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Hawai’i outside attacker Colton Cowell three months after standing out on the biggest college men’s volleyball stage will now represent the United States at an international event.
Cowell was among the 12 players selected to the U.S. roster for the Pan American Games men’s volleyball tournament that starts Tuesday in Peru.
The outside attack en route to making the 2019 NCAA All-Tournament Team had a combined 25 kills on a .365 attack percentage in both of Hawai’i’s NCAA Tournament matches, including a team-high 15 kills in a semifinals victory against Lewis. In addition, Cowell ended his junior season in the nation’s top 25 with both a .387 attack percentage and a 0.38 aces per game average.
Cowell is the only current college men’s volleyball player on this U.S. roster laden with former All-Americans. Half of the players representing the United States at the Pan American Games were All-Americans multiple times during their college career.
None of these players, though, were a part of the U.S. roster that competed at the recent FIVB Volleyball Nations League Finals and won the silver medal. With Olympic qualifications starting in a few weeks, USA Volleyball opted not to have that group of players participate at the Pan American Games.
Hawai’i led all schools with three current or former players on the U.S. roster for this tournament.
BYU, Long Beach State and Pepperdine each have two former players named to the team. In addition, CSUN, McKendree and Stanford all are represented with former players on the roster.
The United States will play Chile in its pool-play opener on Tuesday. It also will play Mexico and Brazil as part of the pool-play stage.
The top-two teams from this four-team pool at the conclusion of the pool-play stage will qualify for the Pan American Games semifinals.
U.S. roster for Pan American Games
Setter: Josh Tuaniga, Long Beach State 2016-19
Setter: Joe Worsley, Hawai’i 2016-19
Opposite: Kyle Ensing, Long Beach State 2016-19
Opposite: James Shaw, Stanford 2013-16
Outside attacker: Colton Cowell, Hawai’i
Outside attacker: Sam Holt, CSUN 2012-15
Outside attacker: Brenden Sander, BYU 2015-18
Outside attacker: David Wieczorek, Pepperdine 2016-19
Middle attacker: Tommy Carmody, Pacific 2012-14, Pepperdine 2016
Middle attacker: Price Jarman, BYU 2014-18
Middle attacker: Brendan Schmidt, McKendree 2014-18
Libero: Kupono Fey, Hawai’i 2014-17