Career: RUOR Minsk (Belarus-Div. 1, 1993-94), Gorizont Minsk (Belarus-Div. 1, 1995-97), Independence Community College (USA-NJCAA, 1997-98), Virginia (USA-NCAA, 1998-2001), La Spezia (Italy-A1, 2001-02), Calais (France-LFB, 2002), Villeneuve-d'Ascq (France-LFB, 2002-03), ASPTT Aix (France-LFB, 2003-04), Szolnok (Hungary, 2004-05), Dexia Namur (Belgium, 2005), USK Praha (Czech Republic-A1, 2005-07)
The word "Volnaya" means free in Russian and the attractive and easygoing Sly (as they called her in America) stands out from her teammates on the National Team. Volnaya can be called a historical figure for Belarus basketball. She was a pioneer in coming to U.S. and years later it is now a regular practice for players from Belarus to begin in the NJCAA and then move to the NCAA, where Volnaya and another Belarus center Elena Kravchenko helped the University of Virginia become one of the best teams in the country. In 2000 Virginia made it to the Sweet 16 and Volnaya was selected All-ACC First Team. In 2000-2001 she averaged 12.6 points per game and became the first Belarusian ever drafted by either the NBA or the WNBA. After a short professional career in the States, she started her European career at small clubs in Italy and France. Since 2003 she's been playing only with EuroLeague Women clubs becoming one of Europe’s most consistent scorers, averaging double-digit scoring in each of the last five EuroLeague Women campaigns. She reached her scoring peak in 2006 averaging 16.7 points a contest. In 2006, she tried her hand at the WNBA again, this time with the New York Liberty, but she did not get enough minutes in preseason and failed to make the team. Volnaya was a major part of a historical event in 2007 when she scored 29 points to help her USK Prague team end Gambrinus Brno’s nine-year domestic winning streak. The Belarusian forward averaged 13.5 points in 25.6 minutes of action and as a result was selected to the EuroLeague Women All-Star Game in March 2007. It has always been difficult for the National Team to get Volnaya to summer training camps because she spent the off-season in the U.S. where her ex-husband lived. But she has since helped Belarus make it to EuroBasket for the first time in the country's history, becoming the team's top scorer at 11.7 points per game at last year’s qualifying round.
