Garrett to play with National Team in Azteca Cup.

Saturday, September 16, 2006 10:45:00 AM
Team USA heads to Mexico's Azteca Cup

By USA Volleyball
The U.S. Women's National Team will go for the gold at the Azteca Cup in Mexico Sept.24-29.

The U.S. Women's National Team will compete in the Azteca Cup Sept. 24-29 at Monterrey, Mexico. The event was a late addition to Team USA's schedule.
The Azteca Cup, in its first year of existence, is an eight-team tournament broken into two pools advancing to the classification round. The U.S. is grouped in Pool B with Canada, Cuba and Puerto Rico. Pool A consists of host Mexico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Peru.
The U.S. opens against Puerto Rico on Sept. 24, followed by preliminary matches against Canada on Sept. 25 and Cuba on Sept. 26.
The Team USA roster for the Azteca Cup will be a mixture of players from the senior and junior national teams, along with players who competed and trained with the national team earlier this year.
The women's national training team includes Elisabeth Bachman, Sarah Drury, Jane Collymore, Sam Tortorello and Katie Olsovsky.
Jennifer Doris, Zoe Garrett and Juliann Faucette earned gold medals at the NORCECA Continental Women's Junior Championship (U-20) while competing on the U.S. Women's Junior National team in August at Monterrey, Mexico.
Erin Virtue and Jamie Dekiewiet, who competed on the USA Tour of Italy and against Poland this past spring, round out the U.S. roster for the Azteca Cup.
Tom Hogan will serve as the head coach while Tom Pingel will have double-duty as assistant coach and team manager. "Jenny" Lang Ping, the U.S. women's national team coach, will remain in Colorado Springs to train the remainder of the U.S. squad members who are not on the Azteca Cup roster.
Bachman, Drury, Collymore and Tortorello all competed at the Pan American Cup, which the U.S. used to qualify for the 2007 World Grand Prix. Collymore was inserted on the 2006 World Grand Prix roster after the first week of preliminary matches to replace an injured Ogonna Nnamani. Collymore will be the only U.S. player to have competed in the Pan American Cup, World Grand Prix and the Azteca Cup. The Azteca Cup marks the first outside competition for Olsovsky since the U.S. tour of Italy in March.
"It is important for the players competing at the Azteca Cup to gain game experience," Lang Ping said. "How well the national team players do in this tournament will help make decisions for the final 12-player World Championship roster. In addition, the high school players on the roster will also have a chance to gain international experience."
Bachman currently averages 3.03 points per set during the 2006 season. Drury has played in 27 sets this season. Collymore has compiled 34 points this season in primarily a back-up role. Tortorello entered six sets at the Pan American Cup, her first international experience on the U.S. senior national team. Olsovsky averaged 3.00 points per set on the tour of Italy, including 60 kills in 23 sets.
Doris, Faucette and Garrett are familiar with Monterrey and the host facility, Nuevo Leon Gym. The trio helped the U.S. capture gold at the NORCECA Continental Women's Junior Championship (U-20) held in August in the same arena. Doris and Faucette turned in 11 points apiece in the five-set championship victory over Dominican Republic, while Garrett added six points in the title match. All three players are taking a break from high school to compete for Team USA.
Dekiewiet played in 24 sets in Team USA's tour of Italy and at Chicago in a contest against Poland on May 26. She recorded 40 points with 33 kills. Virtue entered five sets on the tour of Italy.
The U.S. recently completed its second tournament of the summer with a seventh-place finish in the annual million-dollar World Grand Prix. Team USA, which finished 4-5 with four losses against teams ranked among the top six teams in the world, competed in preliminary round-robin weekends in Poland, Macau and Thailand.
The U.S. completes its 2006 schedule at the World Championships in Japan beginning Oct. 31. Team USA plays pool match against Kazakhstan on Oct. 31, Netherlands on Nov. 1, Cameroon on Nov. 3, Brazil on Nov. 4 and Puerto Rico on Nov. 5.