U.S. Men's Training Team to Tour Southern Californ

[Mac]

ANAHEIM, Calif. (Feb. 5, 2006) – The U.S. Men’s Volleyball Training Team will begin a four-scrimmage exhibition tour of Southern California at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 10 at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif.

The team, which is based at the American Sports Center in Anaheim, Calif., is looking to promote the sport of men’s volleyball while interacting with the community. At each scrimmage, the Training Team players will split into two teams and play each other.

“The intent is two-fold,” said U.S. Men’s Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon. “We recently moved here to Southern California (in April of 2006) and we want to interact as much as we can with the community.

“We also want to try to showcase the team.”

There are 18 players who will take part in the scrimmages, many either grew up in Southern California or played college volleyball in the Southland. Among those are six former UCLA Bruins, two former Long Beach State players and one each from UC Irvine and Pepperdine.

“It is absolutely about getting these guys some game action,’ McCutcheon said. “They are competing for spots to stay around this summer and there aren’t many of those. These matches are very significant.”

Also on the roster is 2004 Olympian Reid Priddy (Richmond, Va.), who played in college for Loyola Marymount, and top beach volleyball players Jason Ring (Bend, Ore.) and Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.).

The tour was organized with help from former national team and UCLA volleyball player Dave Olbright.

Following the Feb. 10 match, there will be a Feb. 17 match at Canyon High School in Anaheim, a Feb. 24 scrimmage at Cal Baptist University and a March 3 exhibition at Serra High School in San Juan Capistrano.

All matches will be played at 7 p.m. Tickets will be sold for $10 for adults and $8 for students. Students can buy 10 tickets for $70. All proceeds will go toward the boys’ and men’s volleyball programs at the schools where the matches are being played.

2007 U.S. Men’s Volleyball Training Team
Southern California Tour Schedule
ALL MATCHES START AT 7:00 PM

Saturday, February 10
Mater Dei High School
1202 W. Edinger Ave
Santa Ana, CA 92707

Saturday, February 17
Canyon High School
202 S. Imperial Hwy
Anaheim, CA 92807

Saturday, February 24
Cal Baptist U.
8432 Magnolia Ave.
Riverside, CA 92504

Saturday, March 3
J. Serra High School
26351 Junipero Serra Rd.
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675

2007 U.S. Men’s Volleyball Training Team Roster
No. Name (Height, Position, Hometown, College,)
1. Matt McKinney (6-8, OH, Santa Ynez, Calif., UCLA,)
2. Jimmy Pelzel (6-5, OH, Lake Forest, Calif., UC Irvine,)
3. Andy Hein (6-11, MB, Carol Stream, Ill., Pepperdine)
4. Matt Proper (6-7, OPP, Guy Mills, Pa., Penn State)
5. Brandon Taliaferro (6-5, S, San Clemente, Calif., UCLA)
6. Brian Zodrow (6-3, OH/OPP, Kaneohe, Hawaii, Pacific)
7. Nate Meerstein (6-9, MB, Pittsburgh, Pa., Penn State)
8. Reid Priddy (6-4, OH, Richmond, Va., Loyola Marymount)
9. Allan Vince (6-7, MB, S. Pasadena, Calif., UCLA)
10. Damien Scott (6-5, OH, Santa Ana, Calif., UCLA)
11. Alfee Reft (5-10, L, Oxnard, Calif., Hawai’i)
12. Nils Nielsen (6-4, OH, Fallbrook, Calif., Cal State Northridge)
13. Robert Tarr (6-6, OPP, Rockledge, Fla., Long Beach State)
14. Tyler Hildebrand (6-5, S, Mesa, Ariz., Long Beach State)
15. Paul Johnson (6-8, OH, Mission Viejo, Calif., UCLA)
16. Kris Kraushaar (6-7, OH, Irvine, Calif., UCLA)
17. Jason Ring (6-2, OPP, Bend, Ore., Hawai’i)
18. Casey Jennings (6-3, L, Las Vegas, Nev., BYU)

[VBaller23]

Thats awesome to see 2 beach stars (Casey Jennings and Jason Ring) getting into the mix with these guys. Should be some good volleyball going on for this tour. Definitely gonna try and watch as much as I can.

[fingrbustr]

Hmmm...Mater Dei or the Cardinal at Pauley Saturday night? I am really tempted to see Ring and Jennings back indoors.

[cyberVBmidwest]

I'll make the same offer I made to the kids on the Volleyball Mag forum, if you go to one of the matches, bring a digital camera and send me a couple of your best photos. I'll post them on www.middlehitter.com.

[blastingsand]

Are Casey and Jason going indoors? Or is this just to pass time until beach season starts?

[robonthemic]

Hey Mac,

Where was the original story posted to?

I was hoping to see them play at Mater Dei because it's right around the corner from my pad, however UCI plays Pacific that same evening. I've got the MPSF itch right now. It may be the evening at Cal Baptist for me. If I take some digital pix (or even video) I'll post them Cyber.

[cyberVBmidwest]

robonthemic said:

Hey Mac,
If I take some digital pix (or even video) I'll post them Cyber.

