| Ben Somera |
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 | Position:
Assistant Coach (Sixth Year)
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| Alma Mater:
Southern California, 1995
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Ben Somera returns for his fifth season as an assistant coach at Oregon State.
Somera has spent the last four seasons coaching OSU's middle blockers, and the Beavers have had continued success at that position under his direction. In two of his four years at OSU, both of OSU's starting middle blockers finished the season ranked among the top 10 blockers in the Pac-10 Conference.
Ben's collegiate coaching experience began at the University of Southern California in 1993 as volunteer coach. He then became the second assistant in 1994, when he took the main lead in training the middle blockers. He developed three All-American middle blockers while at USC.
Somera left the collegiate coaching ranks in 1996, when he began working as a sales repesentative while continuing to coach at the club level. When his wife, Nancy, was hired as head coach at Oregon State in 1999, Ben returned to the collegiate coaching ranks.
His business experience helped refine his communication and presentation skills, making him well equipped to handle his duties as the recruiting coordinator for the OSU volleyball program.
He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from USC in 1995.
Ben and Nancy have a 6-year-old son, Sam, and a daughter, Maile, who will turn 3 in December.
