AMES, Iowa – USA Volleyball has tabbed five Cyclones to be part of the U.S. Women’s Junior National Training Team (WJNTT) and the U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Senior A2 Program. Andie Malloy and Caitlin Nolan will join the Junior National training team, and Kristen Hahn, Victoria Hurtt and Mackenzie Bigbee have been named to the 48-player A2 program roster.
“To have five of our athletes chosen for a USA program this summer is pretty remarkable,” head Cyclones coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said. “ I know they will make the very most of opportunity; they will play with many of the best players from around the country, work with some of the most renown coaches and benefit tremendously from a high level of training and competition.”
Malloy and Nolan are two of 13 players chosen to the WJNTT and will travel to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, N.Y., June 5-11 as the team is pared down to 12 final members. Six alternates will also take part in the week-long training program.
The 12 players chosen for the final Junior National team will head to the cities of Brno and Prostejov, both in the Czech Republic, to play in the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Under-21 World Championship, June 21-30.
All players selected to the Junior National team were born in 1994 or 1995, and Iowa State is one of two collegiate teams with multiple players named to the training team. Stanford has four current student-athletes on the WJNTT squad. Oklahoma’s Kierra Holst has also been named to the team and teammate Julia Doyle was named an alternate.
“To have two players selected for the Junior National training team out of the best 13 players across the country at that age says a lot about the talent on our team right now and the future of our program,” Johnson-Lynch said. “Nolan and Malloy have worked very hard to put themselves in this position, and I am so excited for them to go out and have a shot of representing our USA Junior National Team.”
Bigbee, Hahn and Hurtt are the latest Cyclones chosen for the elite A2 program and are the only Big 12 players selected this year. Jamie Straube and Tenisha Matlock participated in the 2012 program and Kaylee Manns was the first-ever Iowa State student-athlete selected by USA Volleyball in 2009. The trio also represent the only players from the Big 12 chosen to participate in this season’s program.
Over 200 collegiate women volleyball players tried out for the 2013 A2 squad back in February. All players chosen must be eligible to play collegiate volleyball during the 2013 fall season. The A2 program will run a six-day training period from June 25-30 where athletes will be divided into teams and compete in pool play against both A2 program teams and the top four Premier Volleyball League teams. At the conclusion of pool play, the teams will divide into their own divisions and compete for medal standing.
The A2 Program will run in conjunction with the USA Volleyball Girls’ Junior National Championships, June 25-July 4, in Dallas, Texas.
