Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Participate in USA National Team Tryout
2/29/2016 1:11:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
By: Tori Ziege, IUHoosiers.com | Twitter
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Legendary US Women's National Volleyball Coach Karch Kiraly doesn't demand perfection from his athletes.
He demands consistency.
And after spending four days under his tutelage, that's what senior defensive specialist Taylor Lebo wants most wants to bring back to Indiana in her final season.
She and three other Hoosiers had the opportunity to learn from and trade sets with the nation's elite as participants in the USA Women's Volleyball National Team Open Tryouts in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Each walked away with something different to contribute as Indiana continues its spring training.
"We don't need perfect balls, we just need good ones, but over and over again," Lebo said. "It has a lot to with consistency, and I think if we bring that into the season that would definitely help us."
Lebo was the only returning member to the national team tryouts, which she attended as one of two representatives of the Hoosiers last year. This time, she was accompanied by freshman setter Victoria Brisack, senior setter Megan Tallman and senior middle blocker Jazzmine McDonald.
The tryouts gave the Hoosiers the chance to earn a spot on the Olympic-bound national team, but also to network, create a dialogue and learn tendencies from some of the conference's and the nation's best athletes.
McDonald mentioned Kansas' 6-foot-3 right sider Kelsie Payne and sisters Hannah and Paige Tapp of Minnesota, who IU competes against on a regular basis, as some of the players she studied and spoke to during the tryout experienced.
"Just playing with them and seeing how they're so fired up about the game of volleyball," McDonald said. "I thought that was so refreshing and something to bring back to the team. The legacy for me that I want to bring back is just doing our best to win at everything we do, because those girls showed it day and day out, rep after rep."
The tryouts lasted four days. Each day began with a talk from Kiraly, who as one of only three players to win Olympic gold in beach and indoor volleyball and was honored as the greatest volleyball player of the 20th century.
The players then took part in serve-receive drills, hitting lines and game play while evaluators walked around with clipboards. On the final day, the hopefuls were divided into teams and competed in tournament-style play.
Tallman's team finished 3-1. She said it was an honor to represent her small town of Wauconda, Illinois, and to make her parents — who said watching Karch watch their daughter on the livestream was one of the "coolest things" in their life — proud.
Now, she's ready to take the competitive experience back to her IU teammates.
"This is the best spring that we've had since I've been here," she said. "That atmosphere in the gym has changed a lot. Everybody wants to win, and it's so apparent. To be the best, everyone wants to push our teammates and that's a big thing that's changed. You can get on somebody and you can expect more of them and there's no hard feelings because they know you believe in them and that you want what's best for the team."
For Brisack, who graduated high school early in order to join the Hoosiers as a mid-year enrollee, the tryouts provided an occasion not only to experience the collegiate game for the first time, but to become closer with her IU teammates.
Starting her collegiate career on the national stage sets her on the path to instilling a culture in which players become leaders the moment they enter the gym, regardless of class standing.
"Being able to go and play with people from all over the country and know where the national bar is to be able to see it, feel it, play with it and come back and be able to push the team, saying here it is, this is where we have to be above, this is what we're striving for," she said. "The four of us this weekend tasted it. We saw it, we played with it, so now the four of us get to come back and drive the group to that level."
"I think if we can reach that national bar, national champions here we come."
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Legendary US Women's National Volleyball Coach Karch Kiraly doesn't demand perfection from his athletes.
He demands consistency.
And after spending four days under his tutelage, that's what senior defensive specialist Taylor Lebo wants most wants to bring back to Indiana in her final season.
She and three other Hoosiers had the opportunity to learn from and trade sets with the nation's elite as participants in the USA Women's Volleyball National Team Open Tryouts in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Each walked away with something different to contribute as Indiana continues its spring training.
"We don't need perfect balls, we just need good ones, but over and over again," Lebo said. "It has a lot to with consistency, and I think if we bring that into the season that would definitely help us."
Lebo was the only returning member to the national team tryouts, which she attended as one of two representatives of the Hoosiers last year. This time, she was accompanied by freshman setter Victoria Brisack, senior setter Megan Tallman and senior middle blocker Jazzmine McDonald.
The tryouts gave the Hoosiers the chance to earn a spot on the Olympic-bound national team, but also to network, create a dialogue and learn tendencies from some of the conference's and the nation's best athletes.
McDonald mentioned Kansas' 6-foot-3 right sider Kelsie Payne and sisters Hannah and Paige Tapp of Minnesota, who IU competes against on a regular basis, as some of the players she studied and spoke to during the tryout experienced.
"Just playing with them and seeing how they're so fired up about the game of volleyball," McDonald said. "I thought that was so refreshing and something to bring back to the team. The legacy for me that I want to bring back is just doing our best to win at everything we do, because those girls showed it day and day out, rep after rep."
The tryouts lasted four days. Each day began with a talk from Kiraly, who as one of only three players to win Olympic gold in beach and indoor volleyball and was honored as the greatest volleyball player of the 20th century.
The players then took part in serve-receive drills, hitting lines and game play while evaluators walked around with clipboards. On the final day, the hopefuls were divided into teams and competed in tournament-style play.
Tallman's team finished 3-1. She said it was an honor to represent her small town of Wauconda, Illinois, and to make her parents — who said watching Karch watch their daughter on the livestream was one of the "coolest things" in their life — proud.
Now, she's ready to take the competitive experience back to her IU teammates.
"This is the best spring that we've had since I've been here," she said. "That atmosphere in the gym has changed a lot. Everybody wants to win, and it's so apparent. To be the best, everyone wants to push our teammates and that's a big thing that's changed. You can get on somebody and you can expect more of them and there's no hard feelings because they know you believe in them and that you want what's best for the team."
For Brisack, who graduated high school early in order to join the Hoosiers as a mid-year enrollee, the tryouts provided an occasion not only to experience the collegiate game for the first time, but to become closer with her IU teammates.
Starting her collegiate career on the national stage sets her on the path to instilling a culture in which players become leaders the moment they enter the gym, regardless of class standing.
"Being able to go and play with people from all over the country and know where the national bar is to be able to see it, feel it, play with it and come back and be able to push the team, saying here it is, this is where we have to be above, this is what we're striving for," she said. "The four of us this weekend tasted it. We saw it, we played with it, so now the four of us get to come back and drive the group to that level."
"I think if we can reach that national bar, national champions here we come."
Players Mentioned
Setter
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