PULLMAN, Wash. -- Four Washington State volleyball players will be among the 231 athletes from 88 colleges to participate in the three-day open tryouts for the U.S. Women's National Team and U.S. Collegiate National Teams starting Feb. 19 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Colorado Springs.
Cougars participating in the tryouts are junior Kyra Holt, sophomore Casey Schoenlein, and freshmen McKenna Woodford and Taylor Mims.
“We are very excited for the opportunity that these players get to travel to Colorado Springs for the USA Women's Volleyball open tryouts,” Head Coach Jen Greeny said. “I know that they will represent both our program and our university very well.”
Holt is a 6-1 outside hitter from Hercules, Calif. She was selected to the 2015 All-Pac-12 Team after leading WSU with 3.91 kills per set, sixth-best in Pac-12, 4.51 points per set, seventh-best in the Pac-12, and 0.32 aces per set, fourth-best in the conference. She was named MVP of the Cougar Challenge and Idaho Volleyball Classic, and was named to the Radford Highlander Invitational All-Tournament team. On the WSU all-time career lists, Holt is sixth in kills with 1,293, second in points with 1,486.5, and eighth in aces with 91. This is the second appearance at the national team tryouts for Holt. She participated in the 2014 tryouts after her rookie year at WSU when she was named the AVCA Pacific North Region Freshman of the Year, and named to the Pac-12 Honorable Mention and All-Freshman First teams.
Schoenlein is a 6-5 outside hitter from Bellevue, Wash. Despite missing the start of the season with an injury, Schoenlein contributed strong performances in the last part of the 2015 season. At Oregon State, she had a career-high 11 kills, hit .435 and tied her career-high of eight blocks that she recorded days earlier against No. 6 Stanford. Schoenlein was fourth on the team with .0.95 blocks per set last season. She was named to the 2015 Pac-12 All-Academic First Team.
Woodford is a 6-4 outside hitter from Chandler, Ariz. She was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team, and was a two-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week selection last season. Woodford was named MVP of the Texas Tech Lone Star Showdown, and was named to the Radford Highlander Invitational All-Tournament team. Woodford was second on the team with 3.16 kills per set and 3.74 points per set, and her 0.23 service aces per set was ninth-best in the Pac-12. She had a career-high 22 kills versus No. 1 USC, and tallied a career-high 17 digs at Oregon State.
Mims is a 6-3 middle blocker from Billings, Mont. She was named to the Lone Star Showdown All-Tournament and Cougar Challenge All-Tournament teams. Her 1.02 blocks per set was tied for second-best on the 2015 team, while her 1.50 kills per set was fourth-best, and 2.12 points per set was third-best. Mims tallied nine blocks against Utah and against No. 6 Washington had 11 kills, hit .409 and had five blocks for a career-high 14 points.
U.S. Women's National Team Head Coach Karch Kiraly and his staff will lead the February weekend evaluation. USA Volleyball will announce the selections by the end of March once roster spots are accepted and confirmed.
USA Volleyball will use #USAVTryout as the tryout hashtag for photos, notes, quotes and stories posted to its social media platforms Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram under the handle @usavolleyball. Live streaming video from the open tryouts beginning February 19 at 1 p.m. PT at http://www.teamusa.org/usa-volleyball/usa-teams/indoor-volleyball/women/national-team-tryouts. For more information go to USAVolleyball.org.