Great... just send me the link to where you have it posted or send it to me and I will post it, either way works. Just want as much exposure to the fans as we can get!

[CityTechLegend]

blastingsand said:

Are Casey and Jason going indoors? Or is this just to pass time until beach season starts?

Most likely they are just practicing with them to stay in shape for AVP season. The US Training regiment is pretty solid plus you never know, Ring was a freak of an indoor player.

I know some of you have seen that YouTube of him playing when he was at Hawaii. Supposedly he is jumping higher now then back then. Wouldn't surprise me if he starts one or two games at opposite or middle.

[Mac]

robonthemic said:

Hey Mac,

Where was the original story posted to?

www.usavolleyball.org/VolleyballNews/news.asp?id=1490

[Will Rogers Beach]

Did anyone go to the scrimmage/exhibition match today? Can anyone report what happened?

[Bigspike]

Mac:

Thanks for the heads up on the USA Mens' Volleyball scrimmage volleyball tour of So Cal. I was about to leave home for the UCLA-Stanford match when I saw your post. I decided to go to Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana) to see the scrimmage instead, and I'm glad I did! I never thought I would see Casey Jennings in a Team USA indoor uniform, but there he was as a libero! He didn't do too bad either.

Almost every player had played college ball in So Cal. The standouts were outside hitters Reid Priddy (Loyola Marymount) and Nils Nielsen (CSUN). Priddy also has one mean serve. Old dog Brandon Taliaferro (UCLA) is still out there setting. Tyler Hildebrand (CSULB) looked pretty good at setting also. If you were wondering what Taliaferro has been doing besides volleyball since graduation from UCLA, he is owner of A to Z Leak Detection (http://www.atozleakdetection.com/). If I ever have any leaks that need detecting, he is the one I am going to call.

All admission proceeds for tonight's scrimmage are going directly to Mater Dei's boys' and girls' volleyball programs. Real nice! This is true for the host schools for the next 3 scrimmages also. The attendance was pretty decent tonight, despite a relative lack of publicity. Kerri Walsh and Karch Kiraly were in attendance tonight.

Hey, attend one or more of the next 3 scrimmages if you can; it will be worth your while. Yours truly, - Bigspike -

[sistahsledge]

The match was worth the $10. Not a lot to pay for an hour and a half of entertainment.

The guys were split into two teams:
RED: Meerstein/Hein MB, McKinney/Tarr OH, Pelzel OPP, Hildebrand S, Reft L
BLUE: Johnson/Vince MB, Priddy/Nielsen OH, Proper OPP, Taliaferro S, Jennings L

Decent play overall. Mostly good, some bad which is to be expected in teams that are in training. I wonder if these lineups are the ones they use in regular practice so the guys can gel with each other. The teams seemed evenly matched, BLUE won in three but each game was pretty close.

MB's: Nobody really stood out but nobody played badly, either. Any of these guys has a shot at an Olympic slot. Are Lee or Etherton locks for the Olympics? Are Hoff and Millar done?

OH's: Priddy was obviously the top player, especially his serve. Nielsen and Tarr played well, had a few big hits, so-so on serve receive and defense. McKinney seems like a head case. he can play huge one minute then get completely rattled. Damien Scott came in for Nielsen in the last game and played great, like he did in the NCAA's. He doesn't look as smooth or high-jumping as the other guys but he somehow gets the job done.

OPP: Proper got a lot of sets and seemed to hit at a high percentage. He didn't bring much heat but was hitting smart. He'll need a lot more pop on his shots if he wants to compete with the OPP's around the world. Pelzel played only one game and didn't get set much. Is he injured? His replacement, Zodrow, was ineffective.

S: Taliaffero seems to play with more control and savvy than Hildebrand. I think he has the edge over Hildebrand.

L: Reft is pretty good but had some trouble with the really hard serves. That's really a matter of teamwork with his OH's. He sets a nice high ball to the OH's after the setter gets a dig. Jennings was okay but there are probably half a dozen Liberos in college who are better. He puts up a horrible set so his team was always in trouble when Taliaferro would dig a ball. I assume he's serious about trying to get on the Olympic team. Training indoors as a libero can't do anything to help his AVP game. Maybe he's given up on qualifying for an Olympic beach spot so this would be the way to join Kerri in Bejing.

It will be fun to see how the guys progress over the next few weeks. Great to see this many quality players "in camp" at this time of year. I doubt all these guys would want to be stuck in Colorado. This looks like a fairly competitive group and McCutcheon seems to promote the idea of competing for a spot as he mentioned that twenty-some guys from the pro leagues will get in the mix this summer. I hope they do more of these open matches/scrimmages when the other guys get back.

[allymcbeal]

Not a match that will live forever. They are not any better than a good college team. Priddy's serve is slightly better than Patak's. Hildeberand is stylish. If this is supposed to represent America, then we're in trouble.

[bunnywailer]

sistahsledge said:

S: Taliaffero seems to play with more control and savvy than Hildebrand. I think he has the edge over Hildebrand.

Duh...

[sharp716]

Did Kraushaar and Ring not play? No one has said anything about them.