It is nearing the end of the game and the opponent has just recorded a kill. Yi Wang turns to her teammates and then returns to her post close to the net, straightens up and poises her arms above her head, determined not to let the next ball pass through her block.

It doesn't.

At one point in Wang's life, this scene could have described her prowess on the international court in her six years as a middle blocker for the Chinese National Women's Volleyball team. It could have been in a match in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games en route to a silver medal. It could have been at home in Shanghai the year she was named Most Valuable Player of the China Women's Volleyball League.

Instead, this is played out in a scrimmage in the South Gym of Rec Hall with the members of the Penn State women's volleyball team, for whom Wang, 30, serves as a volunteer assistant coach.

Thousands of miles, a culture and more than five years removed from her heyday as one of the top women's volleyball players in China and the world, this is where Wang is now.

"I'm proud of my past, but that's my past," Wang said. "I want to establish something new."

And that is exactly what led her to Happy Valley. While her days of competing at the international level have ended, Wang could not stray far from the sport she loves.

"I contacted [Penn State women's volleyball] coach [Russ] Rose because I know the Penn State women's volleyball team is one of the top in the United States and there is a tradition for women's volleyball here," Wang said. "I'm really passionate about women's volleyball. [I came here] just to get some new experience, to learn some new things."

While her goals for her experience at Penn State may be simple, she has brought anything but a simple element to the Nittany Lions.

Her knowledge of the game runs deep -- that comes with her nearly 20 years of experience in the sport. She can demonstrate skills that Penn State's middle hitters had never conceived of -- that comes with playing at the top tier of the sport. And she knows mentally what it takes to win -- that comes with countless victories.

"She brings an incredible amount of experience at the international level from the players' perspective, which is a level that none of us have had before," assistant coach Julie Miller said. "She's able to relay to [the play-

ers] some of those finer points that may have taken her years and years but now she knows it all and she can just tell them."

So in her first season with the Lions, she's been telling senior Cara Smith how to mix up her shots and find places to score. She's been helping freshman Cassy Salyer understand that it's not always about power, it's about playing smart as well.

"It's pretty special," Smith said. "You realize that you're dealing with someone that really knows what she's doing and has been places that maybe you'll never see."

For Salyer, her relationship with Wang has been even more special, as Wang has served to help guide her transition from high school into a starting spot at the collegiate level.

"She's been such a help to me," Salyer said. "[She and I] have a close relationship because when we first met, Coach [Rose] assigned her to me to be sort of a mentor. She has accomplished a lot and the good thing is that she's willing to share it with all of us and take time out of her life."

And perhaps more important than simply sharing information and tips is Wang's ability to call upon her skills to show the team on the court.

"You can imagine, she was one of the top players in the world at one point in her life," Rose said. "So to be able to have her play against some of the players [is] a terrific benefit."

Reaching top of the world levels was something Wang was able to fathom based on the environment in which she grew up. In the 1980s, the decade in which she began to play volleyball, China won five world championships.

But it goes beyond that -- to her heritage.

Wang's mother had been a setter and mainstay player on the Chinese national team for several years and was coaching volleyball when she asked Wang, who had grown up watching the sport, if she wanted to start playing. As soon as she started, Wang set her goals sky high.

"I set up my goals to be able to play on the national team and to be able to have the chance to compete in the Olympic Games," Wang said. "When I started to play, when I worked hard, that was the goal I wanted to reach. But once the dream came true, that's when I was excited."

In addition to her mother's athletic success, Wang also got a dose from her paternal side -- her father is the former coach of the Shanghai Sharks, the professional basketball team that yielded Yao Ming. So for Wang, walking down the street without being recognized was a new concept when she came to the United States.

"In essence they were maybe recognized as one of the first families of sports in Shanghai," Rose said. "In Shanghai, I don't think she could walk down the street without being noticed the same as Yao Ming in our country would be noticed. We've had some Chinese graduate students come into the gym and see her and stop in their tracks and say, 'Wang Yi? What is she doing here?' "

But the modest Wang shies away from talk about her family or her success on the volleyball court.

"That's not something I always want to talk about," she said. "Sometimes I just want to take a break from the expectations. I just want to be myself."

Wang is unsure of her plans for the future, and she does not know how long she will be with the team or how long she will be staying in State College. But for the world-class athlete, Olympic medalist and Shanghai celebrity, Happy Valley has become a haven where she can be a part of the game she loves, while still getting her break from those expectations.

Here she has reached her goal of establishing something new for herself -- and she loves that.

"I'm happy here," she says, wearing her Penn State volleyball gear. And with that, she jogs back onto the practice court -- a new scrimmage is beginning.