March 23, 2007
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara University volleyball players Anna Cmaylo and Crystal Matich were named to the 20-person roster selected to participate in the U.S. Women's National Volleyball A2 program, USA Volleyball announced late Friday afternoon. Cmaylo, a two-time All-American middle blocker, and Matich, a setter who was named an All-American in 2005 before battling through an injury-plagued 2006 season, will compete in the USA Volleyball Adult Open Championships May 26-June 2 in Austin, Texas.
In 2006, Cmaylo was named an All-America honorable mention after leading the West Coast Conference with a .405 hitting percentage, the top single-season mark in Santa Clara history. The honor follows her third-team All-America recognition of 2005. Matich, after being named to the All-America Third Team as well in 2005, missed nine matches due to a foot injury in 2006, but still managed to average 13.32 assists and 1.93 digs per game. Both players were instrumental in not only helping lead Santa Clara to its first-ever Final Four appearance in 2005, but also to a 20-8 record in 2006 and the program's ninth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth.
"We are very pleased to able to field two teams of such a high caliber at the U.S. Open Championships," said USA Volleyball Managing Director of High Performance Tom Pingel. "This is a direct reflection on the level of athletes that attended the tryouts this past winter. Not only is the USA Volleyball staff looking forward to seeing this up-and-coming group of athletes train and compete in Austin in May, judging by the feedback from the athletes, they are anxiously looking forward to it as well."
USA Volleyball held open tryouts Dec. 16-17, 2006, at Omaha and Feb. 23-25, 2007, at Colorado Springs for selection to the A2 Teams, in addition to the U.S. Women's Junior National Team and U.S. Women's National Team. Players invited to train with the U.S. Women's National Team starting in May will be announced as soon as all confirmations have been received from the invitee list. Selections to the U.S. Women's Junior National Team will be announced in early May.
