May 14, 2014
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Penn State men's volleyball First Team AVCA All-American Aaron Russell has been selected to the U.S. Men's National Team for the 2014 NORCECA Men's World Championship Qualification Tournament.
Competing at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Russell and the rest of Team USA will square off against Guatemala, St. Lucia and Haiti in "Pool O" of the tournament. Running alongside the women's qualification tournament, competition kicks off Thursday, May 15 and wraps up Sunday, May 18.
Russell is one of four outsides to be selected to the 12-man roster, which also features several Olympians from the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Teams. Just a few weeks ago, Russell and senior BYU outside Taylor Sander made appearances in the 2014 NCAA tournament in Chicago, Illinois.
Russell closed out the 2014 season atop the team standings in almost every single category, while also ranking first nationally in aces per set with 0.65 per set. The 2014 first team All-American also earned his second consecutive Uvaldo Acosta Memorial EIVA Player of the Year honor this past season, making him the first Nittany Lion since Joe Sunder (2011-12) to earn back-to-back conference Player of the Year honors.
Former Penn State Nittany Lions Matt Anderson and Max Holt will also travel to Colorado Springs to train with the squad, but will not compete in any of the matches.
After receiving the No. 1 NORCECA ranking, Team USA earned a bye into the third round of the tournament. The overall winner of the four-day qualifying tournament will advance to the FIVB Men's World Championship, which spans Aug. 30-Sept. 21 in Poland.
Fans can catch all of the matches streamed live here. A full schedule of events is available here.
U.S. Men's Roster for the NORCECA World Championship Qualifier
No. Name (Position, Height, Hometown, College)
2. Sean Rooney (OH, 6-10, Wheaton, Ill., Pepperdine)
3. Taylor Sander (OH, 6-4, Huntington Beach, Calif., BYU)
4. David Lee (MB, 6-8, Alpine, Calif., Long Beach State)
5. Ryan Ammerman (S, 6-9, Denver, Colo., UC Irvine)
7. Dan McDonnell (MB, 6-6, Glendale, Ariz., UC Irvine)
8. Reid Priddy (OH, 6-4, Richmond, Va., Loyola Marymount)
9. Murphy Troy (Opp, 6-8, St. Louis, Mo., Southern California)
12. Russell Holmes (MB, 6-8, Fountain Valley, Calif., BYU)
15. Carson Clark (Opp, 6-6, Santa Barbara, Calif., UC Irvine)
18. Aaron Russell (OH, 6-9, Ellicott City, Md., Penn State)
19. Erik Shoji (L, 6-0, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford)
20. Riley McKibbin (S, 6-2, Honolulu, Hawaii, USC)
Head Coach: John Speraw
Assistant Coach: Matt Fuerbringer
Assistant Coach: Mike Wall
Team Manager: Andrea Becker
Athletic Trainer: Aaron Brock
Technical Coordinator: Anton Willert
Consultant Coach: Mike Sealy
Consultant Coach: Erik Sullivan