Follow
Twenty-two current college players will have a chance to represent the United States at two of the top international tournaments this summer.
USA Volleyball on Tuesday afternoon unveiled its training team roster for the 2013 FIVB Volleyball Men’s Junior World Championship and the Under-21 Pan American Cup.
Among the players to make the initial roster includes USC All-American setter Micah Christenson. Christenson two years ago as a high school senior helped lead the United States to a fourth place finish at the Junior World Championship — the United States best finish in the tournament’s history.
Christenson and 10 other players making initial roster also return after they helped the United States win the NORCECA Men’s Junior Continental Championship last year to qualify for the upcoming World Championship.
UC Santa Barbara and Ohio State led all college teams each having three players make the initial roster.
The U.S. roster includes players from 13 college teams. Pepperdine, Loyola, Lewis, and Long Beach State each had players selected to the roster, while USC, Stanford, BYU, UC Irvine, Penn State, Grand Canyon, Harvard and Princeton each have one selection.
Grand Canyon middle attacker Ryan Mather also becomes the first player in the school’s history to make an initial roster for an U.S. Men’s Junior National Team.
The 22-player roster, which will be coached by Ohio State coach Pete Hanson, will be cut down to 12 players for both World Championship and Pan American Cup.
The Pan American Cup is July 12-20 in Costa Rica and the World Championship is Aug. 22 – Sept. 1 in Turkey.
2013 USA Men’s Junior National Training Team
Setter: Micah Christenson USC
Setter: James Shaw, Stanford
Setter: Matt West, Pepperdine
Opposite: Matt Marsh, UC Santa Barbara
Opposite: Ben Patch, BYU
Outside attacker: Michael Henchy, Ohio State
Outside attacker: Tom Jaeschke, Loyola
Outside attacker: Austin Kingi, UC Santa Barbara
Outside attacker: Greg Petty, Lewis
Outside attacker: Scott Rhein, Pepperdine
Outside attacker: Kyle Russell, UC Irvine
Outside attacker: Aaron Russell, Penn State
Outside attacker: D.J. White, Harvard
Middle attacker: Taylor Gregory, Long Beach State
Middle attacker: Driss Guessous, Ohio State
Middle attacker: Ryan Hardy, UC Santa Barbara
Middle attacker: Ryan Mather, Grand Canyon
Middle attacker: Nicholas Olson, Loyola
Middle attacker: Bobby Walsh, Lewis
Libero: Brennan Anderson, Ohio State
Libero: Tony Ensbury, Princeton
Libero: Andrew Sato, Long Beach State