Feb. 25, 2011
="" alt="Knight Head" border="0" class="imported"> Read John Denton's Knights Insider | ="" alt="Twitter Logo" border="0" class="imported">Follow us on Twitter | ="" alt="Facebook Logo" border="0" class="imported">Get social with the Knights on Facebook
By Sarah Tarasewicz
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Sophomore libero Meredith Murphy (Austin, Texas) of the UCF volleyball team will embark on an opportunity of a lifetime this weekend as she will take part in the USA National Team Open Tryouts Feb. 25-27 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Colorado Springs, Colo.
"This is going to be a really exciting opportunity for Meredith to compete for a spot on a national team," head volleyball coach Todd Dagenais said. "It will be a great confidence booster for her when she finds out that she has the ability to be as good of a libero as anybody in the country. I am hoping that this is the first of many UCF Knights to have national team tryout opportunities."
Murphy concluded the 2010 season ranked ninth on the UCF career register with 980 digs, while her 4.14 digs per set in her sophomore campaign rank second all-time and her 489 total digs rank third all-time on the single-season chart. The libero led the Knights in digs in 26 of UCF's 32 matches and tallied double-digit digs in 29 matches last fall.
Joining Murphy at the tryouts will be Dagenais, who is set to serve as a member of the tryout staff personnel as a National Team evaluator and also was appointed as the USA Junior National A2 Coach for the second-straight year.
"I am excited to once again be a part of the USA Junior National Team program," Dagenais said. "It is especially a thrill for me to be working with tomorrow's Olympians. I also look forward to try to win a gold medal this summer."
Last summer, Dagenais and the USA Junior National A2 Red team took home the silver medal at the USA Volleyball High Performance Championships in Wisconsin Dells, Wis.
This weekend, a record 208 athletes signed up to participate in the open tryouts, with participants representing 81 different colleges. There will be 57 outside hitters, 52 middle blockers, 46 liberos, 27 setters and 26 opposites all looking for spots on the USA National Team. A total of 65 athletes are also eligible to be evaluated as U.S. Women's Junior National Team prospects.
The 2011 tryouts are open to current college-age athletes and older. The U.S. Women's National Team program is open to athletes who have concluded their college eligibility and who wish to train full-time. This program could begin as early as March 2011, or when an athlete's scholastic or professional club season has concluded. Athletes who will have remaining collegiate eligibility may still participate in the program with participation beginning May 2011 or when their scholastic calendar ends.
Athletes in college with collegiate eligibility remaining for the 2011 season and not selected to the USA Women's National Team may be invited to participate on the U.S. Women's National Senior A2 Team. This program is tentatively scheduled to take place in Dallas from May 23 through June 1. A projected 36 athletes will be invited to participate in the program, which will include training and competition in the 2010 USA Volleyball Open National Championships in the Open Division from May 28-31. USA Volleyball considers the event as the National Championship for the sport of volleyball in the United States.
Tryout participants born in either 1992 or 1993 will be also considered for the U.S. Women's Junior National Team program. The U.S. Women's Junior National Team will compete in the FIVB Women's Junior (U-20) World Championship to be held July 21-30 in Peru.