Sunday Cardinal Couple - Volleyball National Team: The Next Generation

Volleyball National Team Selections

Two VolleyCards were picked to play on the US National Team's squad in the NORCECA Final 6 competition in the Dominican Republic this week.  Cara Cresse and Elena Scott will be representing the red, white, and blue, but mostly red, when the team plays in Santo Domingo.

As I understand it, the roster for this tournament would normally be selected from the senior national team pool, but as that group of players is busy in preparations for the Olympics in a month, USA Volleyball is taking the opportunity to get a bit of a jump start on "The Next Generation" of the national team roster.

Karch Kiraly was quoted as saying, “We are treating NORCECA Final 6 as the first tournament of the new Olympic cycle that eventually leads to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles."

Anna DeBeer was named as an alternate for the squad.

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The 14 player squad:

1 Olivia Babcock (Opp, 6-4, Los Angeles, Calif., Pitt)
2 Merritt Beason (Opp, 6-3, Gardendale, Ala., Univ. of Nebraska)
3 Carter Booth (MB, 6-7, Englewood, Colo., Univ. of Wisconsin)
4 Cara Cresse (MB, 6-6 Fort Wayne, Ind., Univ. of Louisville)
6 Sophie Fischer (MB, 6-5, Fort Mill, S.C., Univ. of Georgia)
7 Sarah Franklin (OH, 6-4, Lake Worth, Fla., Univ. of Wisconsin)
8 Eva Hudson (OH, 6-1, 2004, Fort Wayne, Ind., Purdue)
9 Taylor Landfair (OH, 6-4, Plainfield, Ill., Univ. of Nebraska)
10 Khori Louis (MB, 6-3, Tallahassee, Fla., Florida State)
11 Kami Miner (S, 6-0, Redondo Beach, Calif., Stanford)
12 Jess Mruzik (OH, 6-2, Livonia, Mich., Penn State)
13 Lexi Rodriguez (L, 5-5, Sterling, Ill., Univ. of Nebraska)
14 Elena Scott (L, 5-9, Louisville, Ky., Univ. of Louisville)
19 Mia Tuaniga (S, 5-9, Long Beach, Calif., University of Southern California)

 

Looking towards Louisville's schedule in the fall, of the 12 non-UofL players on this roster, nine of them are on college teams that are in Louisville's schedule.  The only ones we won't be facing in the fall are Sophie Fischer at Georgia, Eva Hudson at Purdue, and Mia Tuaniga at USC.  The ACC is well represented on the squad with five of the 14 members, with Olivia Babcock at Pitt, Khori Louis at FSU, and Kami Miner at Stanford, in addition to Cresse and Scott.

 

Sofia Maldonado Diaz, who is joining the UofL squad this year from the University of Arizona has recently played on the Mexican Women's National Team when they competed in the NORCECA Final Four event, losing to Puerto Rico in the championship.  Mexico is also playing in this Final 6 event, but I cannot, at this time, find a roster for the team to know whether Maldonado Diaz is playing in this event for them or not.

 

The event begins Wednesday, with the Gold Medal match taking place next Sunday.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The fearsome foursome populated the CCRHP yesterday, with Case, Jared, Paulie, and myself on the call.  My Internet connection failed very near the end, so I abruptly disappear, but I have it on good authority that the other three finished out strong.

Volleyball, Basketball, and more was on the buffet this week as we had our usual fun.

Check it out:
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Volleyball-in-February-and-July-e2l6c13

-- JMcA