USAV Release
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Three Boilermakers were selected to the U.S. Collegiate National Team-Minneapolis on Monday. Sherridan Atkinson, Ashley Evans and Brooke Peters will train and compete alongside 33 of the nation's top collegiate volleyball student-athletes in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Purdue leads the conference, accounting for three of the eight selections hailing from the Big Ten.
The CNT-Minneapolis squad, which is part of USA Volleyball's High Performance pipeline and is considered a second tryout for the U.S. Women's National Team, will train from June 22-26 at the University of Minnesota. Afterward, the athletes will be assigned to one of three 12-member teams and compete in a round-robin format at the Minneapolis Convention Center from June 27 to 30.
Atkinson joins five other right sides on the roster following her first season as a Boilermaker. The redshirt junior out of Long Beach, California, appeared in all 33 matches with starts against Notre Dame, No. 9 Stanford and Ohio State after transferring from Long Beach State. She earned a 2.09 kills per set average with 10-plus kills in 13 matches, including a season-best 18 kills at Indiana. Atkinson also posted a .263 hitting percentage on the season thanks to 12 matches in which she hit .300 or better and eight matches with a .400 hitting percentage or better. She registered Purdue's third highest hitting percentage in a five-set match with 20-plus attempts on October 7 when she lit up Iowa for 15 kills and just one error on 22 attempts, giving her a .636 hitting percentage in the match.
Evans is selected to a roster that will feature five setters following her redshirt-junior season in which she became one-of-six setters in Purdue history with 2,000 assists and 750 digs in their career and registered the program's first triple-double since 2014. She was Purdue's setter in all 33 matches and posted a 10.88 assists per set average while averaging 2.07 digs per set thanks to 10 double-doubles in 2016. Her assist per set average ranked her 38th in the nation and fifth in the Big Ten, and fueled the Boilermakers to a .250 hitting percentage or better 19 times and .300 or better 12 times. She assisted the team to a .517 hitting percentage against Indiana, marking the fifth-best hitting percentage in program history. She also set a program NCAA Tournament record when she set the Boilermakers to a .454 clip in the first round against Iowa State. Evans led Purdue with 29 services aces in 2016, as well.
Peters is one-of-four liberos selected to the roster after a sophomore season in which she served primarily as a defensive specialist. Of the 33 matches in which she played, the junior out of Avon, Indiana, made 12 starts as a defensive specialist and five starts at libero. She registered 12 matches with 10 digs or more, including a career-best 20-dig effort against Maryland. With 2.27 digs per set to her credit, she provided pressure on opposing defenses with her serve as well, acing opponents 27 times last season. Peters was named the MVP of the Stacy Clark Classic after she tallied 18 digs and three service aces, leading the Boilermakers to victories against No. 4 Kansas, Xavier and Southeastern Louisiana.