MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State head volleyball coach Jason Mansfield announced that three Wildcats will attend the upcoming U.S. Women’s National Team Open at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Feb. 24-26.
K-State representatives include outside hitters Aliyah Carter and Shaylee Myers, and defensive specialist Mackenzie Morris. Additionally, the Wildcats associate head coach Steve Astor will be one of 45 coaches who will serve as evaluators over the WNT Open Program.
A total of 220 athletes from cross the country will compete for spots on the Women’s National Team and the Women’s Collegiate National Team. Members of the WNT will compete in global events such as the Paris Olympic Qualifier and NORCECA Continental Championship in Canada.
U.S. Olympic Hall of Famer and WNT head coach Karch Kiraly will direct the program and other members of national team staff will direct the program. Olympic gold medal setter Jordyn Poulter and U.S. Women’s National Team libero Morgan Hentz will also be in attendance.
The three-day event will involve four sessions with three waves per session. Friday’s first session runs from 3-9 p.m. CT, while Saturday’s sessions are at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. The final session on Sunday begins at 8:15 a.m. with tournament-style play and concludes at 11 a.m.
A live stream of the sessions will be available at BallerTV.
Myers was named to the All-Big 12 Rookie Team after leading the Wildcats in kills per set with 3.32 and 3.75 points per set. The Lincoln, Neb., product ranked seventh in the Big 12 in both stat classifications while totaling 216 kills, 12 aces and 90 digs for the Wildcats.
Morris, the Big 12 Volleyball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, became the fastest player in Wildcat history to reach career dig No. 1,000 in the rally-scoring era, and is just the fifth to hit the milestone. She was one of three players to see time in all 110 sets this season and led the Wildcats with 500 digs on the season while her average of 4.55 per set finished second in the conference.
Carter, a native of Dubuque, Iowa, finished second on the team with 238 kills and is just six away from reaching career No. 1,000. The two-time First Team All-Big 12 selection produced a pair of 20-kill matches to rank sixth in the all-time career leaderboard with a total of 13.
