Four Wildcats to Attend U.S. Women’s National Team Open Tryout
Feb 27, 2017 | Volleyball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State volleyball’s Brynn Carlson, Sarah Dixon, Elle Sandbothe and Alyssa Schultejans will participate in the annual U.S. Women’s National Team Open Tryout March 3-5 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The quartet of Wildcats are among 245 athletes from 82 colleges and 10 high schools competing for spots on the U.S. Women’s National Team and the U.S. Collegiate National Team program.
The tryout will involve four sessions with three waves per session. Friday’s first session goes from 2-8 p.m. MT, while Saturday’s sessions are at 8 a.m. (focus on serve/receive and individual work) and 2 p.m. (middle-centered and out-of-system focus). The final session on Sunday begins at 7:30 a.m. MT with tournament style play, along with 16-18 athletes selected by the U.S. Women’s National Team staff to participate in a “USA” training session. The Sunday session wraps up at 10:30 a.m. MT.
All sessions of the tryout will be streamed live on www.teamusa.org/USA-Volleyball.
Selected athletes for the U.S. Women’s National Team may begin their training in Anaheim, California, as early as the spring of 2017, or when an athlete’s scholastic or professional club season has concluded.
The U.S. Collegiate National Team program has three competition options:
• Tour of Thailand (12 athletes): May 19-30
• Tour of Europe (12 athletes): July 5-16
• USA Volleyball Girls’ Junior National Championships (projected 36 athletes): June 22-July 1 in Minneapolis
Selections for the U.S. Collegiate National Teams will be made by the end of March.
Carlson, a 6-4 freshman outside hitter, comes to K-State after winning two national championships with her club Northern Lights in St. Paul, Minnesota. A highly touted prospect, Carlson was named a AAU All-American in 2015 and enrolled at Kansas State in the spring and is currently participating in team activities.
Dixon redshirted her sophomore season after transferring from Arizona prior to the 2016 season. The 5-9 setter out of Chino Hills, California, was tabbed at the No. 30 recruit in the 2015 Signing Class by PrepVolleyball.com and was an Under Armour Third Team All-American in 2014. As a freshman at Arizona in 2015, she appeared in 19 sets and totaled 15 assists.
Sandbothe had a breakout freshman campaign in 2016, earning her a spot on the Big 12 All-Freshman team. The 6-0 middle blocker started nine of K-State’s final 10 games, including in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Lee’s Summit, Missouri, native ended the season as the Wildcat leader in blocks per set (1.09) and posted double-digit kills in back-to-back matches vs. Baylor (Oct. 29) and KU (Nov. 2).
A 6-3 outside hitter, Schultejans averaged 2.34 kills/set during her sophomore season. The Silver Lake, Kansas, product recorded double-digit kills in five matches – four of which over a five-match span in October. Schultejans was also named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team in 2016.
U.S. Women’s National Team Head coach Karch Kiraly and his staff will direct the entire tryout process. For additional information on the team and to follow the tryout throughout the weekend, click here.
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