SE: Wildcats Bring Heightened Volleyball Experience, Knowledge Back from USWNT Tryout
Mar 08, 2017 | Volleyball
Wearing a white T-shirt, with the United States flag centered on the front and the Olympic rings dropped in below it, K-State volleyball’s Elle Sandbothe raved about her weekend experience.
This experience, which she shared with three teammates, was an incredible opportunity by all accounts.
Sandbothe, along with Sarah Dixon, Alyssa Schultejans and Brynn Carlson, participated in the annual U.S. Women’s National Team Open Tryout, which hosted 245 of the best volleyball players from 82 colleges and 10 high schools throughout the country.
“The overall experience of volleyball, the people you could be around, the people you got to work with, it was a super, super neat experience,” Sandbothe, a 6-foot middle blocker for the Wildcats, said of the tryout that took place in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “Signing up for that, you have to have certain expectations of what you want to accomplish or what you’re going to do for yourself. I definitely try to hold high expectations, always, but at the end it was kind of for the experience, having fun and learning more about volleyball.”
“The experience was unique, to say the least. It's such a special experience to be able to play with some of the nation’s best players at a heightened level, all representing Team USA for the weekend,” added Schultejans, an outside hitter out of Silver Lake who is coming off a sophomore season of averaging 2.34 kills per set. “All of the athletes participating held themselves to such high standards that it made it so exciting to play in an environment that was so intense and competitive.”
Dixon and Carlson echoed their teammates’ feelings about the tryout, adding that all of them could bring back a few beneficial lessons, both personally and for the team.
“The level of intensity and energy that people brought with every single drill, every single rep, it was just consistent every single time we stepped on the floor,” said Dixon, a setter who redshirted her sophomore season for K-State in 2016. “It was constant communication and constant feedback. You’re playing with new players so you really have to work through it and get on the same page.”
Carlson, a 6-foot-4 true freshman outside hitter, joined K-State in the spring semester from St. Paul, Minnesota. With zero college playing experience, Carlson said the tryout was “eye opening,” and she came away more confident than before.
“It just taught me a lot about the college volleyball game and how everyone is super competitive all the time. Every single rep was important, everyone was trying to do their best on every ball,” Carlson, an AAU All-American in 2015, said. “It really gave me an idea of what it’s going to be like in the fall. I think it gave me a lot of confidence, just seeing, ‘Hey, I can hang with these girls. This is something I can do. I can play with them.’ It gave me a little insight into what the future’s going to be like, which is really nice.”
Broken up into three days, the tryout included one six-hour session on Friday, two shorter sessions on Saturday and a tournament-style finale on Sunday.
“It’s kind of fun every now and then to just grind, but it was strictly volleyball. It was just lots and lots and lots and lots of volleyball,” Sandbothe, an All-Big 12 Freshman Team selection last season, said, adding that she was “definitely super sore in places I didn’t know you could be sore in.”
From the tryout, where K-State assistant coach Jeff Grove served as one of the evaluators, an estimated 60 players will be selected for three competition options, including a Tour of Thailand, a Tour of Europe and the USA Volleyball Girls’ Junior National Championships. Selections for the U.S. Collegiate National Teams will be made by the end of March.
Whether it was “nerve-wracking” or “super exciting,” as described by two of the Wildcats, with the other two somewhere in between, they all agreed on its benefits.
“I think participating in the tryout has allowed me to reach a new level on how high I set the expectations for myself and my teammates in the future,” Schultejans said. “I just looked at it as an opportunity to elevate the level of my game and also as a good experience to see how I stack up among the other players who participated.”
“It’s really unique,” Carlson added. “I don’t think there’s any other time that all of those girls get together and get to play. I feel super blessed that I got to go.”
Carlson also felt fortunate to be able to go with three teammates, helping ease any anxiety or pressure for the weekend.
“It definitely helped calm the nerves a little bit, I think, having other teammates you can rely on,” she said. “I know there were other girls who came alone, so that was probably hard for them. Having the older girls to support me was definitely something that really helped at the beginning.”
The four Wildcats were able to play together at times during the tryout and they bonded throughout it. After one session, they were even greeted by a former teammate in Katie Reininger, a native of Colorado Springs who finished her playing career last fall.
“It was great. She came to the first day and we got to see her after we got done with our session,” Dixon said. “It was nice to see a familiar face.”
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