Volleyball's Nia McCardell to Attend Women’s National Team Open Program
2/20/2024 2:48:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
COLORADO Springs, Colorado – Rice volleyball's Nia McCardell will travel to Colorado Springs, Colo., this weekend (Feb. 23-25) to participate in the USA Volleyball Women's National Team Open Program, located at the US. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center.
The event, formerly known as the "Open Tryout," is used for consideration for selection to both the U.S. Women's National Team and the U.S. Women's Collegiate National Team, which will compete in the following events in 2024: Volleyball Nations League, NORCECA Final Six, Pan American Cup and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Athletes born in 2005 or younger may also be in consideration for selection to the U.S. U21 Women's National Team that will compete in the 2024 U21 Women's NORCECA Continental Championship.
The event will be available to watch live with a subscription on BallerTV.
McCardell was named second-team all-AAC this past season after ending the year as the conference's leader in total digs (560) and digs per set (4.96), ranking 24th and 25th in the nation in those same categories, respectively. McCardell surpassed 1,500 career digs this season, becoming only the fifth player in program history to do so, and recorded double-digit digs in 28 of 29 matches this season. She was thrice named the AAC Defensive Player of the Week and twice named to the weekly AAC Honor Roll. In 2022, McCardell was named the Conference-USA Libero of the Year and was a VolleyballMag.com Honorable Mention All-American
More than 200 players from colleges and universities across the country are registered for the three-day event. The Open Program was made available to current and recently graduated college-age athletes born between 1999 and 2005.
The 2024 U.S. Women's Collegiate National Team (WCNT) will train in Anaheim, Calif., alongside U.S. Women's National Team athletes and staff. Dates for the WCNT training block will be announced soon.
