Cougars participating in the tryouts are junior Casey Schoenlein, sophomores Claire Martin, Taylor Mims and McKenna Woodford, and freshman Alexis Dirige. Schoenlein and Woodford were members and WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny serving on the coaching staff of the 2016 U.S. Collegiate National Team - Europe Tour. This team became the first U.S. Collegiate team to win the Global Challenge Tournament in Pula, Croatia, in its 12-year history.
 
The 2016 WSU volleyball season was filled with many milestones. The Cougars ended the season ranked No. 24 in the Final AVCA Coaches Poll with a 22-12 overall record: the most wins in a season since 2002, and tied for fifth-best all-time wins in Cougars history. WSU's 11-9 Pac-12 record, tied for fifth place in the highly competitive conference, was the most conference wins for the Cougars since 2002. The Cougars received an at-large bid to the 2016 NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship Tournament for the 11th time in school history and defeated Marquette in the First Round before falling to No. 3 Wisconsin on the Badgers home court in Madison, Wis., in the Second Round.
 
"We are very excited for the opportunity that these WSU players get to travel to Colorado Springs for the USA Women's Volleyball open tryouts," Greeny said. "I know that they will represent both our program and our university very well."
 
Schoenlein (shane-line) is a 6-5 outside hitter from Bellevue, Wash., who was a 2016 All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention Team member and a Pac-12 All-Academic First Team member; one of only two players in 2016 to be named to both Pac-12 teams. In 2016 she had 1.77 kills per set and 2.30 points per set, both fourth-best on team, and 0.94 blocks per set, third-best on the team, and hit .218 in conference matches. In career statistics, Schoenlein has 26 solo blocks, tied at 31st in WSU all-time records, 165 block assists, also 31st-best, and 191 total blocks, tied for 30th-best all-time. Schoenlein is a journalism and media production major. She writes a blog for the WSUCougars.com website and is a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic First Team member. Schoenlein is one of only three players in the Pac-12 to earn back-to-back first team academic honors in 2015 and 2016 and one of only three players in WSU volleyball history to each back-to-back Pac-12 All-Academic First Team honors.
 
Martin is a 6-4 middle blocker from Bremerton, Wash., who was the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week after her blocking was instrumental in WSU's three consecutive wins over Top 10-ranked teams. She was named the Best Blocker at Baylor Classic and tied the school record for blocks in a match with 13 blocks (11 assists/2 solos) against Baylor. In 2016 Martin averaged 1.41 blocks per set which was fourth-best in the Pac-12 and 16th-best in the NCAA. Her 2016 total blocks of 156 was 24th-best in the NCAA. In Pac-12 only matches, her 1.42 blocks per set was third-best in the conference. In career statistics, Martin's 1.36 blocks per set average is third-best in WSU history. She has 28 solo blocks which is tied for 26th in WSU records, 255 block assists which is 14th-best, and 283 total blocks which is 15th-best. A mechanical engineer major, Martin was named to the 2016 Pac-12 All-Academic Honorable Mention.
 
Mims is a 6-3 middle blocker from Billings, Mont., who was a 2016 PrepVolleyball.com All-America Honorable Mention selection and named to the 2016 All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention Team. Mims earned Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week after she tallied 21 kills, hit .425, and had 13 blocks in the upset win over No. 9 Stanford and sweep of California. She also was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week after a career-high 14 kills with 11 blocks versus Arizona State. In upset wins at No. 4 Washington and at No. 9 UCLA, she contributed 21 kills, hit .319, and had 11 digs and 11 blocks. Mims' career-high 11 blocks at Oregon State and again versus Arizona State tied Claire Martin at fourth-best for blocks in a four-set match in WSU records. Mims' career-high four aces versus No. 20 Oregon is tied for third-best in WSU all-time. In 2016 statistics, Mims' 1.49 blocks per set average was second-best in Pac-12 and eighth-best in NCAA while her 191 total blocks was fourth-best in NCAA. She led the team with a .303 hitting percentage and in Pac-12 only stats, her 30 solo blocks and 1.52 blocks per set was the best in the conference. Mims' 191 total blocks is 19th-best in NCAA all-time single season records (25-point scoring, 2008-16). Her 161 block assists is third-best in WSU all-time single season records. In WSU career statistics, her 1.30 blocks per set average is fifth-best all-time, 42 solo blocks is 14th-best, 239 block assists is 16th-best, and 281 total blocks is 16th-best.
 
Woodford is a 6-4 outside hitter from Chandler, Ariz., who was named to the 2016 Pac-12 All-Academic First Team where WSU had the most first team members among the conference schools. She was named to Cougar Challenge All-Tournament team after tallying 23 kills, hit .333, served two aces, had 14 digs and three blocks as WSU had a trio of sweeping wins. In Pac-12 opening matches, Woodford tallied 20 kills, 10 digs and nine blocks in upsets at No. 4 Washington and No. 9 UCLA. In 2016 statistics, Woodford's 2.41 kills per set was second-best on the team and her 2.80 points per set were third-best on the team. In career statistics, Woodford's 658 kills is 31st-best, 2.76 kills per set average is 22nd-best, and her 1,884 total attacks is 26th-most.
 
Dirige (durr-ee-ghee) is a 5-2 libero from San Francisco. She had big shoes to fill in her first collegiate season, replacing the graduated WSU career digs record-holder Kate Sommer. Dirige's 3.83 digs per set was seventh-best in Pac-12 and in conference matches she averaged 3.84 digs per set which was eighth-best, and 0.22 aces per set which was seventh-best. Her career-high 26 digs came in the five-set win over No. 9 Stanford. She also had 24 digs in the NCAA First Round win over Marquette. Dirige tallied double-digit digs in 26 of 34 matches played her freshman year. Her 486 digs in 2016 is seventh-best in WSU's all-time single season records.
 
Three-time Olympic gold medalist and U.S. Olympic Hall of Famer Karch Kiraly and the U.S. Women's National Team staff will lead the tryout process. USA Volleyball will announce the selections by the end of March once roster spots are accepted and confirmed.
 
USA Volleyball will use #USAVTryout as the tryout hashtag for photos, notes, quotes and stories posted to its social media platforms Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram under the handle @usavolleyball. Live streaming video from the open tryouts beginning March 3 at 1 p.m. PT at
http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Volleyball/USA-Teams/Indoor-Volleyball/Women/National-Team-Tryouts. For more information about the tryouts, go to USAVolleyball.org.