University of Tennessee Athletics
Lady Vol Duo Set for A2 Program
July 14, 2012 | Volleyball
June 26, 2012
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee volleyball team will have a pair of representatives at the USA Women's National A2 Team Program, which begins today, as rising sophomores Tiffany Baker and Mary Pollmiller were chosen by USA Volleyball to participate. The Lady Vol duo will be two of 48 student-athletes with collegiate eligibility remaining to travel to Columbus, Ohio, from June 26-July 4 for the national program.
Training begins at Ohio Dominican University, with matches taking place over June 30 to July 4 during the USA Volleyball Girls' Junior National Championships (GJNC) at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
The student-athletes will be divided into four teams of 12, playing one match per day during the GJNC. All matches will feature A2 squads competing against each other in a round-robin format followed by a semifinal and final round.
Both Baker and Pollmiller were named to the All-SEC Second Team and to the All-Freshman Team in their first season at Rocky Top.
Baker, an outside hitter, tallied five double-doubles on the season, four of which came against league foes. The SEC Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 31 was also named CVU.com's (Collegiate Volleyball Update) National Player of the Week a day later.
"I feel that with a wide variety of great players coming from great programs, we have the opportunity to take it all in and learn from what we see," Baker explained. "I'm also looking forward to being pushed and challenged to play at a high level everyday with the amount of talent here."
The SEC Freshman of the Year, Pollmiller accounted for 89.4 percent of UT's assists in her rookie campaign. She also led all NCAA freshmen in assists, averaging 11.94 helpers per set, which ranked fourth in the nation and first in the conference.
"I'm very excited and honored," Pollmiller said about being selected. "It'll be a great experience to play at such a high level with many different amazing players,"
Tennessee is just one of nine NCAA programs to have multiple representatives at the summer training session.
"I love playing with Tiffany, so it'll be great to be in the gym with her all week," Pollmiller said.
"It's awesome to have a teammate here," Baker said. "It makes it a little easier to branch out and meet the other girls and its always comfortable seeing a familiar face in the gym."
The National A2 Team Program athletes represent 34 different collegiate programs and include eight liberos, 12 middle blockers, 14 outside hitters, six opposites and eight setters.
Last season Kayla Jeter, Leslie Cikra and Kelsey Robinson were all named to the National Program roste
