May 8, 2013
UCF Athletics Social Media Directory
By Andrew Jennette
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - UCF junior Delaina Sarden was named to the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Senior A2 Program that will train and compete this summer in Dallas from June 25 to July 4 in conjunction with the USA Volleyball Girls' Junior National Championships.
DeLaina Sarden has shown an incredible amount of growth in both her skills and her court experience in her first two years in our program, UCF head coach Todd Dagenais said. I'm happy that she has been identified as a potential national-team level player. It's a tribute to both her work ethic and Michelle Chatman's ability to train and maximize the talent of our middle hitters.
The U.S. Women's National Volleyball Senior A2 program is available to athletes with collegiate eligibility remaining for the 2013 season. Sarden and the rest of the athletes were selected via the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team Open Tryouts held Feb. 22-24 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The tryout attracted a record 240 participants, 33 more than the previous best mark set in 2012.
The A2 program coaching staff will include Andy Banachowski, Mike Hebert, Ruth Nelson and Bill Neville who will serve as team head coaches. Assistant coaches with the A2 program are Ashley Allen, Terry Condon, Linda Hampton and Marci Sanders. Technical coordinators/assistant coaches for the A2 program are current UCF assistant coach Nicki Holmes, Kevin Hitt, Eugene Tichenor and Jay Van Vark.
During the six-day training period from June 25-30, the 48 athletes will be divided into four equal teams that will compete in pool play against the other A2 program teams and the top four Premier Volleyball League (PVL) teams. After pool play, the four A2 program teams and PVL teams will split into their own divisions to determine the medalist teams in the competition.
This experience will allow DeLaina to compete against the very best in the country, Dagenais continued. That level of experience for her is only going to help UCF as a whole as we push forward to being a nationally-competitive team.