WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Five Boilermakers will be take part in the annual U.S. Women's National Team Open Tryouts from March 3 to 5 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The quintet is outside hitter Sherridan Atkinson, setter Ashley Evans, middle blocker Blake Mohler, defensive specialist Brooke Peters and outside hitter Azariah Stahl. They are among 244 student-athletes from 81 colleges and 10 high schools from across the country vying for spots on the U.S. Women's National Team, U.S. Collegiate National Teams program and U.S. Women's Junior National Team.
Evans and Stahl are seniors-to-be, while Atkinson and Peters will be juniors and Mohler a sophomore.
The tryout will involve four sessions with three waves per session. Friday's first session goes from 4 to 10 p.m. ET, while Saturday's sessions are at 10 a.m. ET (focus on serve/receive and individual work) and 4 p.m. ET (middle-centered and out-of-system focus). The final session Sunday begins at 9:30 a.m. ET with tournament-style play, along with 16 to 18 athletes selected by the U.S. Women's National Team staff to participate in a "USA" training session. The Sunday session wraps up at 12:30 p.m. ET.
USA Volleyball will be using Facebook Live each day of the tryout to provide exclusive coverage to fans. USA Volleyball will use #USAVtryout as the event hashtag for photos, notes, quotes and stories posted to its social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat under the handle @usavolleyball.
Three-time Olympic gold medalist and U.S. Olympic Hall of Famer Karch Kiraly and the U.S. Women's National Team staff will lead the tryout process.
Evans and Stahl have previous experience with the U.S. National Team Programs. Evans was a member of the CNT-China Tour team in 2015, while Stahl was a member of the 2012 Junior National Team, which earned the bronze medal at the NORCECA Continental Championships. She also was selected for the Collegiate National Team program in 2015 but was unable to compete due to illness. Last summer, Stahl played for the USA Blue team, which won the Collegiate National Team title in Indianapolis.
Purdue has a strong history with the USA Volleyball A2 and Collegiate National Team programs.
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 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.
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.
Val Nichol was a part of the 2014 U.S. Collegiate National Team, which competed at the Global Challenge in Pula, Croatia.
In 2015, Amanda Neill earned a silver medal with Team Red at the Collegiate National Team program - New Orleans tournament.
Danielle Cuttino played for USA White as part of the Collegiate National Team in 2016.
