May 28, 2008
Stanford, Calif. - Current Stanford outside hitters Alix Klineman and Cynthia Barboza, along with former Cardinal standout Kristin Richards, have been named to the 2008 Pan Am Cup roster announced USA Volleyball today. The players are part of a 12-player team that will compete in Mexicali and Tijuana, Mexico beginning Friday.
Stanford Associate Head Coach Denise Corlett will be one of three coaches for the team, joining a staff that also includes Tom Hogan and Gen Kawakita.
"We will use the Pan American Cup Tournament for evaluation," U.S. Women's National Team Head Coach `Jenny' Lang Ping said. "For our veterans, we will decide later as they are not in their best physical condition to play in this event. Also, some of them came in really late from their professional teams."
"These players are going to be the future of USA Volleyball, but is it 2008 at Beijing or 2012 at London," Hogan said. "We already know they are the future, the question is when. It is exciting because we are developing the future of USA Volleyball. But yet, we are throwing a bunch of them into the swimming pool and saying to swim and they never have been to a pool."
The U.S. plays pool play matches at Mexicali with five days of consecutive matches. Team USA opens against Dominican Republic on May 30, followed by Costa Rica on May 31, Argentina on June 1, host Mexico on June 2 and Trinidad & Tobago on June 3. After an off-day for all 12 teams on June 4 to relocate all teams to Mexicali, classification round starts on June 5 with the quarterfinals or crossover matches for places five through eight. The semifinal round follows on June 6 and the championship match and final classification contests on June 7.
The Pan American Cup will yield four berths into the 2009 World Grand Prix. The top three teams from NORCECA and the top South American team will advance to next year's annual FIVB tournament.
Klineman has been training with the team in Colorado Springs since early January, while Barboza, a Pan Am Cup veteran, joined the team in March. Richards recently returned from playing professionally for VC Universitet Belogorie Belgorod in Russia.
Current Stanford middle blocker Foluke Akinradewo and former standouts Ogonna Nnamani and Logan Tom are training in Colorado Springs and also remain in contention for spots on the 2008 USA Olympic roster.