WKU’s Rachel Anderson To Tryout For U.S. Women’s National Team

Press Release courtesy of WKU Athletics

For the second-consecutive season, WKU Volleyball’s Rachel Anderson is headed to the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center for the U.S. Women’s National Team Open Tryouts from March 2-4. Anderson is one of 229 athletes representing 89 different colleges and universities at this year’s tryout vying for spots on the U.S. Women’s National Team and U.S. Collegiate National Team programs.

The tryout will involve four sessions with three waves per session. Friday’s first session goes from 3-9 p.m. CT, while Saturday’s sessions are at 9 a.m. (focus on serve/receive and individual work) and 3 p.m. (middle-centered and out-of-system focus). The final session on Sunday begins at 8:30 a.m. CT with tournament style play, along with 16-18 athletes selected by the U.S. Women’s National Team staff to participate in a “USA” training session. The Sunday session wraps up at 11:30 a.m. CT.

Anderson will compete in Friday’s White tryout wave, commencing at 5 p.m. CT. The Sturgis, Mich., native is one of 50 middles traveling to the weekend tryouts.

Working at a .413 hitting percentage on her junior campaign – the eighth best mark in the nation – Anderson earned her first AVCA All-American nod. The two-time Conference USA Tournament MVP has now hit better than .400 on back-to-back seasons while also dropping in 420 kills this past year. Anderson racked up an average of 1.08 blocks per set in 2017 with 130 total stuffs – the ninth most for a Lady Topper in a single season. The junior already ranks eighth on WKU’s career total blocks list with 329.

In 2017, after traveling to the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center in early March to try out for the USA National Team, Anderson received an invitation to train with the U.S. Collegiate National Team – Minneapolis Program in June. Anderson was the first player out of the WKU volleyball program to earn a spot within the USCNT Minneapolis Program and was one of 36 college players selected to the team.

All sessions of the 2018 tryouts – minus the USA training session on Sunday morning – will be streamed live and available for free by clicking here. USA Volleyball will use #USAVtryout as the event hashtag for photos, notes, quotes and stories posted to its social media platforms Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram under the handle @usavolleyball.

Selected athletes for the U.S. Women’s National Team may begin their training in Anaheim, Calif., as early as the spring of 2018, or when an athlete’s scholastic or professional club season has concluded.

The U.S. Collegiate National Team program has three competition options:

• U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team – May 20-31, CNT Asia (International)
• U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team – July 4-15, CNT Europe (International)
• U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team – June 22-July 1, CNT-Detroit, Mich. (Domestic)

Selections for the U.S. Collegiate National Teams will be made by the end of March.