WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Six Boilermakers will participate in the USA Women's Volleyball National Team Open Tryouts, Feb. 20-22 in Colorado Springs, Colo. Junior outside hitter Annie Drews, junior libero Amanda Neill, redshirt freshman setter/hitter Ashley Evans, freshman middle blocker Danielle Cuttino, freshman setter/outside hitter Lydia Dimke and freshman outside hitter Azariah Stahl will represent Purdue at the event, which takes place at the Olympic Training Center.
Incoming freshman Alexa Smith also will be competing at the tryouts. Smith was a member of the USA Volleyball Junior National Team in 2014, earning a gold medal at the NORCECA Continental U20 Championships in Guatemala with current Boilermaker Danielle Cuttino. She also was a member of the USA Girls' Youth National Team in 2012 and 2013, earning a silver medal at the FIVB U-18 World Championships in Thailand in 2013.
The tryouts will be used to identify prospective athletes for the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team. Athletes not invited to participate with the national team may be invited to attend a second tryout as part of the U.S. Collegiate National Teams program (formerly U.S. Women's A2 Program).
USA Volleyball will have one college national team of 12 athletes compete at the World University Games in Gwangju , South Korea, June 28-July 14. A 12-member team will travel to China for a series of training sessions and matches, June 12-26. Another group of 36 athletes will be training and competing in conjunction with the 2015 USA Volleyball Girls' Junior National Championships in New Orleans, June 26-29.
Purdue has a long history with the USA Volleyball A2 and Collegiate National programs. In 2014, setter Val Nichol was a part of U.S. Collegiate National team, which competed at the Global Challenge in Pula, Croatia, July 13-18.
Alumna Ariel Turner was a member of the A2 program in 2011 and 2012, bringing home a gold medal in 2011 and finishing third with USA Blue in 2012. Turner also was a member of the 12-woman USA U-23 Team at the FIVB World Championships in Mexico in October 2013. The team finished fourth in the competition. Carly Cramer was a two-time participant A2 program participant, earning bronze with USA White in 2011 and gold with USA White in 2013.
Middle blocker KiKi Jones was a member of USA Red in 2012 and 2013, finishing fourth and following that with a bronze medal.
In 2013, Annie Drews was a member of the USA Blue Team which finished fourth.
Cuttino was a member of the U.S. Junior National team, which competed at the NORCECA Women's U-20 Chmapionships in Guatemala in the summer of the 2014 and also competed with the U.S. Youth National team, which finished second at the under-18 FIVB World Championships in 2013. Stahl was a member of the 2012 Junior National team that earn the bronze medal at the NORCECA Continental Championships.
More information on the USA National Team tryouts can be found here.