June 29, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State women's volleyball Nittany Lions Nia Grant (Warren, Ohio) and Micha Hancock (Edmond, Okla.) are set to travel to the World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea with USA Volleyball. Hancock and Grant will compete with Team USA at the World University Games July 2-12.
Hancock and Grant are two of only 12 players to be selected to the roster, which is part of USA Volleyball's High Performance program's Collegiate National Team. The roster features four student-athletes who have finished their senior seasons as well as three seniors and five juniors. Hancock and Grant are not the only Nittany Lion representatives in the event as Penn State men's volleyball student-athlete Jalen Penrose will also compete with the men's indoor volleyball team. [MORE]
Both Hancock and Grant helped guide Penn State to back-to-back NCAA national championships in 2013-14. Penn State's topped BYU in straight sets in 2014 to capture the program's seventh NCAA national crown and sixth in the last eight years.
Grant, who majored in communications, graduated from the program this winter. During her career at Penn State, she highlighted the 2014 season with her second career AVCA honor, picking up All-America distinction. Grant also earned her first career Big Ten postseason accolade in 2014 as a unanimous selection to the All-Big Ten team, in addition to AVCA All-Northeast Region honors.
Off the court, she was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, who also earned 2013-14 Big Ten Distinguished Scholar-Athlete honors. In 2014, she was recognized as a recipient of the Ernest B. McCoy Award as well as the Big Ten Medal of Honor.
Hancock, who majored in communications arts and sciences, also graduated this winter. She was recently named a 2015 ESPN ESPY nominee for Best Female College Athlete for the second consecutive year. [VOTE MICHA] She highlighted the 2014 season with one of the top awards in collegiate volleyball, earning AVCA DI National Player of the Year honors to become the fourth Nittany Lion in program history to garner the prestigious award. A three-time first team AVCA All-America honoree, she earned AVCA All-Northeast Region honors in each of the last three seasons. She also earned her third consecutive All-Big Ten selection in 2014.
Hancock earned numerous additional awards in 2014, including five Big Ten Setter of the Week selections, ESPNW Volleyball player of the Week honors and her second AVCA DI National Player of the Week laurel. She was also selected as Penn State's 2014-15 Female Student-Athlete of the Year. Penn State is the only collegiate program with more than one roster selection this year.
Both Hancock and Grant were selected through the U.S. Women's National Team Open Tryouts as well and through an invitation-only training block session that took place this winter. University of Florida's Mary Wise is the head coach of the team, assisted by Kyle Robinson (University of Oklahoma) and Dan Thomassen (Prime Volleyball Club).
For updates throughout the event, fans can follow @PennStateVBALL and @PennStateMVBALL on Twitter or check out @WUGUSAVolleyball or @USAvolleyball for more exclusive content.