COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Kelsey Black, a 5-11 outside hitter on the Texas A&M volleyball team, captured the bronze medal as a member of the U.S. Women's National A2 White Team at the USA Volleyball Open National Championships held at the Dallas Convention Center, May 28-31.
It was the second consecutive bronze medal for the Amarillo, Texas native senior-to-be, who last year played libero for the bronze medal-winning U.S. Women's National A2 Red Team at the USA Volleyball Open National Championships in Tempe, Ariz.
USA A2 Blue captured the gold medal in dramatic fashion, coming up through the consolation bracket, revenging an earlier loss to USA A2 Red in the first title match and then rallying from a 24-22 deficit to defeat USA A2 Red, 26-24, in the single Golden Set playoff.
The USA Volleyball High Performance pipeline A2 Teams, consisting of players with collegiate eligibility remaining, have been competing in the Open Division since 2003. Its only other championship titles in the event were in 2004, 2008 and 2010. The USA A2 Program is the only team with more than one Women's Open Division title in the last nine years.
Black was one of 36 players with remaining collegiate eligibility selected from a record 204 athletes who participated in a three-day tryout at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., in February. Black was one of six selected who had previously played on an A2 team.
Black is coming off a season in which she was named to the All-Big 12 first team and received Texas A&M's MVP and Best Offensive Player awards after averaging 4.77 points and 4.08 kills per set, ranking 25th and 31st in the nation, respectively. In her first year as a starter, the junior team captain twice tied the A&M all-time record for aces in a match with six each against Sam Houston State and Pacific, and she led the Big 12 in aces (.37) per set and ranked second in the league in points, fourth in kills and 15th in digs (2.99) per set for the full season.
Black started every match and played in all 113 sets as the Aggies went 13-17, including a 3-0 sweep against 2010 NCAA finalist Texas at Reed Arena. She posted double figures in kills in 25 of 30 matches, including seven matches in which she posted 20 or more kills. Black led or tied for the team lead in kills in all but one match and also led the team with 17 double-doubles.
Additional information on the U.S. Women's National A2 Team program and the USA Volleyball Adult Open Championships can be found at http://www.usavolleyball.org.