Jennifer Claire Tamas (; born November 23, 1982) is an American indoor volleyball player. Tamas made her first Olympic appearance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and helped Team USA to a silver medal.

Personal life

Tamas was born in

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...

, to David and Jody Joines. She has a brother, John, who also graduated from the University of Pacific and played baseball for four years as an outfielder. She lives and coaches in Illinois. She attended Milpitas High coached by Jeff Lamb for two years and Presentation High School in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

, coached by Jim Reilly and graduated in 2000. She chose to play volleyball at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, where she majored in communications and business and was a member of

Alpha Phi Alpha Phi International Women's Fraternity (, also known as APhi) is an international sorority with 172 active chapters and over 250,000 initiated members. Founded at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York on September 18, 1872, it is the fo ...

. On August 22, 2009, she married her college sweetheart,

Chris Tamas Christopher Tamas (born January 27, 1981) is an American volleyball coach. He is the head coach of the Illinois Fighting Illini women's volleyball team, a position he had held since 2017. In 2018, he led the Fighting Illini to the 2018 NCAA Div ...

, in

Paso Robles, California Paso Robles ( ), officially El Paso de Robles (Spanish for "The Pass of Oaks"), is a city in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Salinas River approximately north of San Luis Obispo, the city is known for its hot ...

. Chris also played collegiate volleyball at Pacific where he was an All-American setter and holds the all-time assist record.U.S. Women's Update
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University of the Pacific

In 2003, Tamas capped her career at University of the Pacific by being selected as an American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) First-Team All-American and became the first four-time All-American in school history. She was also named the 2003 Big West Conference Player of the Year. She was named first-team All-Big West Conference for the fourth-straight season. For the season, she recorded a .340 hitting percentage with 5.63 kills, 2.09 digs and 1.20 blocks per game. In 2002, she averaged 4.99 kills and 1.32 blocks per game and finished her junior season third in the Pacific career record book in kills (1,501) and seventh in total blocks (486). As a sophomore in 2001, she led the Tigers and Big West with 601 kills, 4.73 kills per game and a .313 hitting percentage. As a freshman in 2000, she broke 15-year-old record for single-season hitting percentage at .402 and was named the Big West Freshman of the Year and First Team All-Big West. Jennifer Joines

Major international competition

2010 * World Championship (fourth place) 2008 *

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

(silver medal) * U.S. Olympic team exhibition vs. Brazil *

FIVB World Grand Prix The FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix was an annual women's volleyball competition created in 1993. The men's version of the competition was called World League. This event should not be confused with the other international volleyball competitio ...

*World Champions Cup 2007 * Pan American Cup (fourth place) *

(eighth place) *

NORCECA The North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) is the international governing body for the sports of volleyball in Northern America, Central America, and the Caribbean. NORCECA is the continental confederation that ...

Championship (silver medal) * FIVB World Cup (bronze medal) 2006 * Pan American Cup (fourth place) *

(seventh place) * World Championships (ninth place) 2005 * Front Range Tour vs. Brazil * Pan American Cup * FIVB World Championship Qualifying Tournament (gold medal) * NORCECA Continental Championships (gold medal) * World Champions Cup 2003 * Pan American Games (bronze medal)

International highlights

2008 – Started eight of nine sets played in the opening preliminary weekend of the

. She averaged 3.11 points with 2.78 kills and 0.33 blocks per set and compiled a .511 hitting efficiency on 45 swings and just two errors.
2007 – Averaged 2.40 points per set during Pan American Cup and only non-libero to play in all 25 sets. She produced 15 points, including international career-high five blocks, versus

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

on June 29. She started 18 sets and three matches at the FIVB World Cup and averaged 2.11 points, 1.47 kills and 0.58 blocks per set with an overall .386 hitting percentage.
2006 – Averaged 3.33 points in 24 sets over seven matches of a tour of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

March 22 to April 2. She scored in every match of the Pan American Cup with 10 points against

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and 13 points against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. She scored 61 total points at Pan American Cup. She played in 14 sets of the World Championships with eight individual set starts and compiled 24 points on 18 kills and six blocks, including a personal tournament high 10 points coming off the bench against

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

on Oct. 31.
2005 – Selected as a member of the USA Women's National Team that captured the silver medal at the season-ending FIVB World Grand Champions Cup in Japan in November, where the United States finished the tournament with a record of 4–1 as it earned wins over

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

2004 Olympic The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

gold medalist China,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and Japan along the way.

Professional

Tamas played for

Toyota Auto Body Queenseis is a women's volleyball team based in Kariya city, Aichi, Japan. It plays in V.League Division 1. The club was founded in 1951. The owner of the team is Toyota Auto Body. Queenseis is a coined word combining Queen and Seis ("six" in Spanish ...

in Japan's V-League in 2008. In 2007, she played for Bigmat San Paolo Chieri of the Italian Serie A League. Produced a 2.10 points per set average and 52.6 kill efficiency for Chieri, which advanced to the league quarterfinals.

References

External links

*
Bio for Bigmat San Paolo Chieri
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tamas, Jennifer 1982 births Living people American women's volleyball players Volleyball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in volleyball Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Volleyball players at the 2003 Pan American Games Pacific Tigers women's volleyball players Sportspeople from Santa Clara, California American expatriate sportspeople in Italy Middle blockers American expatriate sportspeople in Japan American expatriate sportspeople in Russia American expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan Expatriate volleyball players in Italy Expatriate volleyball players in Japan Expatriate volleyball players in Russia Expatriate volleyball players in Azerbaijan Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in volleyball Illinois Fighting Illini women's volleyball coaches American volleyball coaches