Catching up after a long weekend of beach volleyball in Rio and Austin …
Southern Illinois has a new coach: The Salukis hired North Dakota State’s Kari Thompson, who replaces Justin Ingram, who left for UIC (Illinois-Chicago).
Thompson recently completed her 11th season overall at NDSU, where she served as the program’s assistant coach from 2006-10, before taking the head coaching reigns mid-season in 2010. She has a 102-98 career record, including a 66-38 mark in the Summit League.
She, in turn, was replaced by her assistant at NDSU, Jennifer Lopez. Lopez, who was the Summit League player of the year in 2011 for NDSU, was Thompson’s assistant the past two years.
Three Division I head-coaching openings remain, at Coppin State, George Mason and Saint Peters.
Traveling the world: Among the teams out of the country right now are Purdue, which was in Slovenia and is now in Italy, West Virginia, which is going in the opposite direction and Colorado State, which is currently in Croatia on a trip that includes The Netherlands and Italy.
Penn State went to Brazil and you can read blogs from the players here.
Lipscomb’s volleyball team is headed to Africa and we will have a story about that later this week.
USA in Thailand: Coaches Jerritt Elliott of Texas and Paula Weishoff of Concordia Irvine didn’t have much turnaround time. Less than a week after they led the USA U20 team to the Pan Am title in Costa Rica, they took the U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team to Bangkok.
The team starts play Monday against Thailand’s Supreme Professional Team. Tuesday they play the Thai National Team and play Bangkok Glass Professional Team on Wednesday. They face the Thai National Team on Thursday and then again next Monday.
Here is the roster:
Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani (OPP, University of Texas, 6-4, 2, Los Angeles, California)
Kaz Brown (M, University of Kentucky, 6-4, 1, Waterloo, Iowa)
Taylor Hughes (S, Ohio State University, 2, 6-1, Carroll, Ohio)
Lily Johnson (OH, Missouri State University, 5-11, 1, Wildwood, Missouri)
Morgan Johnson (M, University of Texas, 6-3, 2, DeSoto, Texas)
Taylor Nelson (S, Cal Poly, 1, 6-0, Granite Bay, California)
Chiaka Ogbogu (M, University of Texas, 6-2, 1, Coppell, Texas)
Madison Rigdon (OH, University of Kansas, 6-0, 1, Pflugerville, Texas)
Jordan Thompson (OPP, University of Cincinnati, 2, 6-4, Edina, Minnesota)
Micaya White (OH, University of Texas, 6-1, 3, Frisco, Texas)
Brittany Witt (L, Creighton University, 5-8, 3, Omaha, Nebraska)
McKenna Woodford (OH, Washington State University, 6-4, 2, Chandler, Arizona)
Ohio State’s Hughes is writing about it for her school’s website.
USA women, men in action: The women and men both scrimmage on Friday at Santiago Canyon College in Orange, Calif.). The first scrimmage is at 6 p.m. Pacific.
The women scrimmage again June 2 at Kennedy High School in La Palma, Calif, at 7 p.m. Pacific.
Coach Karch Kiraly has 26 players in the fold and NCAA volleyball fans will be excited to see many of the names. Here is the women’s roster:
Inky Ajanaku (Middle, Rehabbing in USA, Stanford, Tulsa, Oklahoma)
Michelle Bartsch (Outside, Bolzano (Italy), Illinois, Maryville, Illinois)
Amanda Benson (Libero, Final Season in College, Oregon, Litchfield Park, Arizona)
Madi Bugg (Setter, NUC (Switzerland), Stanford, Apex, North Carolina)
Lauren Carlini (Setter, Final Season in College, Wisconsin, Aurora, Illinois)
Megan Courtney (Outside, Wroclaw (Poland), Penn State, Dayton, Ohio)
Lexi Dannemiller (Setter, Schweriner (Germany), Michigan, West Chester, Ohio)
Tori Dixon (Middle, Rehabbing in USA, Minnesota, Burnsville, Minnesota)
Annie Drews (Opposite, Caguas Criollas (Puerto Rico), Purdue, Elkhart, Indiana)
Lauren Gibbemeyer (Middle, Pomi Casalmaggiore (Italy), Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota)
Kristen Hahn (Libero, Did Not Compete, Iowa State, Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
Micha Hancock (Setter, Wroclaw (Poland), Penn State, Edmond, Oklahoma)
Madi Kingdon (Outside, IBK (Korea), Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona)
Molly McCage (Middle, Wiesbaden (Germany), Texas, Spring, Texas)
Liz McMahon (Opposite, Dresden (Germany), Illinois, Liberty Township, Ohio)
Kelly Murphy (Opposite, Henan (China), Florida, Wilmington, Illinois)
Sonja Newcombe (Outside, Sichuan (China), Oregon, Lake Arrowhead, California)
Stephanie Niemer (Outside, Caguas Criollas (Puerto Rico), Cincinnati, Erlanger, Kentucky)
Amber Rolfzen (Middle, Dresden (Germany), Nebraska, Papillion, Nebraska)
Kadie Rolfzen (Opposite, Dresden (Germany), Nebraska, Papillion, Nebraska)
Hannah Tapp (Middle, Schweriner (Germany), Minnesota, Stewartville, Minnesota)
Paige Tapp Minnesota (Middle, Juncos Valencianas (Puerto Rico), Minnesota, Stewartville, Minnesota)
Sarah Wilhite (Outside Hitter, Final Season in College, Minnesota, Eden Prairie, Minnesota)
Aiyana Whitney (Outside Hitter, MTV Stuttgart (Germany), Penn State, Norwood, New Jersey)
Justine Wong-Orantes (Libero, Final Season in College, Nebraska, Cypress, California)
Carly Wopat (Middle, Toray (Japan), Stanford, Santa Barbara, California)
Pitt’s Van Buskirk selected: Layne Van Buskirk was named to the 2017 Canadian women’s national team roster. The product of Windsor, Ontario, was one of 24 selected that will have the chance to compete at multiple events throughout the summer. Van Buskirk could potentially take part in the FIVB World Grand Prix in Richmond, B.C., July 21-23.
