U.S. Girls' Youth Off to FIVB Worlds

Becky Murdy
Assistant, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: 719-228-6800
E-Mail: becky.murdy@usav.org

Press Kit
Event Page
FIVB Web site

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 8, 2011) - The U.S. Girls’ Youth National Team has captured the Women’s Junior International Division gold at the USA Volleyball High Performance Championships, wrapped up training in Lake Placid, N.Y., and will now head to Turkey to fight for the title at the FIVB Volleyball Girls’ Youth World Championship held Aug. 12-21 in Ankara, Turkey.  

USA Volleyball (USAV) announced its 12-player roster that would represent the United States at the FIVB World Championships in June 2011. Those players, under the direction of head coach Jim Stone and assistant coaches Melissa Wolter and Charlene Whitted, will compete against 15 of the best Youth (Under 18) National Teams in the world.

The U.S. will compete in Pool C with Puerto Rico, China and Serbia. In Pool A, host country Turkey will face Poland, Algeria and Egypt. Brazil, the 11-time World Champions, will headline Pool B with Slovakia, Argentina and Mexico, while Pool D houses Italy, Thailand, Germany and Japan.

Joining the GYNT on the trip will be team manager Heath Hoke, team doctor Priscilla Tu and technical coordinator Herb Summers.

Middle blockers selected for the USAV GYNT are Alexis Austin (Houston, Thunder Volleyball/Lone Star Region), Janae Hall (Centennial, Colo., Front Range/Rocky Mountain Region), Molly McCage (Spring, Texas, Woodlands Wave/Lone Star Region) and Amber Rolfzen (Papillion, Neb., Nebraska Juniors/Great Plains Region). Setters are Lauren Carlini (Aurora, Ill., West Aurora High School), Chloe Collins (Cypress, Texas, Texas Pride/Lone Star) and Nicole Edelman (Boulder, Colo., Front Range/Rocky Mountain). Unfortunately, Austin was unable to travel to the event due to injury.

Selected as outside hitters are Jordan Burgess (Tampa, Fla., Tampa Bay Juniors/Florida Region), Paulina Prieto (Miami, Boomers Volleyball Club/Florida Region) and Kadie Rolfzen (Papillion, Neb., Nebraska Juniors/Great Plains Region). The two opposites are Andie Malloy (Allen, Texas, Skyline Juniors/North Texas Region) and Nicole Dalton (Boulder, Colo., Front Range/Rocky Mountain Region). The libero is Allison Palmer (Laguna Beach, Calif., Laguna Beach Volleyball Club/Southern California Region).

Burgess, Malloy, McCage and Palmer are repeat selections from last year. The four helped the U.S. Girls’ Youth National Team qualify for this year’s FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship by claiming the gold medal at the 2010 NORCECA Girls’ Youth Continental Championship held in Guatemala.

In addition to the 12-player roster, six individuals were named as alternates to the U.S. Girls’ Youth National Team. The alternates are outside hitters Breanna Atkinson (Ashburn, Va., Virginia Elite/Chesapeake Region) and Mylan Eugene (Houston, Texas Pride/Lone Star Region), opposites Melanie Wade (Palo Alto, Calif., City Beach/Northern California Region) and Daniela Campbell (Denver, Front Range/Rocky Mountain Region), middle blocker Shelby Sullivan (Richardson, Texas, Texas Advantage/North Texas Region) and libero Haley Pouliezos (Imperial, Mo., High Performance/Gateway Region).

At the 2011 USA Volleyball High Performance Championships the GYNT 14-player roster captured the gold medal in the Women’s Junior International Division after defeating Shandong from China, 25-17, 25-18, 25-16 in the gold-medal match. The GYNT not only finished the tournament undefeated, but charted the only perfect record among the 98 teams, not dropping a single set.

At the completion of the HPC, the team continued its training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, N.Y., before heading to Turkey.

The U.S. GYNT roster was determined through a second tryout session held June 3-5 with 25 athletes participating at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

To be eligible for the U.S. Girls’ Youth program, athletes must be United States citizens born in either 1994 or 1995.

All 16 teams had to qualify for the championship with the exception of Turkey who qualified automatically for hosting the event. The GYNT captured the gold medal at the 2010 Youth NORCECA Championship securing a spot for Team USA. Mexico and Puerto Rico also qualified at the Youth NORCECA Championship with second and third-place finishes. Egypt and Algeria placed first and second at the 2011 Youth African Championship while Japan, China and Thailand finished in the top-three positions at the 2010 Youth Asia Championship. The five qualifying finishes at the 2011 Youth European Championship went to Turkey, Italy, Germany and Poland and the 2010 Youth South American Championship top finishers were Brazil and Argentina.

The tournament location is in Ankara, the capitol of Turkey and houses two structures that the teams will compete under; the Baskent Volleyball Hall and the Ankara Arena Sports Hall.

The United States has qualified six times (1989, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2009) at the FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship with its best finish in 2003 and 2005 where it placed fourth.

The previous edition of the FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship took place in Nakhonratchasima, Thailand, in 2009 where Brazil defeated Serbia for the gold medal and Belgium secured the bronze.

For more information about the event visit the FIVB website by clicking here.

*Due to injury Alexis Austin will not be making the trip to Turkey

2011 Girls' Youth National Team Staff

Tags: 2011 U.S. Girls' Youth National Team, FIVB Volleyball Girls' Youth World Championship Turkey 2011, Jim Stone, mobile, U.S. Girls' Youth National Team