Mikayla Robinson Named to USA Volleyball Collegiate National Team
Junior Mikayla Robinson earned a spot on U.S. Women's Volleyball Collegiate National Team, it was announced Wednesday afternoon. Robinson made the 28-woman gold roster, which train July 5-12 in Anaheim, Calif. and will compete side-by-side with the U.S. Women's National Team ahead of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
In total, 214 athletes from 94 colleges competed in a three-day tryout from Feb. 21-23, directed by U.S. Women's National Team head coach Karch Kiraly and his staff, and Robinson is one of eight middle hitters to make the roster. Previously for South Carolina, Mikayla Shields made the U.S. Women's Junior National Team in 2017, and current assistant coach Shonda Cole Wallace trained with the national A2 team in 2005 and 2006 and participated in the 2005 Pan American Games and World Grand Prix.
Robinson is coming off a career year on the court for South Carolina, setting personal bests in every major statistic while earning All-SEC and All-Region honors and helping the Gamecocks earn back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 2001-02. The team also reached the second round of the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row, something that had not been achieved in the program's previous 47 seasons.
Robinson finished second on the team with 277 kills while hitting .337; her hitting percentage ranked seventh in the SEC and 97th nationally. In the program's rally-scoring era, her hitting percentage ranks fourth overall, but highest overall in the last decade (min. 450 attacks). On defense, the junior's 132 total blocks (26 solo) are the second-most by any member of the program in the rally-scoring era and the 26 solo blocks rank second.