Faucette and Paolini to represent USA Volleyball at Pan American Cup
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Texas sophomore outside hitter and senior middle blocker Lauren Paolini will be part of the youth movement in USA Volleyball as the U.S. Women's National Team showcases its future at the Pan American Cup, the 2008 season-opening event for Team USA, held May 30-June 7 in Mexicali and Tijuana, Mexico. While the future will be displayed, some of the American players will also be evaluated for one of 12 roster spots at the 2008 Olympic Games. The future may be now for some of these athletes. "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." Faucette, a San Diego, Calif., native was the 2007 AVCA National Freshman of the Year in her first season on the Forty Acres. The outside hitter paced the UT squad with a team-best 445 kills, while hitting at a .324 clip and averaging 4.49 kills and 2.51 digs per-game. Paolini, an Ann Arbor, Mich., native garnered third-team AVCA All-America accolades in 2007 after enjoying a breakout season. The middle blocker led the UT club, hitting at a team-best .418 clip and headlining the team with 130 total blocks. The roster includes outside hitters Cynthia Barboza (Long Beach, Calif.), Faucette (San Diego, Calif.), Alix Klineman (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Kristin Richards (Orem, Utah). Middle blockers for the tournament are Alexis Crimes (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.), Paolini (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Tracy Stalls (Denver, Colo.). Lindsey Hunter (Papillion, Neb.) and Angie McGinnis (Fraser, Mich.) will share setting duties. Heather Hughes (Fallbrook, Calif.) and Katie Olsovsky (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) are the opposites on the roster, while two-time Olympian Stacy Sykora (Burleson, Texas) will serve as the libero. U.S. Women's National Team Assistant Coach Tom Hogan will serve as the head coach for the squad and will be assisted by Gen Kawakita and Denise Corlett.
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