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March 2, 2007

Champaign, Ill. - Illinois junior middle blocker Vicki Brown spent last weekend in Colorado Springs, Colo., auditioning for a spot on one of the U.S. National teams.

Brown, an honorable mention All-Big Ten member, is among 110 players vying for a spot on either the U.S. National team or the A2 team, which consists mainly of college players. Illinois assistant coach Kevin Hambly is one of the coaches evaluating talent.

Players will be notified on whether they made the cut by March 9 and the list of invited players will tentatively be made public on March 23. Two 10-member A2 squads will be picked and will compete during the 2007 USA Volleyball Adult Open Championships held May 26-June 2 in Austin, Texas. Individuals invited to train with the U.S. National Team in Colorado Springs will join the squad this summer or sooner if available.

Brown was named MVP of two in-season tournaments in 2006 and ranked ninth in the Big Ten in attack percentage (.324).

"The individual workouts were competitive every day," Brown said. "Illinois has really prepared me both socially and skillwise to be in that type of environment. It was great to get to know other middles from around the Big Ten and across the country."

More honors for DeBruler

Illinois signee Laura DeBruler has earned yet another award. DeBruler was named to the 36-member American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Senior All-America team. She was one of only two players from the state of Illinois to earn that distinction. DeBruler's numbers include 347 kills, 48 aces, 24 blocks and 153 digs. Like Brown, DeBruler has had an opportunity to train with USA Volleyball, having been invited to participate in the USA Volleyball National High Performance Youth A2 Camp last year. At the camp, DeBruler was named to the first team that won the International Junior Gold Medal. Prior to last year, DeBruler ranked No. 30 among seniors nationally by prepvolleyball.com.

Training continues

The Illini team has been conducting individual workouts since starting the spring semester. The NCAA allows four competitive weekends in April, where teams are allowed to scrimmage other schools. Although the spring schedule is still being finalized, Illinois is expected to compete against BYU, Missouri, Miami (Ohio), Dayton, Cincinnati, Ohio and Northwestern in controlled scrimmages.

VanMeter excels in Korea

After playing last summer in Puerto Rico, former Illini Rachel VanMeter has been excelling in the Korean Professional League. This is the first year that foreign players were allowed to play in the league. VanMeter plays for the Korean Highway Association. Through 12 matches, VanMeter leads the team in points (103) and has a .412 attack percentage.