san diego – San Diego State reverse hitter taylor underwood (Norco, California) and setter Sarina Gonzalez (Temecula, Calif.) has been selected to be part of the Mountain West Tour volleyball team that will compete in the 2024 Global Challenge, which will be held in Europe July 12-20. The announcement was made Wednesday by the league's office in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Colorado State University assistant coach Ted Kopacz and Utah State University associate head coach Chloe Hurst will help lead the MW traveling team for this summer's Global Challenge, joining nine of the league's 11 institutions. 12 student-athletes will be able to train and compete.
After a three-day stay in Maribor, Slovenia for training and friendly matches from July 12th to 14th, the MW touring team will head to Pula, Croatia for the opening ceremony on July 15th. The conference's traveling team is made up of four outsiders. Hitters, 3 middle blockers, 2 opposite hitters, 2 setters, and 1 libero. Additionally, the group will have the opportunity to visit Venice, Italy during the trip.
With this selection, Underwood and Gonzalez become the 12th and 13th Aztec volleyball players to participate in the Global Challenge. Julia Haney This is the seventh year SDSU has sent at least one athlete to the event.
Haney was part of the MW delegation that also included Aztec assistant coaches. melanie greenserved as co-head coach of the conference's touring team that won gold at last year's tournament.
Underwood, a native of Norco, Calif., ranked sixth in the league with 3.38 kills and 3.88 points per set against conference opponents during the 2023 season, earning first-team All-Mountain West recognition.
In all matches, Underwood led the Scarlet and Black with 3.12 kills per set and topped double digits in that category in 20 of his 29 starts. The SDSU sophomore averaged 0.35 aces per set (37 overall) during the regular season, ranking sixth in the MW.
In a home game against Air Force last fall, Underwood (.481) had a career-high 31 kills, marking the third-highest kill total in the conference for the 2023 season. Additionally, the Aztecs' opposite hitter set a school record for putaways in the rally-scoring era (since 2001), with Martina Vitkova-Engels (37) and Carey Mapes (33) achieving this feat. This is the highest kill total by an SDSU player since. In 1997.
Meanwhile, Gonzalez ranked second on the Aztecs last year in assists (509, 4.94/set) and fifth in digs (141, 1.37). The SDSU sophomore eclipsed the 20-assist plateau in 11 games, eclipsing that record with a season-high 28 helpers in the team's 3-0 win over Denver at the UCSD Invitational on Sept. 8. I made it stand.
During the 2023 season, Gonzalez recorded his first career double-double three times, including a school-high 13 points in a home game against New Mexico on Oct. 7.
In 2022, Gonzalez was one of three freshmen to play in all 31 games for the Aztecs, starting 11. The Temecula native was in the starting lineup in SDSU's four-set win at Wyoming that season, dishing out a career-high 31 assists, and the Scarlet and Black ended a seven-game losing streak against the Cowgirls and won for the first time in 10 years. He achieved victory. A trip to Laramie back in 2012.
Underwood and Gonzalez are currently preparing for the Aztecs' 2024 fall trip, which begins in late August.
2024 Mountain West Global Challenge Volleyball Roster
Sarina GonzalezS., San Diego State
taylor underwoodOPP, San Diego State
Paige Birch, Ohio State, Boise State
Karina Lever, MB, Colorado
Jenna Legault, Ohio State, Fresno State
Vera Snyder, MB, NV
Brooke Slusser, S, San Jose State
Brooke Bryant, OPP, San Jose State
Dakota Quinlan, Ohio State, UNLV
Kelsey Watson, MB, Utah
Riley Schultz, Ohio State, Wyoming
coach: Ted Kopacz, Colorado State University assistant coach.Chloe Hurst, Utah State Associate Head Coach
About the Global Challenge
Each year, Global Challenge's mission is to provide teams with international playing experience and exposure. Past tournament participants include teams from clubs and national federations from Slovenia, Russia, Romania, Germany, Bosnia, Montenegro, China, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Israel, Japan, Iran, Sweden, Denmark and Puerto Rico. It contains. US regional HP, youth varsity, junior varsity, and varsity teams.
