Mitchell, Tolbert hit the road for USA tryout

The pair will travel to Colorado Springs, Colorado

March 1, 2018

Team USA Release

BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech volleyball’s Rhegan Mitchell and Jaila Tolbert have earned a tryout with the U.S. Women’s National Team this weekend at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with 232 other athletes vying for spots into the elite high performance pipeline.

The tryout starts on Friday and will consist of athletes from 90 colleges across the country competing for spots on the U.S. Women’s National Team and the U.S. Collegiate National Team program. The breakdown for the tryout includes 60 outside hitters, 50 middles, 48 liberos, 43 setters and 33 opposites.

U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Karch Kiraly will direct the entire tryout process. The list of athletes attending the tryout can be viewed clicking here.

“We are proud to have Jaila and Rhegan represent our program at the USA tryouts,” head coach Jill Wilson shared. “Competing and training with the top players in the country is another step for our program to venture forward. Thank you to the Richmond Hokie Club for their support for Jaila and Rhegan to be a part of the USA program.”

Tolbert, a Minnesota native, was tabbed second-team All-ACC this past fall, as well as Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) All-State. The right-side hitter recorded 20 matches of hitting north of .300, and owned a team-high 318 kills. Tolbert is the lone representative from the ACC on the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

Mitchell racked up more than 1,000 assists last year, becoming the first setter to accomplish the feat since 2013. The Georgia native was one of only six players in the ACC to own more than 1,000 assists. Mitchell posted a career-high 65 assists in the season-opening match in 2017, which at the time was tied for the most by any student-athlete in Division I the first weekend of play.

The tryout will involve four sessions with three waves per session. Friday’s first session goes from 4-10 p.m. ET, while Saturday’s sessions are at 10 a.m. (focus on serve/receive and individual work) and 4 p.m. (middle-centered and out-of-system focus).

The final session on Sunday begins at 9:30 a.m. ET with tournament-style play, along with 16-18 athletes selected by the U.S. Women’s National Team staff to participate in a “USA” training session. The Sunday session wraps up at 12:30 p.m. ET.

All sessions, minus the USA training session on Sunday morning, will be streamed live and available for free by clicking here.

USA Volleyball will use #USAVtryout as the event hashtag for photos, notes, quotes and stories posted to its social media platforms Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram under the handle @usavolleyball.

Selected athletes for the U.S. Women’s National Team may begin their training in Anaheim, California, as early as the spring of 2018, or when an athlete’s scholastic or professional club season has concluded.

The U.S. Collegiate National Team program has three competition options:

U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team – May 20-31, CNT Asia (International)
U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team – July 4-15, CNT Europe (International)
U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team – June 22-July 1, CNT-Detroit, Michigan (Domestic)

Selections for the U.S. Collegiate National Teams will be made by the end of March.

For updates on Virginia Tech volleyball, follow the Hokies on Twitter Follow @HokiesVB and on Instagram @vthokievolleyball