Hope you’re ready for a slew of volleyball news again this summer, because it’s shaping up to be another Long Beach kind of team for the USA Volleyball’s World League squad. The team (in addition to being coached by on-leave LBSU coach Alan Knipe) features four former-49ers. In addition, the A2 team that will compete in the Pan-Am tournament will feature several alums (including recent grads Dusty Watten and Dean Bittner). And you’ll be able to see them in action in an intersquad scrimmage in the Pyramid on campus, at 7:30pm on May 21st.
More from the official release:
USA Volleyball has announced its 19-man roster for the 2010 FIVB World League, the world’s premier annual men’s volleyball competition.
U.S. Men’s National Volleyball Team staff will choose a team of 12 or 14 players from the roster of 19 for each weekend of World League competition. If 14 players are chosen, then two of them must be liberos.
“I believe we have put together a solid group with a good mixture of veterans and new players that can do well at World League,” said U.S. Men’s Head Coach Alan Knipe (Huntington Beach, Calif.). “I’m looking forward to having everyone back in the gym so we can get started.”
The 2010 summer training block began today at the USA National Team Center in the American Sports Centers in Anaheim, Calif. However not all 19 players will be back in the gym right away.
The FIVB World League is an exciting elite men’s volleyball competition in which the world’s best teams are divided into four pools and play for six straight weekends from June 4 to July 11. Winners from each pool will qualify for the final round on July 21-25 in Cordoba, Argentina, along with the host country and a pick from among the second-place teams in pool play.
The total World League prize purse is more than $20 million, with the winning team collecting a prize of more than $1 million.
U.S. fans can watch Team USA play live in World League matches in Concord, N.C. (June 18-19 vs. Egypt), Hoffman Estates, Ill. (June 25-26 vs. Finland) and Wichita, Kan. (July 9-10 vs. Russia).
2010 U.S. World League Roster
No. Name (Position, Height, Hometown, College)
1 Matt Anderson (OH, 6-10, West Seneca, N.Y., Penn State)
2 Sean Rooney (OH, 6-9, Wheaton, Ill., Pepperdine)
3 Evan Patak (Opp, 6-8, Pleasanton, Calif., UC Santa Barbara)
4 David Lee (MB, 6-8, Alpine, Calif., Long Beach State)
5 Rich Lambourne (L, 6-3, Tustin, Calif., BYU)
6 Paul Lotman (OH, 6-7, Lakewood, Calif., Long Beach State)
7 Donald Suxho (S, 6-5, Korce, Albania, USC)
8 Reid Priddy (OH, 6-5, Richmond, Va., Loyola Marymount)
9 Ryan Millar (MB, 6-8, Alpine, Utah, BYU)
10 Riley Salmon (OH, 6-6, League City, Texas, Pierce College)
11 Tyler Hildebrand (S, 6-5, Mesa, Ariz., Long Beach State)
12 Jayson Jablonsky (OH, 6-5, Yorba Linda, Calif., UC Irvine)
13 Clay Stanley (OPP, 6-9, Honolulu, Hawai’i, Hawai’i)
14 Kevin Hansen (S, 6-5, Newport Beach, Calif., Stanford)
15 Russell Holmes (MB, 6-8, Fountain Valley, Calif., BYU)
16 Andrew Hein (MB, 611, Carol Stream, Ill., Pepperdine)
17 Max Holt (MB, 6-9, Cincinnati, Ohio, Penn State)
18 Scott Touzinsky (OH, 6-6, St. Louis, Mo., Long Beach State)
19 Alfee Reft (L, 5-10, Oxnard, Calif., Hawai’i)
2010 U.S. World League Schedule
Pool Play
Date: June 4-5
Opponent: Russia
Location: Ekaterinburg, Russia
Date: June 11-12
Opponent: Finland
Location: Tampere, Finland
Date: June 18-19 (7 p.m. both days)
Opponent: Egypt
Location: Cabarrus Arena in Concord, N.C.
Date: June 25-26 (7 p.m. both days)
Opponent: Finland
Location: Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill.
Date: July 2-3
Opponent: Egypt
Location: Cairo, Egypt
Date: July 9 at 7 p.m.; July 10 at 6 p.m.
Opponent: Russia
Location: Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kan.
Final Round (must qualify)
Date: July 21-25
Location: Cordoba, Argentina
With reports from USA Volleyball’s B.J. Hoeptner Evans