Grove High after moving from Las Vegas.While Tom is the youngest member on the women's squad, Tagaloa -- one of two team members who is married -- is the oldest at age 26. "We're like mother and daughter," laughs Tagaloa, who in reality is the mother of a 7-year-old son.
Tagaloa is in her fourth year with USA Volleyball in international competition and has been the long-time starter at the setter position.
Ryan Millar, who led BYU to its 1999 NCAA men's volleyball championship, is a starter on the U.S. men's team. One of only five players to earn AVCA first-team All-America honors three times, the former Cougar and California native has turned heads with impressive international showings, starting last summer in Japan.
"He made an immediate impact," said U.S. men's assistant coach Rob Browning. "He tore it up in Japan, and he hasn't stopped since."
Browning himself is another with Utah ties -- he was a three-year assistant to BYU men's volleyball coach Carl McGown, with his Cougar career culminating in the 1999 title-winning season.
And Browning also points to another pair of BYU volleyball players -- the wife-and-husband tandem of Amy Steele Gant and Jesse Gant -- who only recently left the women's and men's national teams for career opportunities elsewhere.
"That's five players from Utah," Browning said. "When you consider how many people get the opportunity to play on a national team, that's great representation."