ISU volleyball assistant coach Jon Newman-Gonchar will serve as an assistant coach for the U.S. national volleyball team at the Women’s Volleyball Pan American Cup on June 13-21 in Lima, Peru.

The 12-team tournament, which the U.S. has won two of the last three times, is a bid to qualify for the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix in 2016. 

Newman-Gonchar’s role isn’t his first time participating in USA volleyball. He has taken part in the High Performance A1 Select Camp, the U.S. Junior National Team and the U.S. A2 Team in past years.

Newman-Gonchar coaches the middle blockers for the Cyclones, and he oversaw freshman middle blocker Alexis Conaway’s growth after taking part in her recruiting process. Conaway earned honorable mention all-Big 12 and was named to the all-Big 12 freshman team in 2014.

Newman-Gonchar and Team USA start the Pan American Cup on June 13 against Puerto Rico, its first of five matches.